Gameday in Fort Myers ๐๐ Michigan๐บ FS1๐ 6PM ET๐ https://t.co/Ypqs6c7UWE pic.twitter.com/4bEQKVgLHRโ Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 25, 2024
Fort Myers Tip Off: Beach Division
Virginia Tech (3-2)
vs
Michigan (4-1)
6pm FS1
TV | FS1
Jeff Levering, PxP
Donny Marshall, Analyst
RADIO | VT Sports Network
Zach Mackey, PxP
Mike Burnop, Analyst
VIDEO STREAM
FoxSports.com
LIVE STATS
stats.hokiesports.com
Will Florida change their fortunes?
The Hokies have traveled to the Sunshine State in search of a reset button. Two straight games they have done nothing but turn the ball over.
Losing a buy game is never a good look but losing one that you had a double-digit halftime lead in is unforgivable.
Last time #Hokies lost a non-conference game at home by 10-plus to a non-power conference opponent: Feb. 8, 1993, vs. Florida International.โ David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) November 21, 2024
We all knew we were in for a challenging season but this has exceeded anything I expected. Maybe it was the loss of Hysier Miller that I still haven't accounted for but the lackluster ball security is a hard truth to accept.
Now onto Michigan. The Wolverines are 4-1 coming in. Their one loss was a 72-70 final against Wake Forest. Their wins are over Cleveland St, TCU, Miami-Ohio, and Tarleton St.
I would have said only the TCU/Wake games make me worry but that was before Jacksonville.
The Wolverines have four starters averaging double-digit scoring and the only one that isn't is their 7 foot Russian Center. They will have TWO seven footers on the court together most of the game so will be interesting to see how Young counters that. They also have four starters that were Top 100 recruits in their respective classes.
They are led in scoring by two transfers. Tre Donaldson comes in from Auburn and Roddy Gayle comes over from Ohio State to give them an instant infusion.
Donaldson, Burnett and Walters are all shooting better than 50% from the perimeter so you cant just focus on their twin trees in the lane.
Defensively Michigan will be looking to create fast break opportunities with a variety of zone and man-to-man focused most on pressuring the ball handler.
Hokies Starters
Mylyjael Poteat
34 SR F 6-9 260
13.6 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 2.6 Ast
Toibu Lawal
1 JR F 6-8 200
13.0 Pts, 7.8 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Jaden Schutt
2 SO G 6-5 185
9.4 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 2.4 Ast
Brandon Rechsteiner
7 SO G 6-1 185
9.2 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 3.4 Ast
Tyler Johnson
10 FR G 6-5 215
7.0 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Key Bench Players
Jaydon Young
3 SO G 6-4 205
8.8 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Tyler Johnson
10 FR G 6-5 215
7.0 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Ben Burnham
13 SR F 6-7 200
3.8 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Ben Hammond
11 FR G 5-11 170
3.0 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Patrick Wessler
5 SO C 7-0 245
3.0 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Wolverines Starters
Tre Donaldson
3 JR G 6-2 190
13.8 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 4.6 Ast
Roddy Gayle
11 JR G 6-4 205
11.6 Pts, 3.6 Reb, 3.2 Ast
Nimari Burnett
4 SR G 6-4 195
11.2 Pts, 3.6 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Danny Wolf
1 JR F 7-0 255
10.4 Pts, 8.8 Reb, 2.6 Ast
Vladislav Goldin
50 SR F 7-1 240
7.6 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Key Bench Players
Sam Walters
24 SO F 6-10 198
9.4 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 1.0 Ast
L.J. Cason
2 FR G 6-2 190
7.2 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Will Tschetter
42 SR F 6-8 230
5.6 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.6 Ast
It's almost time to ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ค๐ช๐ฉ Cassell ๐ฐSwipe to see which color to wear on Dec. 7 when @HokiesMBB takes on Pitt โก๏ธโ HokieSports (@hokiesports) November 25, 2024
This was bad enough at the football game and will be an even bigger mess at basketball since there is an uneven alignment
Comments
did someone steal the lights bulbs?
Yeah not as bad as the Baltimore game but definitely dark
Is something wrong with your feeds? High seas, perhaps? Everything looked good from what I just watched on FS1 on YouTube TV.
It wasn't just us
So weird. Multiple people watching at our house and not one person said anything about the feed.
It was mainly when they went to the full court cameras. The in close shots were fine.
I watched the game on FS1 with Hulu Live TV and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. And I'm usually pretty sensitive to that kind of thing - can't watch a football game on blue turf or even a stupid NBA Cup game with the ridiculous courts.
Hokies are going to foul out pushing the Michigan bigs going up for rebounds.
Michigan so far is more sloppy with the ball than the Hokies which is shocking.
Can the Hokies play all their games at Ft Myers if this is how they will play?
You think we look good? I mean we are ahead, but not looking like we have a plan as it looks like the cheaters can't shoot...
Good is relative...do I think they look light years from the second half of the Jacksonville game. Yes
Still more sloppy play than should happen on any P4 roster but honestly my brain has them at a D3 level right now.
I thought they would be down by 15 or more at the half.
I did as well, but I had not seen Michigan play. I'll take a one deficient at half.
Bold defensive strategy to continuously give them wide open looks from three.
Just let Michigan do a ten point swing. Can't do that.
Biggest problem is four starters already have 2 fouls
Both teams with double digit turnovers in the first half is ....definitely something
Rechsteiner was fouled there
Lawal handling the ball is.....not a thing of beauty
Outside of Hammond you could say that about the rest of the roster
Foul on Rechsteiner there but other end Rechsteiner got thrown to floor off the ball and crickets
Dribbling into the corner happens a lot with this team, isn't that like high school obvious no-no mistake
Also fouls being called for touches by VT while bodies being thrown on the other end and no call
Yeah the contact difference is noticeable
The ball awareness on this entire roster is awful.
Michigan should have gotten a timeout there. I don't care what the announcers are trying to say there
Guys passing up looks at the basket and possessions ending in a shot clock violation is super frustrating
Rech and burnham ๐คฎ
And lawals handles and passing ๐คฎ
Hokies have to stop the "help" defense outside the arc ...it has allowed Michigan to get at least 6 bunnies when they leave a guy open in the lane
Schutt looked like he was hyped on Adderall in that huddle
For someone labeled an "offensive genius" watching Mike Young's offense drives me crazy almost every game and it seems to get worse each year
It honestly is mainly Rechsteiner being a much poorer version of Pedula.
How many times tonight did he drive into the lane only to stop mid dribble right in the middle of the lane with no where to go with the ball?
I want the whole season to be about developing Johnson, Hammond and Jones while keeping Jaydon Young happy.
Next year put Gurdak in with Sincere Jones to go with this years freshmen.
Is that it though? I feel like we get this every year. Even Young's first year when we were running that weird top of the key offense and shooting a million three's (it seemed at least like) we were scoring more and more efficient on offense.
Who have we had who can consistently drive the rim since Radford and Mutts in '21? Even the next season Mutts started driving the rim less and started sitting back and shooting threes (?!?!) way more. I really don't understand what Young's ideal offense looks like. If it's this, then he doesn't deserve to keep his job full stop. I know this is not a very talented team, but I am unconvinced that even with a very talented team he's the guy you want coaching them
The team has SIXTY turnovers in the last three games. Tough to execute offense when you give up a third or more of your offensive possessions.
Last night, they were close in the first half because Michigan was matching them turnover for turnover and missed shot for missed shot. That didn't happen in the second half and we got a double-digit deficit.
Rechsteiner and Lawal are the primary, but last night it was evenly spread.
Poteat - 4
Rechsteiner - 3
Lawal - 3
Young - 3
Schutt - 3
Johnson - 1
This group plays hard but they are badly hamstrung offensively.
Its gonna take a minor miracle for them to score 70+ on P4 competition.
This second half unfortunately is how I expected the whole game to go. This was more Michigan not making all the mistakes they made in the first half. 11 turnovers at halftime and only 14 now.
And this sums it up
Nothing quite like getting outscored 35-19 the last 16 mins of the game
It's infuriating the talent disparity of Virginia Tech teams that miss wide open looks at the basket, but other teams are getting mauled on the way up but can still drain the bucket.
I don't really know how bad FSU, Cal, Stanford, & BC are in basketball this year, but I can see an easy path to VT being left out of the championship tourney in Charlotte. If their shooting does improve in December, I think their legs are going to run out in January and we'll be in low single-digit conference wins come tourney time.
Like others have stated, they are fun to watch with how they never quit and sometimes put on a good bball show, but it's nothing cohesive, nothing with an identity, and I can't pinpoint things that are showing improvement (as a team) as the season moves along.
I also enjoy watching this team, but I think they've got multiple problems. The two most obvious to me are a lack of consistent PG play (Rechsteiner wasn't supposed to have to be the starter, we have to remember) and lack of consistent shooting. We get a fair amount of open looks that don't fall, and that leads to some big scoring droughts. We play good defense, but just can't overcome 4- and 5-minute stretches of scoring no points.
I wasn't able to watch. FS1? Really? But it looked like we couldn't hit the basket period.
Too indecisive on offense, defensive rotations need lots of work...some individual bright spots but I'd be surprised if we win more than 4-6 conference games, if that, unless they eventually learn to play more cohesively and stop turning the damn ball over.
My bad guys. I turned the game on in the second half when I saw we were down by 1 to Michigan, and so then they instantly collapsed and went down by 10. I'll do better ๐
Don't feel bad. We were up by as many as 11 in the first half, so the bleeding had already begun. You just tuned in at the time where Michigan nicked an artery.
My level of interest this season:
"I didn't know we had a game today. Darn, we lost again. Shucks."
Me this year, last year, and maybe even the year before that
And me next year (assuming no big changes)