Maryland Eastern Shore (4-10)
at
Virginia Tech (9-2)
Noon
ACCNX
Cassell Coliseum
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV | ACCNX
Evan Hughes, PxP
Mack McCarthy, Analyst
Tamara Brown, Sideline
RADIO | VT Sports Network
Zach Mackey, PxP
Mike Burnop, Analyst
VIDEO STREAM LIVE STATS
ESPN.com and ESPN app stats.hokiesports.com
Hokies -28.5
O/U 138.5
ESPN Analytics: Hokies 97.5
Trap Game
Every indicator says the Hokies should win this game by a large margin but as Hokies fans have suffered through in the past, this is one of those games in the past that teams have struggled with. Students are on break so the crowd will probably be light, winter is upon us and focus sometimes is hard to find against an uninspiring opponent.
The Hokies have an opportunity to come out of out of conference play with ten wins. That would be the first time since the 22-23 season the Hokies have done that. They are 10-0 all time against UMES and the last meeting was a 92-37 win back in 2019.
UMES come in 4-10. They started the season by taking Georgia Tech to OT before losing 56-52. They followed that though getting blown out by Georgia 94-29. Coach Hill then blasted one of his prior coaching stops D3 Cheyney by 45. The rest of their season so far has ekeing out wins against Longwood in 2OT, Binghamton and D3 Gwynedd Mercy. The rest of their losses were mainly buy games to fund their athletic department. The one comparison for the Hokies to note was their 84-60 loss to #24 UVA since the Hokies will see the Wahoos only New Years Eve. (BRAIN DEAD SCHEDULING BY THE ACC: RIVALRY HOME GAME WHILE STUDENTS ARE ON BREAK)
The Hawks are coached by Cleo Hill Jr. His record so far at UMES is 10-35 in his second season. His
career record is 271-239 (19th season) with prior stops at Cheyney, Shaw and Winston Salem State.
The Hawks are led by Joseph Locandro, a 6'9 Forward from Australia who is the teams only double-digit scorer. The starting five only average 29.8 ppg total.
Their shooting isn't great but not terrible either at 53% inside and 31% outside. Turnovers and opponents scoring in transition though doom this team. Over 16 turnovers and 24 points off turnovers really hamper their efforts. Opponents are averaging 9.3 steals against them.
Fouling out hasn't been a risk but they spread them out across the entire roster. Thirteen players have played in at least thirteen games.
Rebounding numbers look close until you go into the game log. You then see they are significantly outrebounded against quality opponents. Fouls seem to follow this same trend.
Defensively expect to see a variety of pressure defense as Coach Hill believe in playing defense the full length of the floor. High energy man-to-man will be the majority of the half court defense.
Offense I am not sure what they are trying to do other than hold on to the ball and get a shot off.
Hawks Starters
Joseph Locandro
#14 SR F 6-9 255
11.9 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Michael Teal
#4 SR G 6-1 160
3.4 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 2.6 Ast
Dorion Staples
#5 SR F 6-7 195
6.1 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Jaden Cooper
#0 SR G 6-3 170
6.0 Pts, 3.6 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Levi Beckwith
#24 FR F 6-7 205
2.4 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Hawks Bench
Justin Monden
#12 JR G 6-0 160
7.9 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Christopher Flippin
#35 SR F 6-8 240
5.5 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Zion Obanla
#1 SR F 6-8 215
8.1 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Trey Brown
#3 JR G 6-7 195
4.2 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Maurio Hanson
#31 SO F 6-7 200
3.9 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Javoy Thompson
#11 JR G 6-7 197
2.5 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Trey Hall
#23 SR F 6-9 200
2.4 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Maurice Vassel
#22 SO F 6-9 195
1.4 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Hokies Starters
Amani Hansberry
#13 JR F 6-8 240
16.3 Pts, 7.8 Reb, 3.3 Ast
Neoklis Avdalas
#17 FR G 6-9 215
14.5 Pts, 3.6 Reb, 4.8 Ast
Tyler Johnson
#10 SO G 6-5 215
9.5 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jailen Bedford
#0 SR G 6-4 181
8.9 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Antonio Dorn
#77 FR C 7-0 230
4.1 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Hokies Bench
Jaden Schutt
#2 JR G 6-5 185
11.1 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Ben Hammond
#3 SO G 5-11 170
9.6 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 3.5 Ast
Christian Gurdak
#32 FR C 6-10 260
3.8 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Izaiah Pasha
#4 SO G 6-4 190
1.5 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Sin'Cere Jones
#5 FR F 6-7 230
0.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Out
Toibu Lawal 1 SR F 6-8 200
12.8 Pts, 10.3 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Another game that I hope the bench can play the entire second half but after Young's comments about defensive breakdowns after the Western Carolina game, I expect the starters to play most of the game.
"We're 11 games in now," he said. "We've got to get better on that end. We're still not rebounding to the level that we need to, and it's going to cost us. ... We've got to put a bigger emphasis on the defensive end and on the glass."
Five Hokies at a minimum in double figures. Hansberry likely gets another double-double. Up by 35 at the half but not as much focus in the second half
Hokies win 97-57
Comments
Let's go!
Hate all the jump shots. We should be scoring at the rim.
How does Dorn warrant a foul there? Never extended arms. The other guy was throwing elbows and had arm extension
They just gave the Hawks 3 points on a 15 foot jumper. Should be 23-20
Young with his patented give up on offensive rebounds against a team that DOES NOT score in transition.
Pasha gets tackled on his three shot with no whistle
As a person in attendance. There's no one here🤣
Not surprising unfortunately
Ugh playing like crap and now Neo limping off the floor
Up by 9. Definitely not pushing the pace to score points. Should have been closer to 50 points in the half.
Shooting %s are good and Hawks hitting some circus shots.
Biggest concern is we still can't get the ball inside to Dorn/Gurdak/Hansberry with any consistency.
Dorn wearing a back brace on bench and Neo limping off pretty concerning with Tobi already out.
Good to see Pasha getting some run with Bedford out sick.
Happy to see Neo on the floor. Like his hustle, but that play to the ball wasn't necessary and not worth the risk.
No one else showing any hustle though. Getting our asses kicked by a much smaller team in the paint
Lot of really dumb whistles in second half. Officials calling some exaggerated stuff
I Sin'Cerely liked that dunk
He wasn't very Sin'cere to that rim
29 pt win FAM!!!!
Much better second half, especially defensively. Still left alot to work on even winning by 29 but beat the spread by half point at least.
Dorn will be on injury watch after not coming back after that physical exchange under the rim early in the 1st half.
Neo seemed fine so hopefully his was just a tweak.
Good minutes for Gurdak and Pasha. Gurdak flirted with the double-double with 13/8. Hansberry came up a rebound short on his double-double too.
Five Hokies finish in double-digits with Hansberry, Neo, Johnson, Hammond and Gurdak. Schutt started and its first time in 6 games he didnt get to double figures.
46% from 3. If they can keep that up that will be a major positive.
UMES finished 4/27 from 3 which accounted for much of the second half change in outcome. They were 1/16 in the 2nd half.
One major negative was being outrebounded by the Hawks 36-32. Much of that was Young playing Fire and Forget basketball with only 5 offensive rebounds.
FAM!