The Men play UVA tonight at 7PM at Cassell Coliseum. The game is on ESPN2. The Hokies are looking for revenge after getting their clocks cleaned at UVA on Jan 10. The 65-39 beating was one of the worst in Hokies history. Let's just say nothing worked. We shot poorly, rebounded poorly, defended poorly and just generally played bad basketball. I think we can do better tonight; but a win will be hard to achieve.
Virginia plays 7 players regularly in their high energy defense. In the last game the Hokies did a lot of standing around. Hopefully tonight, they will move the ball around more and cause the defense to have to work harder.
UVA is 19-7, 11-5 ACC. Their five ACC losses are to Syracuse(OT) and NC State at home and to Louisville, FSU and BC on the road. Their other 2 losses are to South Carolina at home and at Purdue.
UVA takes the air out of the ball. They score 59 points per game and allow 55 points per game. They force a lot of bad shots because teams know the defense is so good. In the first game we took a lot of marginal shots early in the shot clock because of concern about the defense; and the Hokies are not good at getting a good shot late in the shot clock. We did not really challenge their defense by moving the ball and making sharp cuts. To have any chance tonight, we have to be very active on offense. We need to move their defense around to wear them down. UVA reacts very quickly; so we need to get them far enough out of position to give us time to shoot with confidence. That also has the additional benefit of wearing them down; so they might be a little slower later in the game, if we can stay close.
UVA's offense is very efficient. They shoot well late in the shot clock. The Hokies cannot relax; they need to play denense for the entire shot clock. This would be a great game for Nolley to find his shot again; and for Ojiako to play well.
This would be a great win for the Hokies resume if we can pull it off. Might get us back into the NIT. The rest of the schedule does not really have a soft spot. Louisville at Louisville is an almost certain loss. Clemson at home may be a chance for one more win. Notre Dame on the road is possible but not likely. Hokies need to find some magic.
Go Hokies!
Comments
A silver lining from our rough past few weeks is that we'd now qualify as a bubble bursting "bad loss" for UVA
Anyone in bburg want 2 tickets to tonight's game? They are free, seats at mid court. My dog just had surgery so I can't go.
yes please, my freshman would love them.
Shoot me an email so I can get you the tickets. Ninatrott@ comcast[dot]net
More importantly hope your good boy/girl feels better.
Thanks for the well wishes. My girl is 2 years old a Black Mouth Cur and had luxating patella surgery last Wednesday, she still needs watching around the clock since she doesn't do the crate calmly. She's recuperating well, stitches come out next week. Vet school did the surgery and I couldn't be more pleased with the whole experience.
Tony Bennett is just thankful it isn't the ZimaVirus.
(Couldn't find the Hatin' On thread to drop that in...)
Lets go ! Fuck UVA!
Great ball movement. Not hitting the open shot.
Early ball movement looks pretty good...much less standin around this time.
I risk sounding like Booger McFarland, but we gotta make shots if we hope to win this game.
We're getting looks but nobody seems to know where the bucket is located
Yep. Ball movement was better but that doesn't help if we never get in in the hoop.
Can't shoot 20% and 0 for 7 for three. Need to settle down and make the open shots.
This is tough to watch. Hopefully we start making some shots
We're actually playing pretty well. We're getting good shots and playing some defense. Just can't get the ball to go through the hoop.
Nolley has to sit. This is getting ridiculous.
Oh look, he sits and we pull within 3
Nolley, if you ever read this I want you to know that I love you.
...and Nolley is the one to tie the game!
All he needed was some motivation
11 freaking points, this is ugly, side note nolley is not a lottery pick at all this year
They have got to figure out what to do on that pick and roll. Someone has to cover the pick man. Both defenders have been staying outside and leaving a big man alone under the basket.
Ugh. That was the ugliest basketball half I have ever seen since the shot clock was added.
Yikes.... Its bad y'all.
Struggling on both ends of the court. Every once in a while we make a good defensive play, but there have been so many open looks it's infuriating.
Jeez. I don't even know what to say.
😢😢😢
So anybody got anything fun going on this weekend? Any plans?
I'm going to say this and then run. ya'll go easy on me.
uva had more fans at their spring game than we had points in that half.
That was an incredibly bad half....but mostly because none of our shots went in. There were not many bad shots...just npne going in. The good news is that we are down 15. Not 30. This is doable if we can make some fucking shots.
LETS GO!!!
I believe. ....if anybody can blow this....its LOLUVA
We're aliveeee
How about this for halftime adjustments
I don't care how we get there...just so long as we have more points at the end of this half.
Still have not figured out how to defend the pick and roll. But we have found some offense.
Late to the game. Did Nolley not start?
Couldn't find his XXX gloves until the second half
Sat out the first 3 minutes.
No he did not and john ojiako got his first start
Oh damn, I thought it was a how many times the announcers said it thing. My bad
Did Nolley just forget how to shoot?
Maybe, yes
I had a girlfriend who literally forgot how to ride a bike. Anything is possible
How the hell do you reverse an out of bounds call to the wrong call? ACC refs bungle it again.
Bench reaction got em
How about having a set and insist9ng as the closest guy with the only clear view you may have gotten it right.
I didn't make the call. Just letting you know what I've been watching the past 20 years with Acc refs
Why has 57% three point shooter Jalen cone not been in all game!?
RIGHT THERE
Keepin him fresh for the stretch run....duh...
/s
I believe. Cause as i said...if anyone could blow the game after that first half...its LOLUVA
Reckon if you chuck enough of em eventually they'll start going in.
If we win this damn thing after scoring 11 in a half that's about the most embarrassing thing we could possibly do to UVA basketball this year.
YALL CONE SHOULD BE IN ALLL GAME
Cone can Choot
Co can Catoor.
No Bede in during the comeback...
Probably should have had him out there when cone launched one for no reason
And again
Kevin McAllister I'm Not Afraid Anymore dot gif
I don't know what's gonna happen, but dammit I love this team.
We need to stop having empty possessions.
I said STOP. Not start. Geesh.
Then Nolley ends momentum with offensive charge. So unnecessary and now we are cold as ice. Need to score after this travel call
Four terrible offensive possessions after getting a 3 point lead.
Yep. Really sucks. Now down by 2 and they have the ball
Good TO by CMY
I think you go for the win here
Our late game offense needs a lot of work
At least CMYBALL called a TO this time
Who do we want to take the shot? Cone?
Yeah that's about right
This is one place I miss Buzz. He could draw up an OOB play
*McNeilly could draw up an OOB set play
Farts
We left way, way too much time on the clock. Should have taken it all the way down to prevent that exact situation playing out. Experienced teams eat the clock before trying to score at the end.
To be fair that was one of the better looking end game possessions all season. Now that we made it they can work on clock management next.
UnphuckingBelievable....just like UVA did to UNC
Shot too soon. Gave them time to run their offense.
...or extend the defense and don't let them get off a shot.
Phuck UVA
Swept in football and basketball
Their athletic department kicked our ass this year.
Ebbs and flows dude. We will be fine
Still sucks either way you slice it
Anyone going to stick around and watch this Blackshear guy play for Florida? Sigh
Fuck no
*picks up mic off the floor and whispers, "Cone should have been in from minute 1"*
*As he gave up the game winning 3
No
A low percentage shot lucky ass three
I wouldn't call a 3 pt shot from the wing without a defender in your face all that low of a percentage. We gave up wide open looks all night on D, we did a better job of staying with a man on the pick and roll in the second half, but had already dug too deep of a hole in the first half.
Still a young team. Last four offensive possessions were not optimum. Encouraged by the way they played with Catoor and Cone in the back court at the end of the game. Hate to rag on Nolley; but his charge changed the momentum. If he just does not dip his shoulder, that is a no call or a block.
Nolley is having a tough run as long its not a free throw, youth showed I'm okay with taking the tying shot and letting defense finish the game uva hadn't shot too well in the second half and unfortunately they get a shot, this team is learning alot right now that will pay off in the future
Not picking on you here, but just asking the question...at what point is Nolley not in a slump anymore and just actually...not good? Because right now the data is trending that way.
I think it's a bit different cause NAW had talent around him to hide it, but I'm pretty sure he hit also hit quite a freshman wall in Jan/Feb as well back in 2018. Nolley is definitely good and is still our most talented player on the roster right now.
Even when not having great shooting percentages he consistently is one of the top guys in damn near every stat category. That's how you know he is good. He still manages to get to the line and score effectively, has some insane passes and also rebounds well. Dude is a flat out good player.
I wish I could get warned ahead of time about heartbreakers... Anyway 22 minutes from Bede but then Cone and Cattoor took over in the second half. I look forward to next year
At some point Nolley will get through his slump. There will be a game before the end of the year where the learning plays off. If not, next year will be fun to watch.
I think the year of not playing competitive basketball may be affecting him and his endurance may just not be there for a full season.
Sick and tired of being UVA's bitch. Never seen a group so good at digging holes without needing any shovels as was done tonight.
As much as I want to say this will be another lesson for a young team, I would really prefer to win some of these lesson games. UVa was very beatable tonight as they started just as cold on offense. They have a veteran lineup and you could tell in some of the savvy plays they made to get open looks. I had written this season off before it started as one of growing pains and am thankful that we got the hot start to enjoy, but damn are these close ones are still hard to swallow.