Buzzketball Drops Another, Hokies Lose 53-68 at UNC

It didn't seem like things were going to work out for the Virginia Tech men's basketball team before their game against North Carolina started on Sunday. Leading scorer Justin Bibbs was out with a concussion, and center Joey van Zegeren never made the trip to Chapel Hill, missing his fourth straight game due to a mysterious suspension.

And do you know what? Things didn't work out for Tech, despite a number of Tar Heel miscues. The shorthanded Hokies started slow and could never recover, losing their fifth consecutive game 53-68.

The long, big man heavy Heels posed an obvious matchup problem to a Hokies team with two available scholarship post players, and that wingspan advantage played out. UNC grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, usually negating nice defensive possessions by Buzz Williams' team.

Couple the deficit on the glass with an abhorrent first half of shooting, and it was practically all she wrote after just twenty minutes. The Hokies opened the game by shooting 32 percent from the field and a nearly unbelievable 14 percent (1-7) from the free throw line. While Tech improved somewhat after the halftime break, the team just couldn't work it's way back into the game until it was too late.

There is one positive that can be taken away, not only from this game, but from the entire ACC slate. I've been trying to think of a way to make this observation this without sounding condescending, but I'm not really sure it's possible, so I'll just say it.

This team plays so hard.

The defensive lapses or the bad shots may mask it at times, but the team really has taken on the personality of its coach. Bodies are flying all over the floor, each guard is closing out as much as they can on shooters and the players are really boxing out.

That's what I think we should all see when we watch this team. I've read a lot of people who are frustrated that they don't look any better than last year, and record wise that's a fair thing to say. But just think back to some of those games a year ago, remember that stretch of losing four consecutive games by twenty points apiece?

This isn't that team. Despite being down between 14 and 18 for most of the game, Tech battled and kept playing to bring themselves back. They even cut the lead to single digits with just over two minutes left in the game, and immediately pressed Carolina into a near-turnover.

I know that it's nearly impossible to accept moral victories as the losses pile up. There's only so much that anyone would be willing to take game-to-game while watching the worst team in the conference. But there is something to this effort, something to finishing a game that they have no business being in that will keep people coming back. It's the kind of undefinable moxie that makes NCAA Tournament cinderellas so endearing, and it's a necessary quality to have in a conference so loaded.

Tech just isn't as talented as whoever they play. Be it Carolina or Florida State, the Hokies don't have the horses to run with the other thoroughbreads of this league right now, and that's okay.

I get the frustration, I really do, but at some point you have to look at who's on the court. Will Johnston and Jalen Hudson were blocking Tar Heels out, and still they were simply jumped over for offensive boards. Devin Wilson and Malik Mueller were running out hard on shooters, but they just couldn't always get there in time.

There are many things to watch for throughout the second half of Buzzketball year one, I just don't think it's reasonable to expect many positive outcomes while doing so.

To start with something that I didn't like, the situation surrounding Devin Wilson has frustrated me all year. He's at his best when he's dominating the ball, getting into the lane and making stuff happen from there. His best is aggressive, physical and teetering on the brink of being out of control.

The Hokies are a better team when the sophomore point guard plays like this, it was one of the biggest reasons why the second half against Syracuse went so well. He got to the line and really milked that zone for all it was worth. The problem, however, is that he doesn't consistently play with that tamed recklessness. He often looks passive, initiating the offense and not getting the ball back for possessions at a time.

For a team that goes through major scoring droughts, this is a problem. Having Bibbs and Adam Smith bombing away from deep can provide fistfuls of points, but such a reliance on the three pointer also contributes to the minutes of fruitless basketball that we've seen in spots.

Throughout the ESPNU broadcast, Brad Daugherty was constantly needling Tech about the lack of drives to the hoop. While he may have been over the top with rather, let's just say Carolina-centric analysis, he did touch on the difficulties of being so reliant on outside shots. For a team that usually has three or four ball handlers on the floor at the same time, the Hokies are too frequently without a guard who attacks the hoop when his squad needs a bucket.

Until Hudson can show an ability to attack with more consistency or until Smith gets into the paint and decides "eh, I should pass instead of shooting over this double team" that person has to be Wilson.

However, since Syracuse game, Devin has shot 2-12 from the field and 6-10 from the stripe. Twelve shots in three games? That doesn't really sound like a player doing what he can to get his team a few relatively easy points. Buzz's implementation of more pick and roll stuff with Satchel Pierce could open things up for his point guard, so we'll just have to see if that's something that develops over the next few games.

Pierce has been a nice surprise lately. He's still not ready and can be found behind the play defensively (resulting in foul problems), but he's shown the potential that caused him to receive multiple ACC offers. Although he was only credited with a single rebound against the Tar Heels, he got his hands on a lot of rebounding opportunities while they're in the air, many times knocking them away from an offensive player. He's still far away from his best-case scenario as a player, but I think that I can say with confidence that he's not just a stiff like I feared was the case at the beginning of the season.

One last note. I always like to use a game against a team like Carolina as a barometer of sorts for freshmen. The question, 'which players looked like they belonged with the five-star McDonalds All-Americans out there?' can tell you a lot about the younger players on the team.

Pierce was overwhelmed at times, but did some intriguing things. Ahmed Hill looked like he belonged on the floor athletically, but his shot wasn't falling (3-10) and he played too loosely with the ball. Although, the player that I'm most interested in is Hudson.

He definitely looked the part athletically, but it was more than that. Hudson made multiple plays that raised my eyebrows, including a nifty little drive and dish to Shane Henry for a dunk. He played with such confidence, like he knew he could hang with those guys in sky blue.

He also didn't shoot very well (noticed a theme yet?), but I would still say that he played a good game. As long as the back issues that kept him out against 'Cuse don't flare up in any major way, I'm really excited to watch him develop against other big time conference teams.

I know it's often hard to watch this team and still take anything positive away, but it's something that we'll have to do. The results won't be pretty and the bigger picture always gets a little harder to see when the losses mount up in the middle of winter.

We're just going to have to slog along with this team, celebrate the fight that Buzz and his squad take to each ranked opponent while also understanding the huge talent discrepancy. Things will work out for this team soon, it just doesn't look like it will be as soon as we wanted it to be.