Hokies Fall to Alabama State in Season-Opening Shootout

Year two of the Buzz Williams era tipped off on Saturday evening and the Hokies' new read-and-react offense appeared to be in midseason form.

Defense, however, was an entirely different story.

"If it was a scoring contest, we would probably be able to play. But if we have to guard, thus far we're not very good," lamented Williams.

The Hokies' inability to defend let an undersized Alabama State squad hang around throughout the game, and the Hornets took advantage with a 22-8 second half run that led to their 85-82 victory at Cassell Coliseum.

"I think if you score 82 points and shoot 40 free throws at home, you probably should win. I think we have a feel for what we're gonna be about offensively, but I don't think that we have an identity for what we wanna be about defensively," said Williams.

South Florida transfer Zach LeDay was the lone bright spot in an otherwise bleak season-opener for the Hokies. LeDay, who averaged just 4.1 points per game in his two years in Tampa, recorded a double-double with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Not known as a high-volume scorer, LeDay used his never-ending motor — twice he simply beat everyone down the court — to dominate the four-guard lineup of the Hornets.

"I think he causes issues regardless of who is guarding him at times," said Williams. "He can catch and shoot. He can score with his back to the basket. Has a knack to get fouled. He's not scared of the lights."

Outside of LeDay, the Hokies seemed uninterested throughout the night, especially on the defensive end. There were technical issues — slow rotations and poor on-ball defense come to mind — but more maddening was the glaring lack of emotion.

"They made hard shots and they got offensive rebounds. That shouldn't happen," said LeDay. "We need to take more pride on defense, because offensively we're a good team. We can score. That's obvious. But we need to just take more pride on defense. Take pride in getting stops."

Seth Allen had a largely forgettable debut in maroon and orange, one that was almost salvaged by a potential game-tying three pointer in the game's final seconds that bounced off the back rim. Allen showed flashes offensively, but four turnovers and suspect defense largely overshadowed the redshirt junior's 13 points.

Chris Clarke's dynamic play-making ability was on display throughout the night as he tallied 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Clarke, who spent time at both small and power forward, refused to settle for jump shots and attacked the rim repeatedly.

Kerry Blackshear logged 25 minutes of run, 20 more than Satchel Pierce and 23 more than Johnny Hamilton. Often paired up with Zach LeDay in the Hokies' front court, Blackshear impressed on the offensive end but had trouble defending high ball screens.

Devin Wilson missed the opener with an injury (timetable for his return is unclear), leaving Justin Robinson and Allen to handle the ball-handling duties. Robinson didn't appear out of place in the slightest, but like Allen, four turnovers put a damper on the freshman's performance.

Poor free throw shooting didn't help the cause for the Hokies as they went just 25-40 from the charity stripe. The Hornets, however, made 16 of their 21 free throw attempts.

After overcoming a slow start, the Hokies led for the majority of the first half and went into the break with a 42-37 lead. Tech added to their lead briefly in the second half, but Alabama State, led by the creative shot-making of Jamel Waters, caught fire late and took a 72-66 lead at the 5:17 mark, forcing Williams to burn a timeout.

After a missed layup from Allen, Alabama State's Steve Rogers tipped in his own miss to give the Hornets an eight point lead. The Hokies battled back and cut the lead to three with just 17 seconds left, and Terrance LeFlore missed two free throws to keep it a one-possession game. LeDay corralled LeFlore's miss and passed up-court to an open Allen, but Allen clanged a three off the back iron as time expired.

The Hokies have no shortage of areas where improvement is a necessity, but simply playing defense lies at the top of that list.

"I think we have to going forward find out who can get a stop and finish with a rebound. Regardless of where they're from or how old they are," said Williams.

Just one night into the season, the Hokies surely have plenty of time to do just that. But if they fail to improve on the defensive end, Williams knows more head-scratching losses could be on the horizon.

"What I told our team is we can learn from this and figure out who we need to become defensively, or we can just keep trying to outscore guys and know that we may win a few and we may lose a bunch, too," said Williams.