Game Thread: HokieHoops Wk8: @ #14 Duke, vs Wake Forest

[wildturkey]

1/9: VT @ #14 Duke, Noon est (ACC Network, check local listings)

1/13: VT vs Wake Forest, 9pmEST (Raycom, check local listings)

The 1st place Hokies are undefeated in ACC play! Fun to say, might not last long as Duke is nearly unbeatable in Cameron. Duke isn't as good this year as they were last year and if we play with the kind of energy and effort like we did in the 2nd half of NC State and the UVA game, there's a chance we could win. Wake on Wednesday could go either way. They are better this year but also much like us, up and down from game to game. I'd give us the edge in that one since its in Cassell.

 

[wildturkey]

That Duke game was ugly. Couldn't hit anything whether it was contested or wide open. All the misses must have led to a lack of focus (or maybe not) but we were pretty lazy on defense too. Probably wouldn't have mattered anyway because Duke had their A game today. So even if we played well for a full game, we still would have lost albeit a more respectable score.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Have no idea what to make out of this Wake team. They have some good wins: beat Indiana and UCLA out in Maui. and beat Ben Simmons and LSU in Baton Rouge right before ACC play.

They've been competitive in every game except for the Vanderbilt game (and Wake only had seven scholarship players in that game). However, they haven't blown out anyone this year. They've looked great in stretches, but they've also looked poor in stretches. Its a very young team has only two scholarship upper classmen on the entire roster, so inconsistency is going to happen.

think it could be a close one on Wednesday night.

 

[wildturkey]

Bibbs balled out tonight. 32 pts on 12-18 shooting. Thought we played great in the 1st half but had a little trouble in the 2nd half when Wake started throwing out some zone to give different looks on D which got them back into a one or two possession game. Damn near gave the game away late with some FT misses and I actually thought Buzz mishandled the last minute. He probably should have fouled late to prevent WF from getting 3s or at the very least press full court. But at least we're on the right side of close games now! 3-1 in the ACC, surpassing last year's win total. Progress!

 

[Ragingcroc]

Bibbs balled out tonight. 32 pts on 12-18 shooting. Thought we played great in the 1st half but had a little trouble in the 2nd half when Wake started throwing out some zone to give different looks on D which got them back into a one or two possession game. Damn near gave the game away late with some FT misses and I actually thought Buzz mishandled the last minute. He probably should have fouled late to prevent WF from getting 3s or at the very least press full court. But at least we're on the right side of close games now! 3-1 in the ACC, surpassing last year's win total. Progress!

Maybe they were supposed to? They set Miller McIntyre up so he was sprinting downcourt. Its harder to foul someone sprinting without them seeing it and drawing the foul anyway.

Our offense was pretty good but our defense was trash. Wake got wide open looks whenever they wanted. 58.9% FG and 54.2% 3PT will make you lose most nights. We often left the pick and pop man open despite Mitoglu being a good 3 pt shooter. Almost every drive had either someone rotating down low for no reason or no rotation from people that were two passes away to help the helper leaving guys wide open from 3. I guess it would have helped if we hadn't given up penetration that often in the first place.

FT shooting nearly cost us another game,