Game Thread: VT Basketball wk13: vs GT , @ Clemson

[wildturkey]

2/9 VT vs Georgia Tech @ 9:00pmEST (ESPNU)

2/14 VT @ Clemson @ NoonEST (check local listings)

Two toss up games this week. GT is just ahead of us on the bottom of the ACC. Clemson is better record wise, 6-5 in the ACC, but they remind me a lot like Pitt in that they don't really look all that impressive. Both games are winnable but we could just as easily lose or just throw the game away like we've done a couple times of late. I'll say we go 1-1 this week.

 

[wildturkey]

Hokies win! 65-63 thanks to a late 3 by Muller with 20 seconds left to get the lead. Too bad I chose to watch Better Call Saul instead. Anyone else catch the game? How was it? Looks like we basically stole it late.

 

[jeffro151]

Hokies win! 65-63 thanks to a late 3 by Muller with 20 seconds left to get the lead. Too bad I chose to watch Better Call Saul instead. Anyone else catch the game? How was it? Looks like we basically stole it late.

Y'all likely got Brian Gregory canned at the end of the season with that comeback.

lol, clock operators started the clock a good 0.5 on the in-bound play at the end of the game before anyone touched the ball.

 

[hokiecat]

I saw the end of game. Great final minutes coaching by Buzz again. GT stopped playing D and let us drive to the basket for relatively easy scores at the end. I don't know if they just got content to milk their lead and didn't want to foul and stop the clock, but the Hokies started scoring with regularity down the stretch.

Mueller hit a huge 3 there to give us the lead. The announcers thought we would call a TO. But GT played their lackluster D again and Mueller was wide open after Hudson drove to the basket. He drained the 3, GT missed and VT got the ball (after the officials review). Smith only made the 2nd of 2 FT attempts but GT missed the last second shot (which seemed late).

It was great to see the Hokies finally win a one possession game. I think this is only our 3rd win in close games. Buzz is one hell of a coach. What he is doing in the ACC with this roster is impressive. I can't wait until next season and beyond when we have a full complement of scholarship players and these guys get more experience. The great news is guys are playing better in Feb than they did in Nov. And I don't think I saw much of that when JJ was coach. The bad news is I don't know who we would lose to get another scholarship spot of Buzz wants to recruit another big.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Crap! I went to bed after GT got up 10 with 5 min. to go. It is amazing this team is playing competitive games with 4 guards on the floor all night and so many freshmen playing. But I don't see VT taking the next step until we get some size down low.....preferably someone who can score at the rim too.

 

[wildturkey]

I saw the end of game. Great final minutes coaching by Buzz again. GT stopped playing D and let us drive to the basket for relatively easy scores at the end. I don't know if they just got content to milk their lead and didn't want to foul and stop the clock, but the Hokies started scoring with regularity down the stretch.

Mueller hit a huge 3 there to give us the lead. The announcers thought we would call a TO. But GT played their lackluster D again and Mueller was wide open after Hudson drove to the basket. He drained the 3, GT missed and VT got the ball (after the officials review). Smith only made the 2nd of 2 FT attempts but GT missed the last second shot (which seemed late).

It was great to see the Hokies finally win a one possession game. I think this is only our 3rd win in close games. Buzz is one hell of a coach. What he is doing in the ACC with this roster is impressive. I can't wait until next season and beyond when we have a full complement of scholarship players and these guys get more experience. The great news is guys are playing better in Feb than they did in Nov. And I don't think I saw much of that when JJ was coach. The bad news is I don't know who we would lose to get another scholarship spot of Buzz wants to recruit another big.

That's the key here. The teams is leaps better than it was at the start of the season. Sure, its been a little frustrating to lose some of these close games (The @Cuse game is inexcusable though) but we all have to remember at the start of the year, we thought we'd be down 15 to 20 in every game. Buzz's game planning is absolutely getting the most he can out of the guys and its impressive.

 

[hokiecat]

I am amazed at Buzz. Our point guard is playing point forward. The @Cuse is almost inexcusable. Hadn't all of our bigs (except for maybe Beyer) fouled out? Once we got insanely small, they steamrolled us. The ESPN cameras did a good job of showing him coaching and I was impressed. He's always teaching and doesn't freak out, even though he is animated. I loved how we fouled GT's 78% guy (who made both) instead of their 90% guy when we were trying to stall the clock with 1-2 minutes to go. He reminds me of 1990's Beamer who takes a pretty good squad but makes it really good by making all the right small moves.

The basketball roster is a dumpster fire so Buzz is making a pretty miserable squad surprisingly competitive. It will be fun to see how they look in Feb 2017.

BTW, Ahmed Hill's absorbing of the charge made "3 Tears" on ESPN2 Sportsnation today. It was pretty brutal for those who have not seen it. All those charge calls (we got at least 3) were the difference last night though. Again, smart play by VT squeezing out every point that they can.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Yuck

 

[Ragingcroc]

Another team with bad 3 point shooting bombing 3 points on us because we have to double the post

 

[wildturkey]

Awful awful game today. I don't know if it was the early start time on the road or what but it looked like we were two steps slow today on everything. And to add insult to injury, Clemson made damn near everything they threw up. It was like their rim was 3 inches wider than ours. I didn't even finish the game. Once Clemson went up by 30 and visibly stopped caring, I flipped the channel to Top Gear reruns.