Game Thread: VT Basketball wk15: vs #4Duke, @ #2UVA

[wildturkey]

Two absolutely brutal games this week.

2/25 VT vs #4 Duke, at 9pmEST (ESPN2)

2/28 VT @ #2 UVA, at 4pmEST (check local listings)

The good news is we're back home after road stretch where we keep proving we flat out stink on the road. The bad news is that home game is against Duke. There's a chance freshman phenom and likely #1 overall NBA draft pick Jahlil Okafor might not play, but it doesn't matter. He missed the last game and the Dukies smoked Clemson, going up by as much as 30 in the 2nd half. Duke is our worst match up possible. Okafor can absolutely wreck us inside and the team loves shooting 3s and does so pretty darn well. I expect this to get ugly real quick.

I don't expect the UVA game to be that close either despite us playing them close earlier in the season in a game we truthfully should have won. While UVA is dealing with injuries right now and their style of play usually keeps teams hanging around, the road factor is the biggest concern. For whatever reason, we don't play well at all away from the Cassell. I expect the game to be close for awhile but ultimately a comfortable win for UVA.

 

[Ragingcroc]

LETS GO!

 

[Ragingcroc]

crap...

 

[wildturkey]

Eh, what are you gonna do? We had a shot to win, it just didn't go down. I never would have expected us to even be in the game. Buzz had a good gameplan, everyone's energy was up, and we played pretty much as well as we could. Hudson, Wilson, Bibbs and Smith did a great job getting dribble penetration and made some good decisions. And Pierce had his best game yet. He took a beating from Okafor but he set solid screens on offense and looked like he belonged on the court, something that's been hit or miss all year. Still, it's a bit of bummer. I was ready to see a Cassell court storm.

 

[jeffro151]

Fuckin' Okafor gets all the damn calls. Dude throws so many damn elbows.

 

[wildturkey]

UVA wins 69-57. We kept it close for most of the game. There were a couple of double digit runs UVA had but we crept back into the game until the Hoos went on another run with like 5 minutes left. Things might have been different if Bibbs didn't have an absolutely dreadful game. I think he went something like 1-10 and its not like those shots were all heavily contested. He had several good looks and just missed, sometimes was wildly off. Don't know what happened to him because he looked great against Duke. It's a shame. You can't expect to beat a defense as good as UVA's without everyone playing their A game.

Does anybody know what's the deal with Henry? Buzz hardly ever plays him. There were times this game where Pierce/Beyer got into foul trouble or were absolutely gassed (Beyer played his ass off. Props to him) and Henry is just sitting on the bench. I'm just curious to hear Buzz's rationale behind it. It seems like all year that he'll only play 2 of the 3 "big" men we have even if all 3 are healthy.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Does anybody know what's the deal with Henry? Buzz hardly ever plays him. There were times this game where Pierce/Beyer got into foul trouble or were absolutely gassed (Beyer played his ass off. Props to him) and Henry is just sitting on the bench. I'm just curious to hear Buzz's rationale behind it. It seems like all year that he'll only play 2 of the 3 "big" men we have even if all 3 are healthy.

Not sure. It just seems like certain players will get no playing time for several games but then get big minutes on the next few games. Pierce got like no minutes for a while, then 31 at Duke. Hudson got like 1 minute in the game before Duke where he played big. Mueller had like no minutes and had a huge stretch of games where he was averaging like 12 ppg.

I think its a result of matchups and how well the players are doing on the floor.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Nice to see Jalen Hudson follow up his break out game against Duke with another great performance.......14 minutes, 0 pts (0-1 from the field)....WTF?