Categorized | 2011-12 Season, Game Recaps

Recap | nc state (9-7) 70, VT (4-12) 58

Posted on04 March 2012. Tags: ,

Virginia Tech basketball player Dorenzo Hudson alone on the court for his final game at the Cassell Coliseum.

Virginia Tech senior forward Dorenzo Hudson played his final regular season game at the Cassell Coliseum on Sunday, March 4. The Hokies lost to N.C. State.

Well, you didn’t have to sit through another Hokie heartbreaker Sunday night, because Tech played with no heart in their regular season finale.  12 of Tech’s previous 15 ACC games had been decided by 4 points or less or in OT (and that’s not counting the 2-point loss to byu.  VT was just 4-9 in those games including byu.  The students weren’t around Sunday night (Spring Break), and I’m not sure the Hokie players weren’t also somewhere warmer.  This game was over by the 7-minute mark when state went up 58-47.  The Hokies dropped their 2nd straight Senior Night, falling to the nc state wolfpack 70-58.  BOXSCORE

The pack used two big runs to fuel their win, a 16-2 run in the first half to go up 21-12, and an 11-0 run in the 2nd half to bury the Hokies, going ahead 62-49 with 5 minutes left.  Tech went scoreless for almost 6 minutes during that stretch (stop the presses).

Tech finished the ACC regular season at 4-12, tying the 2005-06 season for their worst record in 8 years in the league.  Tech also finished with a losing record at home in ACC play for just the 2nd time, going 3-5.  The Hokies finish tied for last place in the ACC with wake, georgia tech, and boston college, but get the 10th seed due to head-to-head-to-head-to-head record.  This is the first time VT has finished tied for last (in ’05-06 wake was worse than VT).  nc state moved to 9-7 with the win and locked up the #5 seed for the ACC Tournament.  The Hokies also fell to 15-16 on the season, the first time they’ve been below .500 all year (VT was 11-3 entering conference play).

Stat of the Game: In Tech’s last 2 games, they’ve been outscored on Fastbreak Points 32-0, including 19-0 tonight.  The Hokies didn’t score a Fastbreak Point in their final 2 home games (0 against uva).  state regularly got out and run (either off steals/breakaways, or outlets off VT misses), leading to many easy buckets.

The Hokies finish as the #10 seed and will face #7 clemson for the second Thursday in a row, this time in Atlanta in the ACC Tournament.  The game is this coming Thursday at 7 PM.

Erick Green had his 2nd straight sub-par game.  After scoring in double digits in 30 straight games (including his first 25 of this season), Green was held to 8 Thursday at clemson, and while he did score 12 tonight, he went without a field goal in the first half (he was benched to start the 2nd half) and scored 8 of his 12 in garbage time after the outcome was decided.  He was just 4/13 from the field (he started 1/10).

The only bright spots for Tech were Cadarian Raines and Dorian Finney-Smith.  Raines led the Hokies with 15 on 6/10 shooting.  He’s averaged over 12 PPG over his last 5.  Doe Doe also looked sharp, scoring 14 on 5/9 from the field and 3/4 from deep.  He even had a nice drive and left-handed runner.

nc state finished with 18 turnovers compared to just 7 by VT.  But despite the +11 advantage there, the Hokies lost by 12 (see Fastbreak Points… you have to convert TOs to easy points!).

Game Flow:

Things started well for the Hokies with Tech going ahead 10-5 on a Robert Brown 3-pointer with 14:23 to go in the 1st half.  But nc state went on a 9-0/16-2 run after that point to jump on top 21-12.  state would lead by at least 5 the rest of the half, and scored 4 points in the final 10 seconds of the half thanks to another lazy VT pass.

After 2 free throws by C.J. Leslie, Tech had the ball with 10 seconds to go.  But a lazy pass by Marquis Rankin was intercepted by C.J. Williams who laid in a layup just before the buzzer to put the pack up 38-29 at the break.

state shot over 50% for the first half.  Tech’s defense looked slow (or disinterested), allowing Scott Wood to go for 14 and Leslie to tally 12.  Raines had another great half, leading Tech with 9 points.

In the second half it seemed like the Whistle Song for a while, at least on the Hokies.  Tech was called for 8 fouls before the Under-12 media timeout, the last of which was the 5th foul on Jarell Eddie.  Eddie ‘fouled’ Wood on a 3-point attempt, disqualifying Jarell with just 5 points and 11:49 to go.

Tech would cut the state lead to 51-47 with 10:30 to go on Green’s 4th point, but that’s when the pack went on that 11-0 run to put the game away, with Tech going scoreless for almost 6 minutes (has their been an ACC game yet VT hasn’t gone scoreless for at least 5 minutes at some point???).

LEADING SCORERS:

VA TECH:

  • Raines – 15
  • Finney-Smith – 14
  • Green – 12 (8 in garbage time)

nc state:

  • Wood – 19
  • Leslie – 18 (and 11 rebounds)
  • Brown – 10

SCORES AT MEDIA TIMEOUTS:

1ST HALF:

  • Under-16: VT 7-5
  • U12: nc state 14-10
  • U8: nc state 26-16
  • U4: nc state 32-24

HALF: nc state 38-29

2ND HALF:

  • Under-16: nc state 44-35
  • U12: nc state 48-42
  • U8: nc state 56-47
  • U4: nc state 64-52

This post was written by:

- who has written 1107 posts on Tech Hoops.

Niemo is a member of the VT Class of '98. Attended every home basketball game during his 4 years at VT after missing the first home game. Has attended 122 straight VT football home games (every game since '94), eclipsing the 100 mark in September of '09. During the final home basketball game of his senior year, he was brought onto the court and was awarded 2 passes to the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament in Philly during a timeout. The Hokie Bird made the award on behalf of Athletic Director Jim Weaver. Niemo was known to be in the front row of every home game with his familiar red afro hairdo. Niemo currently lives in DC and speaks the Hokie gospel as often as possible. He watches over 50% of all ACC games, making him one of the most knowledgeable experts on ACC basketball.

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  • HokieGuru

    Great post – one other thing – when ever teams have played zone on us, our offensive flow has absolutely died – if other ACC teams played zone on us, we’d be 0-16 in ACC play – seriously.

  • http://stores.ebay.com/hip-hop-heads-vinyl-crates HipHop_Hokie

    Soooooooooo close to a tootsie pop

  • Chris_atl

    Rankin is getting annoying. The last two games he has made some terrible passes and they are on the outside. It’s not like he is making daring attempts to thread the ball inside. 5 TOs in 15 minutes, really???? And since his TOs are on the outside it’s hard to defend the transition baskets.

    I think we don’t run because we aren’t any good at it. Hard to know if that is coaching or player skill/IQ. So, we play more deliberate (works for UVA) and limit turnovers. While we didn’t get any fast break points we did get more pts off TOs, 24 to 12 so the slower playing stategy is somewhat successful. Unfortunately, tonight our transition defense and our shooting was terrible. We got 15 more FG attempts (which is the goal of minimizing turnovers) and we made 1 less.

    With our shooters we should be killing zone defenses. I think we run a very typical zone beating offense but the movement of the ball isn’t quick enough to produce good looks. Didn’t help that Eddie took himself out (last foul was questionable but he should know better than to go airborne) And if you don’t hit 3s you will never get the ball inside against a zone.

    Another good night for CR and DFS and another terrible shooting night for Zo, floor and line, and he looked like he was burned more than once on long transition passes.

    Good news is the ACC game is an evening game, tickets are supper cheap and Atl folks can go more easily. We draw Clemson, a team we can beat, and I am looking forward to seeing us play live for the first time this year. Maybe we will pull one out and we can see another one Friday night.

  • Chris

    I didn’t even watch the 2nd half. I lost interest (plus, the Bulls were on). Your first sentence summed up the game for me. I didn’t think they played with any heart either. Sad, but fitting, end to the season. Thank God it’s over.

  • Blue Collar Hokie

    Things the Pack fans sitting behind me said:

    Whats wrong with Green? That boys fast why doesnt he take it to the bucket more?

    If we (puppies) played zone in the 1st half we’d be up by 30.

    Who’s 15? He’s pretty good

    I thought Tech was supposed to be loud, UVA is louder than this.

    • Niemo

      To the last comment I’ll say: 1) students were on break, 2) We were 4-11, 3) We had nothing to cheer about. When the two teams are equal, we all know VT is louder than uva.

  • hokiegrad

    Didn’t get to watch the game, but the boxscore only shows 3 steals. That tells me most of State’s turnovers were things we had to take in from out of bounds, right? So while I have to agree that 0 points on the break is pitiful, it doesn’t seem like the huge turnover advantage is as much of a factor there as one might think.

    What has happened to Green? Did he finally give up on this year? I thought he was a pretty solid 2nd team all-ACC player a week ago, but I’m wondering if he’s played himself off that squad the last couple times out. He can hope that the voters didn’t watch this game…

    • Niemo

      I forgot to point out in the recap that Green got benched to start the 2nd half. I think he’s had to carry too much of the load this season and it’s worn on him. The funny thing is now other guys are stepping up, so he doesn’t have to. But he’s forcing shots that just aren’t good shots. Seems to be turning into Delaney more and more each day, focused on points, not facilitating. I’ll say this — Green was an excellent PG last year. His Assist-to-TO ratio was amazing. Surprisingly, it’s pretty close this year though it doesn’t fell like it and is slightly worse (2.3-to-1 last year, 1.9-to-1 this year). I don’t know if EG’s regression later this year is on EG, or on coaching (and being told you need to shoot more, that you have to be the star), or on defenses focusing more on him. It could be the latter, but wouldn’t that help your A-to-TO ratio if you focused on sharing?

  • Les

    The entire backcourt played poorly.

    They’re giving away too many passes to opponents anticipating the pass around the perimeter.

    The perimeter is getting to be a very crowded place to play. Everyone, but Raines, likes to start with the ball on the three-point line. I think Eddie and Finney-Smith may have to split a position. If either of those two can improve their ball-handling and on-ball defense, it would help the team if they can move to the 2 position.

  • Martin

    That last foul on Eddie was complete and utter BS. That is all.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    That’s two years in a row where the Hokies came out flat on Senior Day and laid an egg. I don’t know how that happens, but I’d hate to see it become a theme. I’m wondering if Greenberg’s coaching style grinds on the players too much. They play like they’re afraid to make mistakes, and so they make mistakes. There’s zero creativity on offense. So glad the regular season is over… I can’t avoid watching this team, so it’s nice to be relieved of the pain. One positive note: Loving C Raines… what a player he’s turning himself into!

  • Ryan W

    It seems quite obvious to me that Green needs to attack the basket more. He never decides to do it until the second half. Yes he has turned himself into a great shooter but your percentages will always be lower when you settle for jump shots so much. He needs to drive and either finish at the rim, get fouled or dish it. Hopefully he works on more of that in the offseason. Im so excited for Raines. Post moves have been unbelievable.


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2012-13 Schedule

November
11/10 Hokies 80, etsu 62
11/12 Hokies 69, rhode island 50
11/15 Hokies 95, vmi 80
11/19 Hokies 96, unc-g 87
11/23 Hokies 87, appalachian state 76
**ACC/BIG Ten Challenge**
11/27 Hokies 95, iowa 79
December
12/1 Hokies 81, #15 oklahoma state 71
12/8 wvu 68, Hokies 67
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/10 Hokies 70, mvsu 49
12/15 Georgia Southern 78, Hokies 73
12/22 Hokies 66, bradley 65, OT
12/23 colorado state 88, Hokies 52
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/29 byu 97, Hokies 71
January
1/5 maryland 94, Hokies 71
1/9 boston college 86, Hokies 75
1/12 Hokies 70, georgia tech 65
1/19 Hokies 66, wake forest 65
1/24 virginia 74, Hokies 58
1/27 clemson 77, Hokies 70
1/30 miami 73, Hokies 64
February
2/2 unc 72, Hokies 60, OT
2/7 maryland 60, Hokies 55
2/9 Georgia Tech 64, hokies 54
2/12 virginia 73, Hokies 55
2/16 nc state 90, Hokies 86
2/21 duke 88, Hokies 56
2/24 Hokies 80, fsu 70
2/27 miami 76, Hokies 58
March
3/2 Hokies 69, clemson 61
3/5 duke 85, Hokies 57
3/10 wake 90, Hokies 79
**ACC Tournament in Greensboro**
3/14 vs. nc state, 2:30 p.m.
3/15 Quarterfinals
3/16 Semifinals
3/17 Finals

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