Categorized | 2012-13 Season, Game Recaps

Game Recap | VT (1-0), etsu (0-1)

Boxscore

The James Johnson Era got off to a great start as the Hokies woodsheded the east tennessee state bucs 80-62 (not quite a Bear Fight) on Saturday at the Cassell.

My player of the game was Jarell Eddie.  While Erick Green led Tech with 21 points, Eddie chipped in a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  With Tech’s never ending depth issues inside, additional rebounding support will be key, and Eddie provided that today.

Green got his senior year off to a solid start with 6/11 shooting and 8/12 from the line to tally those 21 points.  He also had 6 assists.

Robert Brown looked great from the outside, hitting 4/7 three-pointers and scoring 16 points of his own, and added 5 assists.  Raines added 9 points but his post moves looked rusty, as he was just 3/9 from the field.  But he did pass the ball well in the post.

The Hokies did push the ball more on offense as promised.  They had 9 fast break points.  While that may not sound like much, they didn’t get any in their final 2 home games last year.  The biggest thing I noticed was Tech never came close to a shot clock violation until late in the game.  They took the first good shot they got, and continually moved the ball to get a shot until seemingly bleeding the shot clock until a forced shot was required.

Tech trailed 8-7 early but used a 13-4 run to pull away.  Brown, Eddie, and Brown again hit three-pointers in a 75 second span that put the Hokies up 37-22, and etsu never got within 10 after that.

VT led 43-28 at the break and led by as many as 25 in the 2nd half before the bucs closed the gap in garbage time.

Marquis Rankin did not play due to deaths in his family (our thoughts go out to him and his family).  Four walk-ons played for VT (Marcus Patrick, Christian Beyer, Joey Racer, and Will Johnston).  Racer and Johnston scored, and freshmen Marshall Wood and Joey van Zegeren (redshirted last year) scored their first collegiate points.

Tech returns to action Monday night at the Cassell against rhode island at 7 PM

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This post was written by:

- who has written 1106 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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  • NoDak

    OBoys looked good today. Odd question – what was the deal with the ” Wilson” chant?

    • Niemo

      I think that’s the guy that shot an airball for etsu during the game.

      • goodraisin

        This is true, and I think he was also their leading scorer in the game at that point? Kudos to the fans, they were awesome in that game.

  • Chris

    Went to the game, and left very impressed with this team. I know it’s just ETSU, but I feel more encouraged after this game than I have with any VT team in a long time. The fast-paced, uptempo offense was fun to watch. Will it work as well against UNC and Duke? Probably not. But watching the team push the ball and (for the most part) take good shots was quite refreshing from previous season’s “dribble, dribble, pass, dribble, pass, shoot contested 3″.

    I’ve thought since Day 1 that Robert Brown would be the best player to come out of the 2011 class (including over DFS), and I was really encouraged with his performance today. Guy has a good handle, has good size and bulk, can get to the rim, and has a great stroke (though I can’t figure out his free-throw shooting woes). I think he’ll be a better player than Delaney when it’s all said and done. Really high on him.

    Green and Eddie were both great today. We’re going to need them to be great in order to be competitive in ACC play. Raines was solid. Barksdale looked lost. Wood showed some promise; looks like a solid future for the player but needs a year to adjust to ACC ball. He’s going to be baptized by fire though. JVZ gave them some decent minutes, and Johnston has a surprisingly good shot. He may be able to contribute in small spurts this year. Nice to see Racer make the 3 towards the end of the game.

    The team as a whole needs to do a better job on the glass. That’s the only real complaint I have with today… nice opening win!

  • 69HOKIE

    Liked what I saw today. I hope somebody steps up on the boards. May be an ongoing problem this year with the bodies we have.

    Good game!!!

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