UPDATED: 1.12.13 at 7:45 p.m. to include more stats from the game.

The Hokies snapped their four-game losing streak and picked up their first ACC win of the season by beating georgia tech on the road, 70-65, in overtime. It is head coach James Johnson’s first ACC win as a head coach.

Erick Green, the nation’s leading scorer, led the way with 28 points. And it would appear that C.J. Barksdale, also known as “the transfer from GW” by the announcers, has learned his lesson about dogging it in practice. He had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Overtime was the most exciting five minutes of the game. Virginia Tech did nothing in the first half and scored a season-low 22 points. At one point, they went 10:10 without a field goal. The Hokies took a 12-11 lead on a jumper by Green with 10:44 left and didn’t score another field goal until Green scored again on a fast break with 34 seconds left in the half. Tech did manage eight free throws during that stretch.

Tech trailed gt 25-22 at the break and trailed the entire second half. After falling behind by 11 points midway through the second half, Green took over and led the Hokies to an ugly comeback that saw VT score the final five points of the game to tie it and send it to overtime.

Trailing 47-40 with 9:54 to play in the game, Green scored the next 10 points for the Hokies to keep the visiting team in the game and cut gt’s lead to 53-50 with 6:51 to go. From that point on, game was almost unwatchable as both teams struggled.

The yellow jackets went to the free throw line and hit 2-of-4 shots over the next three minutes to take a 55-50 lead. Tech scored the final five points of regulation. Barksdale made 1-of-2 free throws to cut the lead to four; Cadarian Raines got a nice offensive rebound and putback to make it a 2-point game; and then georgia tech, rather than let the Hokies take a shot, fouled Green and sent him to the line where he made both free throws to tie the game with :24 left.

Bad tech managed to get a shot off, but missed badly and Jarell Eddie grabbed the defensive rebound with :03 left. VT called a timeout and set up a play in which Green got off a half-court shot that missed, sending the game into OT.

There the Hokies scored the first seven points to take a 62-55 lead. gt called a timeout and staged a comeback, cutting Tech’s lead to 62-60 and then again to 64-63, but poor shot selection and rebounding allowed the Hokies to hold on, hit some free throws down the stretch and pull out a hard fought win.

Robert Brown missed the last game because of the flu and played poorly during regulation missing on all nine of his field goal attempts. OT, however, was a different story. He was a perfect 2-for-2 and scored four of the Hokies 15 points in the extra session. And while he con

The Hokies, despite giving up size up front, won the rebounding battle, 43-32, thanks in large part to Barksdale who had nearly a fourth of all rebounds for Good Tech.

Niemo will swoop in and provide some analysis and breakdowns, so stay tuned. In the meantime, below you’ll find my blow-by-blow of the game.

First Half

Rankin hurts shoulder in first minute
Green misses open three
Eddie scores in the lane, 2-2
Brown back, but misses open three on the left side
Eddie misses open three, left of the key
JVZ nice move inside, 4-3 VT
Bad shot by Green, trying to do too much
JVZ gets rejected, nice feed from Brown driving the lane
Rankin back in (16:39)
CJ hit long jumper, top of key, 6-3 VT
Ranking turns it over, fast break points, 6-5 VT
Raines, left handed hook shot, 1-on-1 in the paint, 8-5 VT
Under 16 media time out, 8-5 VT (14:45)

Can’t guard Miller 1-on-1, need to double him
Will Johnston in the game
Johnston airballs misses three, but forced the shot with clock running out, not his fault
Green with his first points, fast break points off turnover, 10-7 VT
GT can’t hit a shot – looks like VT
Raines misses underneath, GT with rebound
Good defense in the paint
Johnston misses from three
Under 12 media time out, 10-9 VT

GT takes 11-10 lead on FTs
Christian Beyer in the game
Green gets a shot with two guys on him, 12-11 VT
Nice pass, Eddie to Rankin to Beyer, but took too long, got rejected
Robert Carter Jr. airballs a shot from inside the top of the key
Green takes a really long 3 pointer, misses
GT turns it over, Green gets rejected, Brown gets rebound, called for offensive foul
Poole hits a three, 14-12 GT
Beyer misses open baseline jumper
Raines with a nice reound
Under 8 media timeout, Hokies trail 14-12 7:28

Brown hits two FTs to tie the game, 14-14
GT hits a three, 17-14 GT
Raines misses hook shot
Brown hits two more FTs, 17-16 GT
GT bails out Green (bailed out Brown twice)
Green misses the first FT, what? Makes the secod, 19-17 GT
GT hits a three, 22-17
VT hits two FTs, 22-19
Under 4 media timeout, 3:30

Hokies playing man-to-man, Beyer on No. 4 for GT, mismatch
Raines misses another hook shot, no finesse
JVZ gets blocked AGAIN
Green trying to do too much
Green misses another FT, makes the second, 22-20 GT
Brown to Green on the fast break, dunk, 22-22 (:35.1 seconds left)
It’s amazing that VT is even remotely in this game
Carter Jr. hits a three off the glass at the buzzer, GT leads 25-22 at the half.

*Lowest first-half point total for the Hokies this season

Second Half

GT jumps out 31-24 lead, JJ calls timeout
Eddie fouls Robert Carter Jr., who makes 1/2 FT, 32-24 GT
Eddie scores in transition, 32-26 GT
GT gets the bucket and the foul, 34-26 GT
GT makes the FT, 35-26 GT
Barksdale nice basket inside, 35-28 GT
GT hook shot, 37-28 GT
Brown airballs a three
Under 16 media timeout, 37-28 GT 15:25

Raines with the putback, 37-30 GT
Georges-Hunt scores, 39-30 GT
Nice pass by Green to Barksdale underneath, fouled
CJ makes 2 FTs, 39-32 GT
Easy bucket for GT, 41-32 GT
Brown turns it over, GT scores on the break, 43-32
Green makes 2 FTs, 43-34 GT
Green takes it end-to-end for the off-balanced layup, 43-36 GT
Green has 11 points
GT misses a three, Green rebounds
GT fouls Green at the other end (non shooting foul)
Barksdale has it stolen
GT called for the walk
Green comes out of the game to rest (12:20)
Brown nearly turns it over again
Brown misses bad shot, Rankin gets the rebound, new shot clock
Raines airballs a hook shot
Brown has his shot rejected by Miller
Under 12 media timeout, 43-36 GT 11:24

Raines gets a tip in, 43-38 GT
Raines called for the foul at the other end
Miller misses the first FT, makes the 2nd, 44-38 GT
GT called for a foul away from the ball
Green drives and feeds Barksdale down low, gets the basket and the foul, 44-40 GT
Barksdale missed the FT
GT hits a three, 47-40 GT
Green hits a nice pull up jumpber, has 14, 47-42 GT
Raines picks up his third personal foul
GT misses first FT, makes the second, 48-42 GT
Green drains a three from the corner off the screen, has 17, 48-45 GT (first three of the game for VT)
GT with the runner, 50-45 GT
Foul called on GT
VT turns it over on the inbounds
VT hasn’t committed its usuall double digit turnovers thus far
GT bricks a three attempt, VT rebounds
Green hits another shot, 50-47 GT (Green with 19)
GT hits a three, 53-47 GT
“Green’s going to need some help.”
Green DRAINS a three from the top of the key, has 22, 53-50 GT
GT misses, Green rebounds, gets fouled at the other end
Under 8 media timeout, GT leads 53-50 6:19

Green at the line, misses the front end of a 1 and 1
GT airballs a three
VT wasting chances to cut the lead
GT called for the travel
Beyer back in the game
Eddie turns it over and then commits the foul, bad sequence
Green dishes to Raines, turns it over.
VT gets called for a flagrant foul at the other end by Eddie
GT gets 1 FT, 54-50 GT
Barksdale called for foul
Under 4 media timeout, 54-50 GT 3:44
Miller misses first FT, makes the second, 55-50 GT
“I think they [VT] needs a basket.”
VT misses, GT rebounds
Miller fouls Barksdale, but it looked like a clean block, payback?
CJ misses the first, makes the second, 55-51 GT
Miller misses for VT, Eddie reboudns
VT misses at the other end, GT rebounds
timeout by GT

Raines goes strong the basket, 55-53 GT (:60 to play)
GT misses, Eddie rebounds
VT calls timeout
Reed fouls Green
Green at the line with a chance to tie
Makes the first one (55-54), makes the second to tie the game at 55
VT on 10-2 run
GT calls a timeout
GT misses three, VT gets the rebound with :03 left

OT
Barksdale scores to open OT, 57-55 VT (First lead since early in the first half)
GT misses, VT rebounds (Raines)
Eddie buries a three from the corner, 60-55 VT
Eddie with 10 points
GT misses a three, VT rebounds
Green with the runner, has 24 points, 62-55
VT on a 12-0 run!
GT scores, 62-57 VT (2:25)
Nice play by Raines to save the ball, but Eddie airballs a three
Green bleeding on both arms from scratches
GT hits a three, 62-60 VT
GT on a 5-0 run, time out helped
Brown hits the pull up jumpber, 64-60 (his first FG of the game, has 8 points)
GT heating up, hits a three, 64-63 VT (:43)
Brown goes strong to the hoop via the baseline, 66-63 VT (24.9 seconds left)
GT misses two shots, Barksdale rebounds, Eddie fouled
Eddie at the line, makes the first, makes the second, 68-63 VT
GT scores with :03 left, 68-65 VT
GT called for a foul, Georges-Hunt fouls out
:02.4 left
Green makes 2 FTs (26 points), 70-65 VT

Make it four straight losses for Virginia Tech. Tonight, the boston college eagles picked up their first ACC road win since the 2010-2011 season, beating the Hokies 86-75.

What went wrong, you ask? Here’s the stat that explains everything: Virginia Tech committed 17 turnovers and bc converted those into 29 points. The eagles committed just five turnovers and the Hokies didn’t score a single point off of them. And that’s your ball game.

Erick Green, the senior guard from Winchester, a.k.a. the Winchester Rifleman, did his thing, dropping 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Jarell Eddie looks like he’s starting to get some confidence back as he scored 21 points, though he is still struggling from behind the arc, shooting just 2-of-8.

The Hokies got off to a good start and led much of the first half. With 5:35 to go in the opening half, Tech lead 23-17. The eagles proceeded to go on a 15-3 run, that included a 10-0 stretch, to lead at the half, 32-26. The Hokies never recovered.

Tech got close a few times in the second half, but were derailed by turnovers. Trailing by 12 early in the second half, Ranking and Eddie hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to just six points. After bc missed a shot and Beyer pulled down the rebound, the Hokies fans were on their feet, but a turnover by Eddie led to a three by bc’s Lonnie Jackson and boosted the eagles lead back to nine points.

With seven minutes to play and the Hokies still hanging around, Barksdale scored his final bucket of the night to cut bc’s lead down to three, 61-58. Ryan Anderson missed a shot at the other end Eddie got the rebound, giving the Hokies a chance to tie the game. But Green turned it over and Anderson, who had just missed a shot, converted a fast break layup, putting bc back up by five.

Too many turnovers equals another loss.

I think it’s safe to assume that C.J. Barksdale is out of James Johnson’s doghouse, having served a one-game benching or lack of effort during practice. The sophomore forward not only played tonight, he was in the starting lineup. He scored the games first basket and ended up with six points in 16 minutes of play.

Speaking of the starters, all five (Barksdale, Cadarian Raines, Green, Marquis Rankin, and Eddie) had at least two turnovers tonight. And we’re not talking great defensive plays that led to steals, we’re talking bad passes, poor ball handling, and miscommunication.

Eddie turned the ball over five times, Green had three, and the remaining three starters each had two. The only Hokies that did not commit turnovers were walk-ons Will Johnston (17 minutes) and Christian Beyer (22 minutes).

Joey van Zegeren struggled tonight. He committed three turnovers, but having been on the court for that game, I can tell you that it seemed like much more. He does not have a soft touch around the ball at all. He is capable of making good plays, but not consistently.

Let’s go back to the bench play of Johnston and Beyer. Johnston’s defense continues to be his weakness, but he’s improving. He’s a walk-on playing significant minutes and his progress is evident. And then there’s Beyer, who led the team in rebounding for the second time this season. He pulled down eight boards tonight. This kid is hustling. Again, these are walk-ons.

They’re not as fast, or as skilled, or as big as the scholarship players, but coach Johnson clearly loves their effort and the fans do too. Especially Beyer – that kid goes for every ball.

Next up for the Hokies, a road trip to georgia tech on Saturday. Niemo’s got a parenting class (excuse me while I ROTFLMAO), so you’re stuck with me for the recap. Cope with it. Get it? See what I did there?

There is some good news… this game was NOT a reverse Bear Fight. So there’s that.

Boxscore

After starting the season 7-0, the Hokies are just 2-5 since and have lost their last three games in blowout fashion (first time in 75+ years VT has lost 3 in a row by 20+). Today, Virginia Tech lost on the road to the terps, 94-71, in their ACC opener.  The Hokies are now 1-8 all time in ACC openers, losers of 6 openers in a row.

Senior guard Erick Green returned to form, scoring a game-high 28 points, though, the terps head coach Mark Turgeon seemed content allowing Green his points because no one else on Tech’s team has been scoring lately.

Stop me if this sounds familiar: the Hokies gave up a three pointer to start the game and gave up 10 total for the game. The terps, as have so many teams this season against the Hokies, shot nearly 50 percent from behind the arc. maryland was 10 of 22.

Meanwhile, the Hokies continue to struggle shooting the ball from anywhere on the court. Tech was a paltry 21 percent from three (4 of 19), 37 percent from the field (25 of 67), and 70 percent (17 of 24) from the free throw line.

Cadarian Raines finally scored more points than he had fouls and had a game-high 13 rebonds, but both he and Joey Van Zegeren were in foul trouble. That led to walk-on Christian Beyer guarding maryland’s 7-1 center Alex Len during a crucial stretch in the second half. You could see James Johnson on the Hokies’ bench mouthing the words, “That’s not going to work.”

The Hokies trailed by 16 at the half and fell behind by 22 points early in the second half, but made a run to cut the lead to 11. The terps pulled away, though, and went on to win their 13th straight game, which is a school record.

All those high hopes Hokie fans had after wins over iowa and oklahoma state are gone. Virginia Tech is exactly who we thought they’d be – a team with one very good player, seven scholarship players and a bunch of walkons.

With the exception of Green, the Hokies seem to have lost all confidence in their abilities. Jarell Eddie has been inconsistent and is constantly frustrated with himself during games. Robert Brown’s shooting is way off. Hopefully they can get their confidence back, because then Brown and Eddie are on, the Hokies have a shot.

Niemo will likely chime in on this game. Once he sobers up. Our sources are reporting that Niemo was at the game. No word on whether he made it out alive or without being detained.

For the second straight game, the Hokies fell behind early and were never truly in the game, this time losing by 26 points to byu, 97-71.

The following line will tell you all you need to know: walk-on Christian Beyer, a sophomore from New Bern, N.C., played 23 minutes, scored a career-high 9 points, and had a team-high 11 rebounds, also a career-best.

Senior guard Erick Green failed to score at least 20 points for the first time this season, meaning he as not able to set a new Virginia Tech record of 13 consecutive games with at least 20 points. The nation’s leading scorer coming into the game, finished with 12.

Jerell Eddie (pretty sure I’ve been spelling his name with two Rs Ls since he got here, sorry ’bout that Jerell) led the Hokies with 17 points. Robert Brown had 13 points.

Cadarian Raines continues to struggle. Mightily. For the third time in the last five games, he scored zero points. During that five game stretch, he’s scored a total of 18 points and committed 17 personal fouls. Not a good ratio.

The cougars got out to a quick 6-0 start behind two three pointers by Tyler Haws, who had a career day against Tech, scoring 42 points. In the first half, alone, Haws had 29 points. The Hokies, as a team, had 31.

As I watched the first half, I recalled what Niemo wrote in his game preview. Let us go back in time, shall we?

One good thing is byu is not a great 3-point shooting team (I know, I know, I said that against wvu and bradley and they torched us from deep). But, can that really keep happening?

To answer Niemo’s question, yes. As a team, the cougs shot 50 percent from behind the arc in the first half (7 of 14). Haws alone was 6-for-7. byu cooled off in the second half, going 0-for-5, but they led by as many as 30, so there was no need to shoot.

Also, Niemo is hereby banned from mentioning opponents abysmal three-point shooting in game previews.

This was the worst game the Hokies have played in quite some time. A lot of that was the opponent, a team that’s been to six straight NCAA tournament.

But this Hokies’ team that has lost three of its last four games is not the same team that beat oklahoma state and iowa. They are exactly the team we thought they’d be at the beginning of the season – a team with only seven scholarship players, little depth, an unproven coach, and only one dependable player, Erick Green.

How did they beat the cowpokes and hawkeyes? Probably because they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to be any good and both opponents took the undermanned Hokies lightly.

Now, with nearly half a season under their belts, opponents know that VT is not that good and today we saw a good team effectively take Green out of the game and when he’s out of the game, no one else was able to step up.

It’s still too early to pass judgement on JJ, but this team looks like and is playing like his predecessor’s teams; stagnant on offense and lackadaisical on defense.

Boxscore

In front of dozens of fans at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, the colorado state rams blew the Hokies back to Blacksburg in the second half of the Las Vegas Classic Championship Game by nearly a double reverse Bear Fight margin of 88-52. The Hokies trailed by just 6, 33-27, at the break, but the rams starting the 2nd half on a 21-4 lead to make it 54-31 and that was all she wrote. In fact, the rams opened the 2nd half on a 44-12 run to go up 77-39. The only question down the stretch was whether or not csu would double the Hokies (don’t ask what the drink is for that). The Hokies were outscored 55 to 25 in the 2nd half.

The rams won behind 11/24 (46%) 3-point shooting, 19 offensive rebounds, and a 22-6 assist to turnover margin. They also shot 11 more free throws than the Hokies. Erick Green led VT with exactly half of their 52 points (26 for you non-math majors) and Jarell Eddie had 10. No one else had more than 4 for VT, including just 2 for Raines and a goose egg for Robert Brown. Green was 10/21 from the field, the rest of Tech was 9/32 (28%). The rams had 4 players with 15+ points, demonstrating their balance.

I would sit here and call this an embarrassing failure and pitiful effort, but keep in mind a few things. 1) The Hokies were just absolutely gassed. They had nothing left in the tank in the 2nd half and it showed. I don’t want to say VT quit in the 2nd half (because I don’t want to believe it), but they did stop defending and rotating. VT clearly looked tired tonight. They just didn’t have the legs after the short turnaround. I think that made VT slow and they played defense more with their hands than their feet, which leads to fouls. csu was in the bonus by the midway point of the 2nd half. And the Hokies just didn’t have the lift they needed on their shots. 2) The rams are a quality team. They went to the NCAA Tournament last year and were a top 50 RPI team coming into this game. They are coached by Larry Eustachy (if that name rings a bell, it is because he got fired at iowa state for staying behind after road games and partying with coeds from the schools — there’s an infamous shot of him drinking Natural Light with some college kids).

So if you didn’t stay up for this beat down (ah, it reminded me of when I was in the UK and would wake up at 2 AM to watch Hokie games), you didn’t miss much. Be glad you slept.

A few trends have started to emerge during this recent struggle for the Hokies. They are:

• Tech falls way behind in the 1st half. In the previous two games, VT had led a grand total of 38 seconds in the first half combined. Today the Hokies actually led for most of the first 6 minutes, but an 18-4 ram run put csu up 24-14. This marked the 4th time in 5 games VT has trailed by at least 8 points during the first half, and third time they’ve fell behind by double digits. The Hokies have also trailed by 6 or more points at the break in 4 of 5 games.
• Erick Green is the only offense in the first half. The nation’s leading scorer had 11 of Tech’s 25 first half points against bradley, and 14 of their 27 against versus the rams. That’s 48% of their points. No one else had more than 4 at the break against colorado state…
• …It didn’t get any better in the 2nd half. With 9:20 gone in the 2nd half, VT had 9 points. Green had all 9 meaning he had 23 of Tech’s 36. Then Eddie finally hit a 3. No one else PERIOD scored for VT until 5 minutes were left (VT was outscored 44-12 for the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half).
• The Hokies can’t score all of a sudden (largely due to 3-point shooting disappearing). After starting 7-0, VT was averaging 86 ppg. In their last 5, they’ve averaged 66 ppg. Tech had just 2 fast break points in this game.
• Tech can’t create buckets off the pass… Tech had just 1 assist at halftime of the bradley game and finished with just 10 total. Well, VT finished this game with 4 assists TOTAL and 15 turnovers. csu had 22 assists and just 6 turnovers. Green, in addition to his 26 points, had 3 of the 4 assists.
• Jarell Eddie is struggling from deep during this 5 game stretch. Remember when he was shooting over 50% from 3-point range? Well, he’s 8/28 in the last 5 games from behind the arc (29%), and his two made 3s tonight were in garbage time with VT down 20+.
• The Robert Brown we saw early in the year has disappeared over the last week. Brown had just 2 points in Vegas this weekend. He’s just 4/30 from the field (13%) over the last 4 games and has just 10 total points. He was 0/8 from the field on Sunday and 0/2 from the line (including an air ball on a free throw) and was scoreless.
• The Hokies get absolutely dominated on the glass. csu snagged 19 offensive rebounds in the game out of 39 opportunities (almost 50% — 33% is average). Tech has allowed 79 offensive rebounds in their last 5 games.
• James Johnson is getting outcoached right now and has not shown an ability to make in game adjustments, especially on defense. In my opinion, he’s pushing all the wrong buttons. I have no idea what Tech is doing defensively. Well, I do — they are doubling in the post and out by the half court, but I have no idea why. To be fair, they had to double the 6-10 Colton Iverson for the rams, but they drifted out with him and then the rams would kill the Hokies with back cuts and perimeter passing. Or VT would double 25 feet from the basket and csu would throw over them, leading to easy shots or fouls. Or they kicked it to the corner for wide open 3s. Or csu just beat VT off the dribble and would dish when the help defense came. Or we press so they can score even faster. Regardless, it ain’t working. Other teams watch film. They know we always double in the low post. So you actually see their bigs drifting out, knowing the double team will follow, which opens up the paint and forces guards to collapse and help, which either isn’t happening or doesn’t work due to a mismatch.
• The lone bright spot on defense was Joey van Zegeren. He had 4 blocks by my count, all on help defense.

FYI: north florida beat georgia southern by 28 earlier in the day in Vegas. Good thing VT didn’t play them!

Tech returns to action next Saturday, the 29th, at 2 PM on ESPNU against byu in Salt Lake City. Time for me to go to bed.

Boxscore

Chalk this one up as the first ‘embarrassing’ loss in the James Johnson era as a 3-5 georgia southern team that was 1-5 against Division I opponents on the year and 0-2 in the Southern Conference came into Blacksburg and picked up their first ever win over an ACC team with a 78-73 win over the Hokies.

The sad thing is the game wasn’t as close as the final score.  Tech never led in this game.  I repeat, the Hokies never led in this game, and other than 0-0, VT never tied this game.  The Hokies trailed for the entire final 39:44 of the game.

The Hokies did make it interesting though.  Tech trailed by 14 with 5 minutes to go, but cut it to 3 with 54 seconds left and had the ball with 30 seconds to go.  But Erick Green missed a 3-pointer to tie the game with 23 seconds left and that was all she wrote.

How could we lose to an absolutely awful team, you ask?  Well, if you read this site a lot, one stat will tell it all: gsu was 11/26 (42%) on 3-pointers, VT was 6/27 (22%) and that was after starting 0/11 from deep.  Tech didn’t make their first 3-pointer until 3 minutes into the 2nd half.  Jarell Eddie, who was shooting 51% from deep coming in, started 0/7 from long range and finished 3/13.

Meanwhile, Reed and Roberts knocked down 9/17 from deep for gsu.  They were shooting 50% from deep combined coming in, so apparently the Hokies didn’t get the memo.   For the second time in three games Tech got destroyed by 3-point shooting.

Tech’s other bugaboo came into play, too.  While Tech grabbed 18 offensive rebounds (42% of their misses), they allowed the eagles to get 44% of their misses (16 offensive rebounds).  gsu regularly could launch a three and know that it would either go in 42% of the time, or they’d get their miss another 44% of the time.

The lone bright spot in this game was Erick Green extended his 20+ point streak to 10 games with a career-high tying 28 points.  He was 12/22 from the field.  The rest of the team was 15/46 (33%).

Robert Brown produced a whopping 4 points (he had 4 against mvsu, too) and Cadarian Raines, who was basically benched for Joey van Zegeren much of the game, was held scoreless for the second straight game.

Pardon me if I’m being too negative, but this was a BAD loss.  And I’m not just talking NCAA Tournament (because you can put your Bracketology dreams back in the attic for a while).  I’m just saying an ACC team should not lose, let alone get dominated (again, don’t let the final score fool you – gsu dominated this game) by an 0-2 Southern Conference team.

Luckily, Tech automatically advances to the ‘big boys’ bracket of the Las Vegas Classic and will face bradley next Saturday.  gsu will have to play mvsu in the semi-finals of the lil boys bracket.

Updated: 12.11.2012 at 9 a.m.

Four words: Jon King BEAR FIGHT!!

The Hokies got of to a terribly slow and discombobulated start in a game they probably should have won by 30-40 points.

But, the Hokies pulled it out in the second half behind the senior leadership of Erick Green. Tech improved to 8-1 on the season with a 70-49 win over the winless devils.

Green led all scorers with 23 points, which gives him nine straight games this season with at least 20 points, tying Bimbo Coles’ record. Sophomore Marquis Rankin added a career-high 10 points.

The story of the first half was rebounding. VT was inexplicably out rebounded 24-17. Still, Tech led at the break, 30-24.

The second half was all Hokies as they led by double figures for most of the half. Walk-ons Christian Beyer, Marcus Patrick and Will Johnston got a ton of playing time.

It’s clear that Coach James Johnson is not afraid to sit his starters if they need a rest or aren’t playing well. And he demonstrated considerable confidence in his walk-ons; much moreso than his predecessor.

Beyer was actually effective on the boards, pulling down a career-high five rebounds and added a pair of free throws in the waning moments of the game.

Outside of the Winchester Rifleman, though, no one else is playing consistent basketball. Cadarian Raines once again found himself in foul trouble in the first half and ended up with more fouls (5) than points (0) or rebounds (4).

Raines’ troubles did have a plus side, though. It meant more time for Joey vanZegeren, who played pretty well and seems to be gaining confidence.

This wasn’t a solid outing for the Hokies on the whole, but they took care if business and won by 21 points. And the walkons got some playing time and didn’t hurt the team. JJ has confidence in those guys and getting them playing time in real games will help during practices.

Next up, a directional school from one of the former Confederate states.

Box Score

The Hokies lost their first game of the season, 68-67 to wvu, in an absolute thriller that came down to the last possession.

Erick Green had 23 points and 10 assists, which gives him 20 or more points in the first eight games this season, one shy of the record set by Bimbo Coles.

Green, the senior, had the last shot of the game that would have won it for Tech, but the shot missed and the Hokies fall on the road.

Robert Brown had a career high 21 points.

This game was decided midway through the second half when Jarrell Eddie and Cadarian Raines went to the bench with four fouls each.

While this was a tough loss, the Hokies proved they can play on the road and are a legitimate opponent for any teams they face this season.

One other thing we know is that Erick Green, the Winchester Rifle, is for real. Dude is a legitimate baller.

We’ll break this game down a little more later, but I’m getting on the road for now and it’s hard to evaluate stats in a car. I have a delicate constitution.

Don’t hang your heads Hokies, this was as good a loss as you can have.

Boxscore

The Hokies did it. For the first time in 30 years, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team has started a season 7-0 after handing No. 15 oklahoma state its first loss of the season, 81-71.

For the third time this season, senior guard Erick Green scored a career-high, notching 28 in today’s win over the cowboys, despite missing big chunks of time in the first half because of foul trouble.

Junior forward Jarrell Eddie continues to be solid as he recorded a his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Robert Brown also had another good game, dropping 18 points for the second contest in a row. What can Brown do for you? How about score in double figures in six of seven games this season and average 13.4 points a game? Not too shabby, huh?

Things got off to an auspicious start for the Hokies when Green got called for a foul a mere :10 after the opening tip. Then, as if he were channeling his inner Jeff Allen, Green was called for his second foul at the 2:16 mark and immediately went to the bench, with Tech leading 7-4.

Prior to Green’s second foul, the Hokies lead 7-2, but the cowpokes got on their horses and galloped to a 12-7 lead by virtue of a 12-2 run. Green re-entered the game and stopped the osu run with a jumper to cut the deficit to 12-9. From there, it was a back and forth battle.

Tech used a 7-0 run to take a 16-14 lead, but osu came right back and led for most of the first half, twice taking 8-point leads. Brown bailed out the Hokies with four points in the final minute to cut the cowpoke’s lead to four at the break, 36-32.

Green came out strong in the second half scoring the Hokies’ first 10 points and tying the game at 42 to keep osu from pulling away. And while the score was relatively close for the entire half, the Hokies took the lead with 15 minutes to play and never trailed again.

With the game tied at 46, Eddie drilled a three pointer to put Tech ahead for good, though it was a nailbiter the rest of the way.

Having already channeled his inner Big Donut (Jeff Allen), Green also channeled his inner Malcolm Delaney and sealed the victory with ruthless free throw shooting, going 8-for-8 in the final 1:16.

True freshman Marshall Wood scored 8 points, his second highest total of the season, and six of those points came from the charity stripe. Wood hit three crucial free throws in the final three minutes after having drawn a pair of blocking fouls against osu.

This was a team win if there ever was one. While the young guys made a few mistakes, they also made significant contributions in this game.

I noted this in one of my many (many) Tweet (@TechHoops), but it bears repeating: someone get Wood and Joey vanZegeren some red meat and show them where the weight room is! Those guys are capable of making plays in the paint, but more often than not, they’re getting pushed around or outmuscled for loose balls.

They’re young and they’ll hopefully fill out, but right now they’re almost too frail to play a grueling ACC schedule.

Boxscore

If you had doubts about this Hokie team because of a soft schedule after five games, Tech should have made you a believer tonight. Virginia Tech picked up its third win in eight tries in the ACC/Big(14)Ten Challenge, all against iowa, with a 95-79 win at the Cassell, narrowly missing their first Jon King Bear Fight of the season.

The Hokies exploded late in the first half and early in the second half to go on a 19-1 run to turn a 37-36 deficit into a 55-38 lead. The hawkeyes promptly went on a 14-0 run of their own to make it a nervous 55-52 game. But Tech kept battling and got the lead back up to double digits. After VT went ahead 78-68 with 5:53 to go on a JvZ dunk, iowa never got back within single digits and Tech even lead by as many as 21 points before the hawkeyes salvaged the Bear Fight in garbage time.

Erick Green had a huge game — Stop the presses! The senior, who leads the ACC in scoring, tallied 24 points – his sixth straight game over 20 points to start the season (the record is 9 by Bimbo Coles). Erick did see his consecutive free throw streak end at 37 straight though. He was 8/9 tonight from the stripe and 8/15 from the floor.

Robert Brown also had a big game, scoring 18 on 6/8 shooting and 5/5 from the line (he was 57% coming in). Brown was one point from his career high of 19, which came against Monmouth last year.

Jarell Eddie, who was 9/10 on 3s in his last two games, was just 1/4 from deep and 4/11 from the field, but did add 11 points and 7 rebounds.

The player of the game might have been C.J. Barksdale. The sophomore had really struggled on offense coming in but picked up 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. He has put together a couple of solid games in a row.

Joey van Zegeren (aka: Stone Hands) easily surpassed his previous career high of 6 points with 10 points tonight.

Tech, who I thought would be dominated on the glass, actually had 9 offensive rebounds to just 8 for iowa. But the bigger deal was second chance points; VT had a 13-2 advantage there.

The Hokies also were +12 from the foul line, shooting an amazing 27/30 (90%) while iowa was just 13/18. Tech also had a 17-8 advantage on fast break points, as you’d expect against the slower hawkeyes. I expected Tech would win on the break, but winning on the glass and getting to the line is why the Hokies won easily.

VT was just 4/15 from deep (27%) but held iowa to 4/22 from behind the arc (18%).

The Hokies return to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. against a very good oklahoma state team at the Cassell. I know, I know, it’s the fourth time we’ve played the cowboys in three years, and we’ve won all three, but let’s go for the golden sombrero!

Box score

The Virginia Tech Hokies were 20.5-point favorites going into today’s game against the mountaineers of appalachian state. The game, however, was a nail biter from the opening tip until about 8 minutes left in the second half when the Hokies built an 11-point lead and started to pull away from a tired asu squad.

Erick Green scored a career-high 27 points to lead Virginia Tech to an 87-76 win. In doing so, the senior guard became the first Hokie to score 20 or more points in each of his first five games of a season since Bryant Matthews did so during the 2003-04 campaign.

Green eclipsed his career high in points for the second straight game, while junior forward Jarrell Eddie continued to put up some big numbers as well. Eddie, who is coming off a career-best 28 points vs. unc-g-spot, scored 23 points against the ‘neers.

Not to be outdone, true freshman Marshall Wood notched a career-high in points with 13. CJ Barksdale was one point shy of tying his career high of 11.

With the win, Tech improved to 5-0, marking the first time the Hokies have started a season 5-0 since the 1984-85 season. And while critics will point to VT’s relatively weak schedule thus far, keep in mind that the Hokies have traditionally played weaker teams earlier in the season and have usually found a way to lose a game or two they probably should have won.

Not this year. At least not through the first five games.

Other notes:

• Green has made 31 consecutive free throws and hasn’t missed one in the last three games. He went 4-4 vs. vmi, 16-16 vs. uncg, and 11-11 against appy state today.
• For the first time this season, no Hokie registered double digit rebounds. For the second game in a row, Marshall Wood led the Hokies in rebounds, nabbing 8 vs. asu.

Wow, check out the plus/minus from Monday night’s 9-point win over the spartans.  It will surprise you (or at least it surprised me).

Eddie had a career night, shooting lights out.  He was 7/9 on FGs, 5/5 on 3s, and 9/10 on FTs.  Yet he had a negative plus/minus.  What does that tell you?  Well, there are a couple of possibilities.

1. Eddie didn’t play that great on the defensive end and Simpson for unc-g was more or less matching him on points (25 points); OR
2. Tech wasn’t playing very good defensive when Eddie was in, especially guarding the perimeter and the defensive glass (unc-g had 11 made 3-pointers and 11 offensive rebounds but I don’t have the breakdown of those of when Eddie was in); OR
3. The Hokies would have lost handily if not for Eddie’s scoring.

The nature of plus/minus tells you that you can rule out #3.  If Eddie was carrying the team, then you’d expect his teammates to have similar plus/minus numbers.  But Green had a +8, Barksdale, who got benched at the end in favor of Marshall Wood (-3) had a +11, and Robert Brown had an insane +21.  So while Eddie was vital to the Tech win and was clutch down the stretch, you have to wonder how much his defense cost the Hokies, though he did draw the spartans’ best player.  You could argue that Brown, van Zegeren, and Barksdale were in when Simpson wasn’t, but I can’t prove that.

And maybe Barksdale isn’t playing as bad as we thought – he had a solid 6 rebounds, 5 points, and 2 blocks in 22 minutes and a +11.  He does appear to be working hard on defense and has a +46 on the season despite playing less than half the game on average.

Boxscore

The Hokies held on to win a wild one in their first road test of the season by a 96-87 score at the Greensboro Coliseum (home of this season’s ACC Tournament) against a game unc-greensboro club.  Three Hokies set or tied career highs in points on the night.

The player of the game was a no-brainer – Jarell Eddie. Eddie, in his home state of North Carolina, scored a career-high 28 points (previous high was 24) on 7/9 FGs, 5/5 3s, and 9/10 FTs. He also had 3 blocks by my count and some real nice hustle plays.

Erick Green also tallied a career high 26 points to surpass his average of 23 points, but actually had an off night. He came in shooting almost 60% from the field but hit just 4/15 tonight. He was just 2/11 inside the arc, as he and the Hokies missed a ton of layups and short runners. But… Erick was 16/16 including 10/10 down the stretch to help Tech come from behind.

The spartans were just 1-45 all time against ACC teams but nearly found a way to win this game. The Hokies blew a two touchdown lead in both halves. Tech led 30-16 in the first half but the spartans went on a 17-2 run and took a 33-32 lead. The Hokies rebounded behind insanely hot 3-point shooting and went into the break up 45-41.

Once again the Hokies jumped way out in front in the second half, going ahead 65-51 on a Jarell Eddie 3-pointer. Once again the spartans answered the bell, vaulting to a 26-8 run and taking a 77-75 lead with less than 6 minutes to play.

After that, it was all Erick Green and Jarell Eddie. Eddie hit a critical 3-pointer to put Tech up 83-77 with 2:55 to play and Erick Green was 16/16 (career high in makes and attempts by far) from the stripe to help the Hokies hold on.

Marshall Wood played down the stretch in place of the slumping C.J. Barksdale and had several critical rebounds. Wood snagged 11 rebounds on the night to help the Hokies, although they did allow 11 offensive rebounds to the spartans.

Tech returns home on Friday at 2 p.m., to play appalachian state.

*Erick Green tweaked his ankle late in the game but played through it down the stretch. We’ll let you know if it is serious, but he seemed OK.

SCORE AT THE MEDIA TIMEOUTS:

1st Half:

• Under-16: VT 21-9
• Under-12: VT 23-14
• Under-8: VT 30-20
• Under-4: VT 35-33

HALF: VT 45-41

2nd Half:

• Under-16: VT 61-51
• Under-12: VT 67-59
• Under-8: VT 71-69
• Under-4: VT 78-77

FINAL: VT 96-87

Check out Erick Green’s +/- on Thursday night.  Tech was +32 in the 33 minutes he played, and -17 in the 7 minutes he didn’t.  The +/- for the bench was greatly skewed by those final 5 minutes of the game.  For example, both Wood and van Zegeren were around +20 until vmi used that 16-0 run to cut their deficit in half.  And check out the +/- for Joey Racer — he was -18 in just 4 minutes of action.

Boxscore

The Hokies once again blew a Bear Fight victory, and a chance at 100 points, seeing a 31-point lead with 5 minutes left slip to 15, but did move to 3-0 with a 95-80 win over the keydets of vmi on Thursday night at the Cassell.

The biggest news of the night was Erick Green reached the 1,000 point mark with a pull-up jumper early in the 2nd half. He became the 43rd Hokie to reach the 1,000 point mark. He finished with a game high 23 points, right at his average for the season.

The Hokies had extremely balanced scoring tonight. At the break, EG led the Tech with 11 points, while five other players had exactly 6 points. For the game, VT put five players in double digits (Green 23, Eddie 17, Raines 14, Brown 11, and C.J. Barksdale, who had just 2 points total in the first two games, added 11). Cadarian Raines had his second straight double-double with 10 rebounds to go with his 14 points. Walk-on Will Johnston added 9 points on 3/6 shooting from deep.

I said in the preview the run-and-gun keydets had to be hot from deep (they average 33 three-point attempts per game). They started 2/2 from deep and took a 6-2 lead… then missed their next 13 three-point attempts. During that span, the Hokies outscored the 42-17 and took a 44-23 lead. VT led 46-30 at the break.

Tech stretched that lead to as much as 31, ahead 88-57 with 5:18 to go in the game. At that time JJ pulled the starters and the subs proceeded to look like, well, walk-ons. The keydets went on a 16-0 run and forced JJ to put the starters back in with 2:15 to go. Erick Green answered with a jumper to kill the run and finally put the game away.

The Hokies shot over 50% for the game (36/68 – 53%) and 46% from deep (11/24).

If you are wondering about rebounding, Tech didn’t allow vmi a single offensive rebound in the first half and dominated the glass. vmi did get 10 second half offensive rebounds, but VT did still grab 78% of vmi’s misses, which is a great ratio. Eddie once again had a nice night on the glass with 8 rebounds and Joey van Zegeren added 8 boards.

Tech had a solid 21 fastbreak points against the keydets, which was nice to see. The Hokies had an eye-popping 85 possessions against the run-and-shoot vmi team, easily surpassing their 67 possession per game average.

vmi finished just 8/37 from deep (22%) and fell to 0-3 against Division I teams.

Even though both schools are military colleges, it wasn’t Military Appreciation Night (at least I don’t think it was since neither coach made an idiot of themself and wore combat fatigues).

The next game is Monday night at unc-g-spot at 7 PM.

OK, let’s get right to the tale of the tape from Tech’s tantalizing victory on Monday:

• Rebounding: GRADE = B-… This was a giant weakness in the opener but Tech was much improved on Monday night.  VT grabbed 71% of rhode island’s missed shots, and snared 29% of their own misses.  That’s a solid ratio, and against a taller team than etsu.   Still not great but definitely an improvement.  And the guys were clearly working harder on the glass, especially Raines (12 boards), van Zegeren (6 rebounds), and Wood (3 boards).
• Defense: GRADE = B+… Hokies absolutely took Malesevic, who had 26 in uri’s opener and 24 vs VT last year, out of the game.  Kudos to the Tech bigs on that (Barksdale started out covering him then it was a lot of Marshall Wood).  Malesevic made just 1 FG and had just 6 points.  uri was just 1/21 behind the arc and shot just 33% for the game.  VT also blocked 9 shots, including 4 by Wood, after getting just 1 block total in the opener.  The lone negative was they let Munford beat them off the dribble regularly (he was 10/13 on drives).
• Be Fun and Up Tempo: GRADE = B… Another alley oop!  It failed, again, but you know if Seth was still in charge we’d have never seen another alley oop after the first one failed.  The guys are playing loose, without fear of being yanked for taking a questionable shot.  The Hokies did look to push the ball up the court just like in the first game, but also seemed to bleed more of the shot clock then I’d like at times.  That led to a couple of scoring lulls, including the entire second media timeout sequence.  By my count, Tech had 64 possessions on Monday compared to 70 in the opener, so that tells you things weren’t quite as quick (I don’t think uri was bleeding the clock anymore than etsu).
• Feeding the Post: GRADE = D… Raines was on last night but we simply didn’t feed him the ball enough.  When a team is transitioning to more up-tempo, it can be hard to settle for setting up the offense and feeding your bigs, but you have to do it.  Raines is a real talent and needs touches.  Tech’s offense needs to work to get him the ball more inside and let the big man work.

The Players:

• EG – I take back what I said after Game 1 – he has improved and looks fantastic.  Through 2 games he has 46 total points, 10 assists to just 4 turnovers, and is shooting 54% from the field.  Erick looks much better at finishing off the drive (thank you, Chris Paul).  The only negative is I’ve always hated his free throw rhythm – he holds the ball so long and seems to put so much pressure on himself thinking about it (Karl Malone-ish), and is just 13/20 on the year.  I wish he’d quicken his rhythm, but it is a little late for that.
• Robert Brown – Had some troubles with Munford’s quickness on defense, but Brown is a fantasic offensive player.  He really has a complete offensive game – 3s, pull-ups, driving.  I’d like to see him drive more but for a sophomore, he’s really stepped up.
• Jarell Eddie – Almost had his 2nd straight double-double with 9 points and 8 rebounds.  He’s giving great effort on the defensive glass and really positions himself well.  Had 2 blocks and just 1 foul, so he’s playing smarter on defense.
• Cadarian Raines – I thought his post moves looked rusty in the opener but they were sharp last night.  Had a nice lefty hook in the 2nd half and later followed it up with a turn to the baseline and a righty baby hook.  Also added a career high 12 rebounds.  He has to be a great rebounder for Tech, and was last night.
• C.J. Barksdale – After just taking 1 shot in Game 1, I thought we’d see the improved C.J. we’ve heard about in Game 2 after he hit a jumper on Tech’s opening possession… Those were his only points of the game (and season) and he grabbed just 1 rebound while playing just 12 minutes (Marshall Wood played 28).  Not sure what’s going on, but the light ain’t on right now.
• Marshall Wood – Very solid game.   4 blocks and 2 nice, acrobatic layups inside.  His motor was running high last night and that was great to see.  He plays tougher than most freshmen.  The problem is he still hasn’t hit a 3-pointer — 0/5 last night and 0/8 on the season.  Wood has no fear, though, and launches whenever he has any opening.  You gotta think they’ll start falling at some point, and you don’t want hesitation, but maybe he should consider a pump-fake and put the ball on the floor and drive – we saw he could finish inside.
• Joey van Zegeren – Solid night, also.  Only had 1 official block but was battling inside all night.  Grabbed 6 rebounds in just 12 minutes.  Got lost on defense at one point that allowed uri a dunk, but his effort is there, which is all you can ask.
• Marquis Rankin – on the bench but did not play as he transitions back from attending family funerals.
• The Walk-Ons – not as successful as in the opener.  Johnston couldn’t slow Munford down at all on help defense but did hit a nice 3-pointer, and Patrick struggled running the point.  The latter will be resolved when Rankin returns to action.  But the two walk-ons that played averaged a +/- of -9.5 tonight, and that’s not a good sign when you win by 19.