Let’s review what I stated as the Keys to the Game for Friday and how the Hokies did. Since it was a tale of two halves, I’ll rate each half.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Focus: 1st Half – B+, 2nd Half – D. The Hokies completely lost their focus in the second half and nearly saw this game slip away. I’m sorry, but VT should not be going five minutes without a point against gardner-webb. And Jeff Allen only had one shot in the second half (that he wasn’t fouled on)? That’s pathetic. Get your best player the ball.
• Chemistry: 1st Half – B, 2nd Half – D. Tech got away from the things that worked well in the first half. Maybe you have to credit gwu for making adjustments, but clearly Tech was not. You don’t expect a team to have perfect chemistry the first game, but since almost everyone is back from last year, you had to expect this would have been better than it was. 10 turnovers in the second half point out how poor chemistry was. Tech really struggled with gwu’s zone defense. Luckily, not many ACC teams play zone but VT needs to be better against the zone for key out of conference games like wisconsin.
• D the 3: 1st Half – D-, 2nd Half – A. Grayson Flittner hit 5/9 three pointers in the first half. He’s their best player and he can only score from the outside, so letting this happen is inexcusable. In the second half Tech did a much better job on him and he went 0/5 from long range. gwu as a team was just 1/13 on threes in the second half.
• Guard the Guards: 1st Half – C-, 2nd Half – C. Tech took Flittner out of his game in the second half after scoring 17 in the first, but Aaron Linn and Anton Silver combined for 22 points in the second half. The D focused too much on Flittner and the other guards stepped up.
• Pound it inside: 1st Half – A+, 2nd Half – F. Jeff Allen had 17 at halftime. Jeff Allen finished with 19. Jeff Allen had one shot attempt and just 4 free throws in the second half. There’s your grades. Also, after an 18-6 advantage in points in the paint in the first half, Tech was dominated 24-8 in the second half.
• Up-Tempo: 1st Half – A, 2nd Half – D. Things clicked in the first half and VT got easy buckets. Plus, even though they were forcing threes at times, it was leading to offensive rebounds. In the second half, Tech lost their identity and couldn’t do anything on offense. VT shot just 30% from the field in the second half, largely due to gwu’s zone defense. The Hokies have to find ways to push the ball and get easy buckets… for 40 minutes.

Bonus Item: VT’s Bench – F. 3/12 from the floor. That’s not getting it done. With Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, aka Lewis Witcher, you never know what you will get. Tonight it was very little (2 points and 2 boards in 12 minutes). Terrell Bell and Hank Thorns were both off on the offensive end and were just 2/10. Hank Thorns continues to be a liability on offense with just 2 points and 2 assists in 27 minutes. However, Thorns did have 7 rebounds (really?) including 5 on the defensive end, and Bell had the block to preserve the win at the end. I guess Tech really does miss J.T. Thompson.

The Six Pack Recap (the 6 sophomores; starters in BOLD):

• Jeff Allen (A-): 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 turnovers – get the turnovers down.
• Malcolm Delaney (B): 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers – Shot just 29% from the field and 3/10 on threes after being red hot at the end of last season.
• Dorenzo Hudson (D): 2 points, 2 rebounds, 5 turnovers – Just 1/7 from the field and 5 turnovers.
• Hank Thorns (C-): 2 points, 2 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 turnovers – Needs to do more on offense; rebounds were a pleasant surprise.
• Terrell Bell (C): 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks – Just 1/5 from the field but had the block to seal the win.
• J.T. Thompson (N/A): injured – out until mid-to-late December

Popularity: 1% [?]

Final:

After coming out like gangbusters in the first half with an explosive, up-tempo, three-point chucking offense and a 14-point halftime lead, the Hokies limped through the second half and barely held on to win 65-62. gardner-webb, who never led in the game, went on a 9-0 run late in the second half to close the VT lead to 63-62.

The Hokies went over 5 minutes without scoring late in the second half before Malcolm Delaney finally broke the ice with 2 free throws with 23 seconds left. After a gwu timeout, the runnin’ bulldogs best player, Grayson Flittner, missed a three to tie the game. gwu grabbed the rebound (their third offensive rebound in the final 90 seconds) and fired to Flittner for another three that was blocked by Terrell Bell with 5 seconds left. Malcolm Delaney, Tech’s best free throw shooter, promptly missed the front end of a one-and-one but Aaron Linn missed a desperation three at the buzzer.

Jeff Allen and A.D. Vassallo led the way for the Hokies with 19 points each, but Allen had just 2 points in the second half and only attempted one field goal. As a team, Tech scored just 25 second-half points after gunning for 40 in the first half. The Hokies finished the game shooting just 39% after hitting 47% from the field in the first half.

Tech’s bench (Bell, Thorns, and Witcher) was only 3/12 from the floor. They must be able to provide more offense in J.T. Thompson’s absence, although Bell did have the key block at the end.

The Hokies must improve if they hope to do well in the Puerto Rico Shootout next weekend, and against wisconsin in 2 weeks. VT returns to action Monday in a game that will be televised on Comcast SportsNet against mount st. mary’s.

First Half Recap: (only includes details from the 1st Half)

The Hokies went into halftime with a comfortable 40-26 lead and never trailed. The game was only tied once, at 2-2.

Expect to hear this a lot this season: Welcome to the Jeff Allen show! He had ACC Player of the Week like stats… in the first half! Allen had 7 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal — in the first 3 minutes. He finished the first half with 17 points on 7/8 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.

A.D. Vassallo showed no ill effects from his foot injury as he also hit double digits in the first stanza. The Puerto Rican Assassin recorded 13 points on 5/10 shooting, 3 assists (Vassallo passes???), and 2 rebounds.

In case you have been ignoring me and thought you were in store for another season of offensive struggles like we’ve seen on the gridiron from the Hokies, you can forget it! The Hokies pushed the ball a good bit, and figure to feature a more up-tempo, ACC style of play this season.

The most stunning thing was the frequency of three-point attempts. Tech was 11th in the ACC in three-point percentage last season, and 8th in threes made with an average of 5.7 threes made on 16.3 attempts. In the first half, the Hokies chucked 14 threes and hit 5. In fact, 10 of the Hokies’ first 19 shots were threes. Last year only 29% of the Hokies’ shots from the field were three pointers. A.D. was 3/7 while Malcolm Delaney was 1/4. Allen hit his only attempt (yes, he really is doing it all!).

Malcolm played some at shooting guard while Hank Thorns took over the point. Victor Davila made his VT debut but played just 2 minutes. Terrell Bell, who has to really make a statement while J.T. Thompson is out with an injury, only saw 6 minutes of action. Lewis Witcher played 8 minutes, the same as starter Cheick Diakite. I expect that both will see similar minutes all season regardless of who starts.

The only negative was Tech’s inability to guard gardner-webb’s best player, Grayson Flittner. He hit 5/9 threes and hit for 17 points in just the first half. He has no game inside the three point line, but for some reason he kept getting good looks and was the only reason gwu was even within 14 points at the half. No one else had more than 4 points for the runnin’ bulldogs.

Halftime Stats: The Hokies shot 46% from the floor, 36% on threes, and were a perfect 3/3 from the line (Allen was 2/2).

Starters for the Hokies:

• PG – Malcolm Delaney
• SG – Dorenzo Hudson
• SF – A.D. Vassallo
• PF – Jeff Allen
• C – Cheick Diakite

Popularity: 1% [?]

BREAKING NEWS: The Hokies will be without wing man J.T. Thompson for at least a month due to a sports hernia. VT does not have a December ACC game this year, so J.T. should have plenty of time to heal and get some action in before Tech’s ACC opener at duke on January 4th. In Thompson’s absence, expect Terrell Bell to get extended minutes. This is a huge opportunity for Terrell to show what he can do, especially since he got the least minutes of the Six-Pack last year.

Virginia Tech’s road to the Big Dance begins Friday with a non-conference tilt against the gardner-webb runnin’ bulldogs. The men’s game will follow the ladies and will begin at about 8 PM (probably a little after 8).

I have already detailed this year’s version of the Hokies in great detail in our VT Season Preview, so I will just refer you to that until Tech gets a couple of games under their belts. Instead, this column will focus on Friday’s season-opening opponent, the gardner-webb runnin’ bulldogs (in case you forgot already), and some of the keys to the game.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Focus: Virginia Tech lost their NCAA bid in November and December last year. Potential resume building wins against butler and gonzaga slipped away, and bad losses to penn state, odu, and richmond sealed the Hokies’ fate. Tech needs to play each game like it is for a bid to the Big Dance and not take the gardner-webb runnin’ bulldogs lightly.
• Chemistry: Will the Hokies come out playing as a team or like a scrimmage? With no exhibition games under their belt (other than a scrimmage against georgetown and another opponent), the Hokies need to find their rhythm quickly.
• D the 3: Grayson Flittner, gwu’s top player, loves to jack the trey. He hit 107 last season at a 40% clip. Three other top players for gwu averaged more than a three per game. This is the only way the runnin’ bulldogs can beat VT — by getting hot from three. But with the line a foot deeper this year, it may punish a team like gwu.
• Guard the Guards: gwu’s strength is in their guards. Three of their top four returning scorers are guards and they have a lot of experience on the perimeter. Delaney, Thorns, Hudson, and Bell must do a good job taking away their guard play.
• Pound it inside: (Expect me to say this a lot this season) No one on can guard Jeff Allen inside or outside. gwu’s best low post defender is Auryn MacMillan at 6’8″ and 235 lbs. He has the body, but not the quickness, to keep with Allen. Expect Allen to abuse him inside with moves on the block, or go out to his mid-range game and either shoot or pump-fake and blow by MacMillan. gwu’s leading scorer and rebounder is gone, so they are not strong on the boards.
• Up-Tempo: Greenberg has said Tech will run more this year and they showed that in the practices I attended. gwu has almost no depth so if the Hokies can tire them out, expect a lot of easy buckets and dunks to follow. However, since gwu has experienced guards, expect the Hokies to not use the press.

THE OPPONENT

Whoa, whoa, slow down! Before you chalk up a ‘W’ for the Hokies, keep this in mind: the gardner-webb runnin’ bulldogs went into Rupp Arena last year and defeated the kentucky wildcats in woodshed fashion 84-68. Billy Gillespie was nearly run out of K-Y Kentucky before you could say, “We really screwed up running Tubby Smith out of the state”. That allowed gwu to advance to the semi-finals of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. There, the gardner-webb runnin’ bulldogs lost to connecticut and oklahoma in the self-proclaimed Most Famous Arena in the World, Madison Square Garden in NYC.

So, what does that mean? It means gwu is not afraid of VT and has played big name opponents. It means they can beat the Hokies on their home court. Will they? Ahhhh, I don’t think so.

Probability of a VT win: 83%

Read the full story

Popularity: 1% [?]