Box Score

Another slow start to a game and another ACC opening loss. The Hokies trailed early and for most of the game as they fell to 1-7 in ACC openers, 55-58, to wake forest in Winston Salem.

Tech fell behind early and trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, despite committing just one turnover. But it was the rebounding and poor shooting that killed the Hokies. The deacons out-rebounded Tech 42-31 for the game.

Both teams shot about the same from the field – VT was 23/58 for 39.7%; wake was 20/52 for 38.7% – but wake shot and made more threes and free throws. wake as 8/18 from three and 10/13 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Hokies were just 6/22 from behind the arc and only 3/6 from the free throw line.

Erick Green led the way for Tech in the loss, scoring a game-high 19 points. Jarrell Eddie was the only other Tech player in double-digit scoring with 12. Dorenzo Hudson and Victor Davila each had 8 points; Robert Brown dropped in 6 and Marquis Rankin added 2. That was it. Only six VT players scored. CJ Barksdale, Cadarian Raines and Dorian Finney-Smith all got goose eggs.

The Hokies fell behind early, but fought back to cut the first-half deficit to three, before wake pulled ahead to take a 32-24 lead at the half.

Tech twice tied the game in the second half and even took a brief lead, 53-52, with 1:20 left in the game, but wake’s C.J. Harris drilled a three to retake the lead :15 later. Green answered quickly a jumper at the other end to tie the game at 55, but again, Harris was clutch for the demon deacons, drilling a critical three-pointer with just 18 seconds to play.

The Hokies called a timeout and inbounded the ball a mid-court and nearly had it stolen. wake put the pressure on Tech and the Hokies couldn’t get a good shot off to tie the game. The deacons got the last rebound, the Hokies fouled, wake missed the free throw and time ran out.

On the one hand, it’s hard to be disappointed with a loss like this because Tech relies heavily on young players who were playing their first road game in the ACC. And this game was pretty intense for a first conference game. Both teams were taking this game seriously and Tech played close and didn’t let it get out of hand.

But on the other hand, as Niemo pointed out in his video lowlights, wake was terrible last season at just 1-15 in conference play, so you kinda cringe at a loss like this. This is a bad loss in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee and if Tech can’t play with teams like wake, it doesn’t look good against the top half of the ACC.

SCORES AT EACH MEDIA TIMEOUT:

1st Half:

• Under-16: wake 10-5
• Under-12: wake 20-8
• Under-8: wake 26-15
• Under-4: wake 26-20

HALF: wake 32-24

2nd Half:

• Under-16: wake 36-33
• Under-12: wake 40-38
• Under-8: wake 45-40
• Under-4: wake 50-46

FINAL: wake 58, VT 55

Of Note: Dorenzo Hudson became the 42nd Hokie to reach the 1,000 point mark for a career in the oklahoma state game, Part III.

Welcome back, VT football fans.  I wish we were reuniting under better circumstances, but let’s just pretend like Tuesday didn’t happen and move on.  The bball team is doing well!  Hey, we might make the NCAAs this year!  Ugh, forget I said that.  Seriously, though, if you haven’t been following us so far, we have a lot of changes.  This should catch you up…

• Midseason Video and ACC Preview
• Midseason Report Card

On Saturday the Hokies open ACC play with a trip down to Winston-Salem to face the demon deacons of wake forest.  wake finished last year 1-15 in the ACC and were probably the worst team in ACC history.  Tech beat them by a combined 43 points last year.  Their #2, 3, and 5 scorers either graduated or left school — J.T. Terrell and Ari Stewart both left wake for the usc trojans (Terrell had a DWI) and Gary Clark, a deadly 3-point shooter but horrible defender, graduated.  The deacons just lost to wofford earlier this week.  So this should be a cake walk, right?  Well, maybe not.  I do think the Hokies will win, but I’m only 67% confident of that (i.e. if they played at wake 3 times, VT would win 2).  I’ll get to why I feel that way in a few moments in “THE opponent” section.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Hokies can, and need to, get off to a fast start in the ACC.  VT has 2 very winnable ACC road games sandwiched around a trip by a struggling fsu team to the Cassell next week.  But after that, the Hokies play unc, @uva, byu, @maryland, and duke before the schedule gets easier.  We’d obviously like to be 3-0 in ACC play heading into that tough stretch, with 2-1 a must at the very least.  And that all starts Saturday.

THE SERIES:

Virginia Tech has owned wake forest since joining the ACC.  Check out these numbers:

• In ACC action: VT 8-2 (their best winning percentage against any ACC team – LINK)
• Overall: VT 28-26 (1 of just 3 ACC teams VT has a winning all time record against)
• At wake in ACC play: VT 3-1
• Last February at wake: VT 76, wake 62 (LINK)
• Last January at VT: VT 94, wake 65 (LINK)

This will be the ONLY meeting of the regular season between the two schools.

NOTE: This marks the 3rd time Tech has opened ACC play with wake, choking a hearbreaker back in 2007-08 77-75 at wake (Dorenzo Hudson’s debut), and winning 63-60 at home in 2006-07.

STARTERS:

STATS:

THE opponent – wake forest:

As I said earlier, don’t just chalk this up as a Hokies win like we could last year, even with wake coming off a 1-15 season and having lost to wofford.  Why?  Simple – C.J. Harris.  Harris is averaging 18.7 ppg, 2nd best in the ACC behind maryland’s Stoglin.  He’s shooting an amazing 54% from the field and 53% from behind the 3-point line (24/45)!  And this is as a guard!  To shoot over 50% is amazing for a perimeter player.    If the season ended today, I’d pick him over Erick Green for 1st Team All-ACC (I’d also have Stoglin at the guard spot, with Barnes (unc), Henson (unc), and Scott (uva)).

Big deal, you say, they just lost to wofford… well, will you let me finish?  Yeesh.  I know you are upset about Tuesday, as am I, but can you let me get to my point?   Thank you…

Harris didn’t play against wofford.  He sat with a strained groin, but is expected back for the VT game.  That means he has 5 days to heal.  Personally, I’ve never pulled a groin (I leave that for the ladies), so I cannot say how close to 100% he might be.  wake must have Harris near 100% to have any chance.  Harris can shoot from deep as I said, but is also excellent at attacking the rim and scoring or drawing fouls (91 FTs, hitting 78%).

wake isn’t a one man band, though.  Travis McKie, a sophomore from Richmond and an old high school rival of Cadarian Raines (Petersburg), is averaging 17.9 ppg, 3rd best in the ACC.  McKie is a tad undersized as a big man at 6’7″ and 210 lbs, but he can shoot from the perimeter, too.  He’s hit 16/41 3s (39%), so you have to respect him out there.  Doe Doe should match up with him well with Doe Doe’s reach and athleticism, but McKie is a good low post player and could muscle Doe Doe.  Raines could do a good job on McKie and/or VT could put Doe Doe on the 6’8″ Mescheriakov (or Davila could guard Mescheriakov if the 7-foot Desrosiers isn’t in).

Tony Chennault will also handle the ball a lot in addition to Harris, and the 6’2″ sophomore averages 11.4 ppg.  Tony is an awful 3-point shooter (5/22) but does get to the rim a lot and can dish or get to the FT line.

Both Harris and Chennault will look to drive and either shoot, or dish to McKie or the other post players.

Chase Fischer, a freshman guard, is wake’s best bench player.  He is exclusively a 3-point shooter.  75% of his shots are 3-pointers, so Tech must keep an eye on him outside when he’s in.

All that being said, the biggest advantage the Hokies have is on the bench.  Tech has Seth Greenberg, while wake forest has the new sheriff in town in terms of Worst ACC Coach.  With Sidney Lowe gone from nc state and Paul Hewitt history at georgia tech, Jeff Bzdelik is the new low in terms of suits.  Jeff went 36-58 at colorado (10-38 in the Big 12) in 3 years before getting fired, yet somehow leveraged that into the wake job.  It is eerily similar to the ricky “Program Bomb” stokes hiring at wake — Bzdelik has a close relationship with the wake A.D.  The deacons went 8-24 last year including 1-15 in conference.  They’ve already managed to win 9 games this year, and I think they’ll improve on that 1-15 record in the league, but Jeff is still the pits.  He looks brain-dead on the sideline with no emotion.  We’ll see if Steve Donahue can give Bzdelik a run for his money at worst coach, but with bc having gone 9-7 last year and tying for 4th, bc has a long ways to fall.

HO-KEYS TO WINNING:

• Pound the glass: wake is an AWFUL rebounding team.  They are 11th in the league in defensive and offensive rebounding percentages.  In other words, they give up a lot of 2nd chances and don’t get many themselves.  Look for VT to dominate the boards like they did against oklahoma state.
• Defense: When Fischer is in, overplay him on the perimeter.  Play off Chennault on the perimeter – take away his dribble drive and dare him to shoot 3s.  Harris will require help – you need to be on him outside, but when he beats his man off the dribble, the D must rotate without giving up easy looks inside (Rankin may get time on Harris).
• Get easy buckets: wake is not a good defensive team.  They are slow in the post.  Get out and run and get transition buckets.  Tech is 8-0 this year when they shoot for a higher FG% than their opponent (3-3 when they shoot a lower FG%).
• Hot from deep: The Hokies are 10-1 when they shoot for a higher 3-Pt% than their opponent (if you remember this stat from last year, this stat determined the winner of Tech’s final 17 games I believe).  VT is 1-2 when shooting a lower 3-Pt % than their opponent, so obviously that stat is again a big determining factor this year.  The key is stopping Harris from deep, and then Fischer off the bench.  Given the fact VT has been, or near, #1 in this stat in the nation most of the year, you have to like our odds here.
• Protect the ball: Both teams average 13 turnovers per game.  I thought Tech had cured their issues here, but then they had 16 TOs vs okie state.  The Hokies have had more turnovers than their opponent in all of their losses.  With how bad wake is on the glass, if VT can limit turnovers, the deacons have no shot.
• Urgency: Hey, this is a big game.  VT has lost their last 4 ACC openers, and are 1-6 all time in ACC openers.  It is hard to come back from a 0-1 hole and have a big year in the ACC.  If Tech wants a top 4 spot in the league, they need to get some wins before the stretch of unc, uva, maryland, and duke.  And let’s get Zo (0-4) his first ACC opener win.

BORING FACTS ABOUT wake forest (“For humanity”):