Virginia Tech at No. 19 Virginia, 2 p.m. NBC Sports Washington
UVa sports fans have barely had time to exhale after the Orange Bowl and take in the great football season that was before realizing basketball season is really about to heat up.
Ready or not, after an up-and-down win over Navy on Sunday following the home loss to South Carolina, the Cavaliers dive headfirst into ACC play by hosting Virginia Tech, which is off to a much better start than people anticipated. Here's some more information on the Hokies, who were picked by the ACC media to finish last in the conference:
Record: 10-3, 1-1 ACC
Coach: Mike Young, first season at Tech, 18th overall, 309-247
Scorers in double figures: 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman guard Landers Nolley II (17.4), 6-3 freshman
guard Nahiem Alleyne (10.2)
Leading rebounders: Nolley (5.8), 6-2 freshman guard Tyrece Radford (5.8), 6-5 junior forward P.J. Horne (4.6), 6-1 junior guard Wabissa Bede (4.2)
Assist leaders: Bede (6.4), Nolley (2.5)
Notable: Tech has six additional players averaging at least 5.8 points. Ten players average double-figure minutes. Bede, Nolley, Radford, and 6-3 freshman guard Hunter Cattoor each average about one steal. Freshman 6-foot-10 John Ojiako is the only Hokie close to averaging one block, at 0.8, and he only plays about 12 minutes per game.
Best win: The Hokies beat then-No. 3 Michigan State, 71-66, at the Maui Invitational in November. The Spartans are 10-3 and ranked No. 14.
Worst win: Tech beat VMI, 64-55, at home. The Keydets are 5-8.
Other wins: Clemson, Coppin State, South Carolina Upstate, Lehigh, Delaware State, Chattanooga, Gardner-Webb, Maryland Eastern Shore
Best loss: Then-No. 10 Duke at home, 77-63. The Hokies led the Blue Devils, 41-38, at the half.
Worst loss: Dayton crushed Tech, 89-62, in the Maui Invitational semifinals after the Hokies' win over the Spartans. The Flyers are 10-2 and ranked No. 20, but Tech wasn't competitive.
Other loss: BYU, 90-77, in the Maui third-place game. The Cougars are 11-4.
Common opponents with UVa: None
What Virginia Tech does well: Shoot 3s. The Hokies sit at 39.4 percent on the year (14th in the country).
What Virginia Tech doesn't do well: The Hokies are small and therefore give up a lot of rebounds.
They do have a positive rebounding margin at +1 against a weak schedule, but that ranks just 157th.
UVa's pair of games against the Hokies were thought to be almost guaranteed victories at the beginning of the season. But now, given their surprising start and the bumps Virginia has experienced, we can't be so sure. Young, a veteran coach who spent 17 fairly successful years at Wofford before coming to Blacksburg to take over for the departed Buzz Williams (Texas A&M), has done an excellent job with a very youthful team, and the rise of Nolley has been a big part of the success. He is looking like a one-and-done player (technically two-and-done, since he redshirted his first year) that has legitimately carried Tech. Nolley, who has good size with 230 pounds on his 6-7 frame, is shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 43.5 percent on 3s, and 75.6 percent from the line.
Just the fact that the Hokies shoot much better than the 'Hoos from beyond the arc is troubling. It was realistic to expect the Cavaliers to struggle this year given the departure of the Big Three, but they are still only shooting 28.4 percent. That has slowly crept up the past few games but is still far below the 39.5 percent the 'Hoos finished at last year. Interestingly enough, UVa also holds opponents to 28.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc, which ranks 26th. Tech gives up a 30.8 percent rate (97th). It sounds obvious, but whichever team can make a few more 3s than normal could tip the game in its favor. It's no secret UVa is having a hard time scoring, so if it can all of a sudden make 6-8 3s, that would be a big boost. Likewise, it's only natural Tech could have trouble scoring against UVa with a cast of players that looks a lot different than last season, when Tech was a tip-in away from going to overtime against Duke in the Sweet 16. But if the Hokies start getting hot, their upset chances will look that much better.
As I mentioned, the Hokies play very small ball. That could give them a quickness advantage but will make it tough on them to score around the rim. Expect Tech to live on the perimeter. The Cavaliers will have to be quick with their close-outs. It'll be interesting to see if the Wahoos give many minutes to their tallest players such as Jay Huff and Francisco Caffaro or limit their time so as they can more easily match the Hokies' quickness. Of course, the bigger the 'Hoos play, the bigger advantage that could be on offense and the boards. Expect Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key to guard Nolley at times. It'll be important for them to try to do so without fouling since they are so important on the offensive end.
Besides Nolley, the Hokies' other top 3-point shooters are freshman guard Jalen Cone (55.9 percent; however, he is just 5-10 and plays 12.7 minutes per game), Cattoor (44.6), Horne (43.2), and Alleyne (36.4).
The Cavaliers downed Navy, 65-56, last time out, and actually played pretty well on offense. Virginia
went 8 for 19 from beyond the arc and shot 53.2 percent from the field. Yet, the Midshipmen led by one, 41-40, at the 10-minute mark despite shooting 38.8 percent from the field. That number, however, did include seven made 3s, four by Cam Davis, who scored 19 points. UVa, which led 37-29 at the half, had seven second-half turnovers, which didn't help its cause. It also only scored three points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. But then the Cavaliers exploded for 12 points over the next three and a half minutes to put the game away. Key led the team with 15 points -- which was great to see in his third game back from injury -- and added seven boards, Diakite had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Casey Morsell and Kihei Clark had 10 each. Morsell, Clark, and Tomas Woldetensae made two 3s each.
The Wahoos are in for a more difficult test than anticipated when looking at this game in early November. Tech is looking to make a statement in the ACC after already knocking off MSU and leading Duke at the half. UVa needs to come out with intensity, focus, and take this game seriously. The Cavaliers need to make sure they limit turnovers, which really fueled South Carolina's win. Luckily, Virginia has gotten off to a 2-0 start in the ACC (Syracuse, North Carolina), so the situation isn't dire. But now play time is over. There are no more out-of-the-ACC games in which the 'Hoos can take a breath. It's conference play all the way until March.
I think this is going to be a close game played in the high 50s or low 60s. If it comes down to free throw shooting, UVa has a slight edge there at 69.9 percent while Tech is at 68.7 percent.
Win-loss prediction: Virginia wins by 1-5 points.
UVa sports fans have barely had time to exhale after the Orange Bowl and take in the great football season that was before realizing basketball season is really about to heat up.
Ready or not, after an up-and-down win over Navy on Sunday following the home loss to South Carolina, the Cavaliers dive headfirst into ACC play by hosting Virginia Tech, which is off to a much better start than people anticipated. Here's some more information on the Hokies, who were picked by the ACC media to finish last in the conference:
Record: 10-3, 1-1 ACC
Coach: Mike Young, first season at Tech, 18th overall, 309-247
Scorers in double figures: 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman guard Landers Nolley II (17.4), 6-3 freshman
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| Landers Nolley scored 22 points in the Hokies' upset of the Spartans. |
Leading rebounders: Nolley (5.8), 6-2 freshman guard Tyrece Radford (5.8), 6-5 junior forward P.J. Horne (4.6), 6-1 junior guard Wabissa Bede (4.2)
Assist leaders: Bede (6.4), Nolley (2.5)
Notable: Tech has six additional players averaging at least 5.8 points. Ten players average double-figure minutes. Bede, Nolley, Radford, and 6-3 freshman guard Hunter Cattoor each average about one steal. Freshman 6-foot-10 John Ojiako is the only Hokie close to averaging one block, at 0.8, and he only plays about 12 minutes per game.
Best win: The Hokies beat then-No. 3 Michigan State, 71-66, at the Maui Invitational in November. The Spartans are 10-3 and ranked No. 14.
Worst win: Tech beat VMI, 64-55, at home. The Keydets are 5-8.
Other wins: Clemson, Coppin State, South Carolina Upstate, Lehigh, Delaware State, Chattanooga, Gardner-Webb, Maryland Eastern Shore
Best loss: Then-No. 10 Duke at home, 77-63. The Hokies led the Blue Devils, 41-38, at the half.
Worst loss: Dayton crushed Tech, 89-62, in the Maui Invitational semifinals after the Hokies' win over the Spartans. The Flyers are 10-2 and ranked No. 20, but Tech wasn't competitive.
Other loss: BYU, 90-77, in the Maui third-place game. The Cougars are 11-4.
Common opponents with UVa: None
What Virginia Tech does well: Shoot 3s. The Hokies sit at 39.4 percent on the year (14th in the country).
What Virginia Tech doesn't do well: The Hokies are small and therefore give up a lot of rebounds.
UVa's pair of games against the Hokies were thought to be almost guaranteed victories at the beginning of the season. But now, given their surprising start and the bumps Virginia has experienced, we can't be so sure. Young, a veteran coach who spent 17 fairly successful years at Wofford before coming to Blacksburg to take over for the departed Buzz Williams (Texas A&M), has done an excellent job with a very youthful team, and the rise of Nolley has been a big part of the success. He is looking like a one-and-done player (technically two-and-done, since he redshirted his first year) that has legitimately carried Tech. Nolley, who has good size with 230 pounds on his 6-7 frame, is shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 43.5 percent on 3s, and 75.6 percent from the line.
Just the fact that the Hokies shoot much better than the 'Hoos from beyond the arc is troubling. It was realistic to expect the Cavaliers to struggle this year given the departure of the Big Three, but they are still only shooting 28.4 percent. That has slowly crept up the past few games but is still far below the 39.5 percent the 'Hoos finished at last year. Interestingly enough, UVa also holds opponents to 28.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc, which ranks 26th. Tech gives up a 30.8 percent rate (97th). It sounds obvious, but whichever team can make a few more 3s than normal could tip the game in its favor. It's no secret UVa is having a hard time scoring, so if it can all of a sudden make 6-8 3s, that would be a big boost. Likewise, it's only natural Tech could have trouble scoring against UVa with a cast of players that looks a lot different than last season, when Tech was a tip-in away from going to overtime against Duke in the Sweet 16. But if the Hokies start getting hot, their upset chances will look that much better.
As I mentioned, the Hokies play very small ball. That could give them a quickness advantage but will make it tough on them to score around the rim. Expect Tech to live on the perimeter. The Cavaliers will have to be quick with their close-outs. It'll be interesting to see if the Wahoos give many minutes to their tallest players such as Jay Huff and Francisco Caffaro or limit their time so as they can more easily match the Hokies' quickness. Of course, the bigger the 'Hoos play, the bigger advantage that could be on offense and the boards. Expect Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key to guard Nolley at times. It'll be important for them to try to do so without fouling since they are so important on the offensive end.
Besides Nolley, the Hokies' other top 3-point shooters are freshman guard Jalen Cone (55.9 percent; however, he is just 5-10 and plays 12.7 minutes per game), Cattoor (44.6), Horne (43.2), and Alleyne (36.4).
The Cavaliers downed Navy, 65-56, last time out, and actually played pretty well on offense. Virginia
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| Braxton Key paced the 'Hoos against Navy, a great sign in his third game back from his wrist injury. |
The Wahoos are in for a more difficult test than anticipated when looking at this game in early November. Tech is looking to make a statement in the ACC after already knocking off MSU and leading Duke at the half. UVa needs to come out with intensity, focus, and take this game seriously. The Cavaliers need to make sure they limit turnovers, which really fueled South Carolina's win. Luckily, Virginia has gotten off to a 2-0 start in the ACC (Syracuse, North Carolina), so the situation isn't dire. But now play time is over. There are no more out-of-the-ACC games in which the 'Hoos can take a breath. It's conference play all the way until March.
I think this is going to be a close game played in the high 50s or low 60s. If it comes down to free throw shooting, UVa has a slight edge there at 69.9 percent while Tech is at 68.7 percent.
Win-loss prediction: Virginia wins by 1-5 points.
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