Virginia Tech responded to several Iowa runs, took control on the glass, and eventually ran the Hawkeyes out of the gym 95-79 on Tuesday night. The Hokies are now 6-0 for the first time since 1982-83. All three of Tech’s wins in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge have come at the expense of Iowa. The Hawkeyes dropped to 5-2 with the loss.
“That’s a very good ball club that we just beat,” head coach James Johnson said. “That team is going to win a lot of games this year. We came out, we were ready to play, and our guys stepped up to the challenge.”
The game was close early, until the Hokies went on a late first half run to go up 46-38 at the break. After a great start to the second half, Tech led 53-38, but the Hawkeyes stormed back. They went on a 16-4 run to cut the score to 57-54 with 12 minutes remaining. However, Tech responded by going on a quick 12-4 run to go back up 69-58 with 9:02 left in the game.
Iowa would only get as close as nine points from that point, at the 6:06 mark. Tech went on an 8-1 run to go up 84-68, and led by as many as 21 points (93-72) down the stretch before finally winning by 16.
Erick Green paced Tech with 24 points, while dishing out five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Robert Brown added 18 points for the Hokies.
Iowa came into the game averaging 15 offensive rebounds per game, and rebounding had been a weakness for Tech up until Tuesday night. The Hokies outrebounded the Hawkeyes 36-30. C.J. Barksdale and Jarell Eddie each had 11 points and seven rebounds each, while Cadarian Raines had nine points and six boards. Tech actually outscored Iowa 13-2 in second chance points.
“I…I guess [that was the best game I’ve ever played at Tech],” Barksdale said after the game. “We have a lot of games to go. Of course I’m proud of myself, but I’m not going to get complacent.”
Joey van Zegeren came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points, and he also pulled down three offensive rebounds.
“I think we had a very good week of practice,” van Zegeren noted. “Everything we do in practice, whether it’s after-practice film or rehab…like this morning I was out shooting free throws with the coaches, and my free throws went in tonight.”
As a team, the Hokies made 27-of-30 shots from the free throw line. On the season, they are shooting at a 77.2% clip from the charity stripe.
The competition will increase this Saturday, when #15 Oklahoma State visits Blacksburg.
“It should be a good game,” van Zegeren said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll prepare good for it, and we’ll be ready when they come.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 2pm on Saturday in Cassell Coliseum, and the game can be viewed online on ESPN3.
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Mr. Coleman –
LUV IT!!!
FREE THROWS & taking the ball to the hoop to draw fouls!!!!
That’s how you win ball games. …and, this coach has some tricks up his sleeves that he has only hinted at – for example, the defensive twist in the second half of the App St game.
GO HOKIES – RUN BABY RUN!
/r
Slim
Greenberg on ESPN said “Erick Green is playing as well as any guard in the country.”
One; it’s looking like JJ is one heck of a coach and two; this style of play should be very attractive to future recruits. Yes it’s early but the future looks bright.
Congrats to BB team. Great to see the team chemistry and effort.
They make basketball look like fun again.
Congrats to CJJ. Whatever it is you’re doing, keep on doing it.
I am impressed with the team chemistry and confidence this edition of the Hokies has . Also what a player Green is! A classy (as opposed to streetwise) Delaney. I was looking at #11, and his appearance actually reminds me some of Dell Curry. Can I speculate that Green will be ACC point guard of the year? Today he is. He and Jarrell team up like Dowdell and Gordon. # 2 has emerged from the projects to become a reliable player. Raines is healthy for once and looking good. This is a pretty darn good team and with more playing time together I see them as overachievers in the ACC. If they get past OSU I’m going to be giddy.
I basically agree with everything you said except I don’t know why you felt it necessary to slam Delaney. As for the Curry comparison, as yet he is not the shooter Dell was but his release seems to be almost as quick as Dell’s was and, brother,that’s saying something.
When you have a team full of guys that are good shooters and they’re being led by a great senior PG, you have the potential to go a long way.
This is key. This is a much better shooting team than we have seen in several years. There is better balance in scoring and we seem to be more consistent from both the FT and the 3 pt line.
Keys absolutely. Also, the key is winning these important games that will matter come March. Hope the ACC has a better night tonight than last night and we even the games up at 6 at least or better.
This team is really fun to watch and I’m actually becoming optimistic, not just about the long term prospects, but tha chance that we might even be pretty darn good THIS YEAR. Iowa seemed like a pretty decent team, and if anything we played better against them than we did against the first 5 cupcakes.
JJ better be careful or he’ll raise expectations too far….but I welcome him to give that a shot.
Agreed – that was one of the most enjoyable Hokie games I’ve watched in a long time. The offense looks smart. Nice job passing to find the open man, players taking the open shot when it’s available (not when the shot clock is down enough), and an opportunistic defense.
The one thing I worry about for next year is who will take over for Erick Green. But maybe JJ will have an easier time finding a solid PG to round out this recruiting class with EG and this offense as an example.
I’m going to wait on getting too excited about this season until we play OSU and WVU. GO HOKIES!
great game. their pace of play reminds me of the old school ACC i used to watch in the 90’s. such a contrast to greenberg’s philosophy.
Joey van Zegeren has been a pleasant surprise.
Amazing what good coaching can do for a team, especially an offense…hmmmmm.
I’m with you. And just think what a real offensive coach could do with more players…like 11 instead of 5.
Stinespring has 11 and you see what he’s done. 🙂
Well played.
the key word there was “real” offensive coach