Another close game, another close loss. Virginia Tech battled back from a double digit deficit, but lost to the Maryland Terrapins 73-69 on Saturday afternoon at the Comcast Center. The Hokies dropped to 12-9 overall and 1-5 in the ACC with the loss. Maryland is now 13-7, with a 3-3 mark in league games.
Just like the BYU game, the Hokies got off to a terrible start offensively. They didn’t execute in the halfcourt offense, couldn’t get the ball inside, and in general just looked lost on the offensive end of the court. After scoring only 19 points in the first half and trailing 32-19 at the intermission, Tech was much better in the second half. Their movement was good offensively, they made shots, and looked much more efficient overall. However, the poor start doomed them to defeat for the second game in a row.
Erick Green scored 18 points for Tech, but he was just 8-of-21 from the field, missing numerous floaters from the lane. Green took so many shots because he had to try and make something happen in the first half, with the Tech offense executing so poorly.
Victor Davila played his best game of the season, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds. He was 5-of-8 from the field, and made all four of his free throws. Dorenzo Hudson came off the bench for the fourth straight game and finished with double figures for the fourth straight game. he had 14 points againt the Terps.
Jarell Eddie added 11 points for Virginia Tech. Unfortunately the struggles of Dorian Finney-Smith continued. He had just one point and five rebounds, and he was 0-of-3 from the field. He has not made a field goal in five of his six ACC games.
A big difference in this game is the fact that Maryland had the best player on the court. Terrell Stoglin is arguably the best scoring guard in the ACC. He had 28 points against Tech, hitting numerous big shots, some of them coming against good defense. Stoglin is a really good player who had a great game against Tech.
Marquis Rankin was used against Stoglin defensively for part of the second half. Rankin is a terrific on-ball defender, and he really limited the looks Stoglin got on the offensive end. He forced a wild shot when the shot clock was winding down, and he also had a steal off Stoglin that led to two easy fastbreak points. Rankin also had an offensive rebound putback, and was a good spark for Virginia Tech off the bench.
However, Rankin is very limited offensively at this point in his career, particularly his shooting, so he only played 11 minutes.
Tech had 14 assists and just 10 turnovers, while Maryland had just seven assists and 16 turnovers. It was Terrell Stoglin’s terrific individual performance and Virginia Tech’s slow start in the halfcourt offense ultimately sent the Hokies home with a loss.
It doesn’t get any easier for Virginia Tech. They host Duke in Cassell Coliseum this Thursday night at 7pm. The game will be televised by ESPN.
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When does Seth’s seat start to get hot? It has to already by warm.
In my humble opinion, the squad hasn’t approved. Certainly didn’t see anything Saturday but the same old stuff. For my money the only sign of improvement would have been a win. Win one of those close games. There is no other way to measure improvement except wins vs. losses. “Close” and “almost” don’t cut it.
A “tourney birth”? We’d have to play balls to the wall to get enough wins to make the CBA at this rate.
8 pts combined by the 4 freshmen. What is the deal w DFS?
Ron Everhart may be worth a look.
I’m not a big fan, even though he is a Tech grad. He’s never made the NCAA Tournament. Ever. We can do better, IMO.
We only have one scorer on the team & that’s Green, our point guard. WE don’t have anyone inside who can score consistently … no Jeff Allen-type.
I don’t really remember Jeff Allen scoring consistently inside in the ACC. Out of conference, against big men who were his size he could, but he wasn’t a big force inside in most of the ACC games I remember.
But a better post presence would be a plus.
The big play was the three foul shots made by them at the end of the game. It was not a foul. That same ref. failed to call at least three on Maryland that was worse.
Well hope at least they start improving as a team. Obviously a tourny berth would be difficult but keep getting better