Finally, the losing streak is over. Virginia Tech got big games from Erick Green and C.J. Barksdale in an 80-70 win over Florida State in Blacksburg on Sunday night. The Hokies are now 12-15 overall and 3-11 in ACC play. The Noles dropped to 14-13, with a 6-8 mark in the ACC.
Erick Green led all scorers with 26 points, and he also had five assists, four rebounds and two steals. He was 8-of-17 from the field and made all nine of his free throws. C.J. Barksdale put up big numbers for the second game in a row, finishing with a career-high 17 points and nine rebounds. He was 4-of-6 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
“It feels good, especially with the way I’ve been playing,” Barksdale said. “I’ve been going through a little slump, so it feels good to have these two games.”
Barksdale also noted that it’s good to get the losing streak over and done with.
“No team wants to get in a routine of losing,” Barksdale said. “We came out and played as hard as we could, and focused in on the scouting report. The results showed.”
Tech also got a good contribution from Robert Brown. He made his first three shots from the field, and finished with 11 points for the game.
“It was big [making his first three shots],” Brown said. “I felt good coming into this game, and my teammates still had confidence in me.”
Brown hopes that getting a win will help the team’s confidence and lead to more wins.
“Hopefully we do. Hopefully everybody on the team keeps getting better, and Erick keeps playing the way he is. A win can do a lot for a team. Hopefully we’ll take this one and carry the momentum on.”
Tech shot 50% from the field in this game, and they also shot 25-of-30 (83.3%) from the free throw line. Florida State started fouling with over two minutes left in the game, and it was great free throw shooting down the stretch that kept the Noles at arm’s length.
Marquis Rankin started the game for the Hokies and finished with eight points. However, he started throwing up in the lockerroom during halftime, and after a brief appearance in the second half he left the game and never returned.
Tech returns to action on Wednesday night when they take on Miami on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 7pm, and the game will be televised by RSN. Check your local listings.
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Its good to see brown get some points .But when he is going tom shoot ,crash the boards.We need to go to the boards hard anyway because you know this team doesnt usually shoot 50%.
I just saw 2nd half, actually just last 10 minutes. Looked like good effort. Barksdale had one awesome block under the basket, I think he had one defender in front of. Him, & he went up and over, like ” not here, not now.” Shades of Deron Washington going over the Dookie who was trying to take the charge, but Deron just freaking jumped over him. STRONG block by Barksdale.
Forget the defense lapses for a change … they made their shots. they almost made 35% of their 3pt shots, over 45% of their fga and over 75% of their ft. It’s about scoring, the best defense isn’t going to overcome poor shooting.
Ever watch the movie Moneyball? The Oakland A’s selected players not because of their defense, but because … they get on base.
Look at the Cinderella teams in the NCAA. They don’t get there on defense, they get there putting the ball in the hoop. VMI has gone to the regionals at least once … on putting the ball in the hoop.
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. If I were a recruiter for a major college basketball program, the one skill that I would prize above all others … by a mile … is shooting ability. They only give you points in the game of basketball for doing one thing.
Being able to force turnovers is great, being able to rebound well is great, being able to score points in transition is great, as is being “long” and able to extend the perimeter of the defense. But the bottom line is that a team has to be able to knock down a good % of its open jumpers and convert on 75%+ of its FT attempts. You very rarely see a team go very far in the NCAA tournament that can’t shoot.
scum next :-(((
noticing a trend: opposing teams lose the game immediately preceding ours (ie: d’um turtles, dook, and next scum); their coach pushes them in practices in prep for us and they show up with their a+ game.
it’s a conspiracy, i tell ya!
Go Hokies! drum the dumb cheatin’ scum
7-20 from 3 for FSU is still probably better than their average…we still have some defensive communication issues, but it was a better effort. It’s nice to play a team that doesn’t shoot lights out for a change.
Yep, for sure. We still have massive defensive issues. We barely beat the only team worse than us defensively and we had to shoot 50% to do it.
“We came out and played as hard as we could, and focused in on the scouting report. The results showed.” Sounds like the team listened to its Sr. leader, Erick Green’s comments in the paper……7-20 from 3pt range for the Noles, sounds like we fought over the tops of screens instead of going beneath them like we have been all year!!
No, we still went beneath a good number of screens. The only difference is that FSU didn’t suddenly become a fantastic 3-pt shooting team like many of the teams we’ve played have magically become (or so it seems). That said, especially in the second half, my untrained eye saw more fighting over the tops and less going beneath than I’ve seen before.
JJ mentioned that they started working through screens better in the second half.
I watched very specifically for this throughout the game. Several times I noticed both Eddie and Brown fighting their way over top of screens set at the top of the key. I wouldn’t say they were always successful, and FSU missed some open looks as a result, but at least we weren’t just taking themselves out of the play.