Hokies fall to NC State

Virginia Tech played NC State tough, but fell 71-64 in Cassell Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.  The Hokies dropped to 9-17 and 2-12 with the loss, while the Wolfpack improved to 17-10 and 7-7.

The Hokies played without Cadarian Raines (ankle), Ben Emelogu (ankle and achilles) and Adam Smith (calf).  James Johnson noted after the game that Emelogu has been overcompensating for his injured ankle, and that has resulted in a sore achilles.  The training staff is being very cautious about that injury, so he is day-to-day.

As a result, Tech’s starting lineup looked like this…

1: Devin Wilson: 39 minutes, 14 points, 9 assists
2: Will Johnston: 33 minutes, 7 points, 3 rebounds
3: Jarell Eddie: 33 minutes, 14 points, 6 rebounds
4: Trevor Thompson: 18 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds (foul trouble)
5: Joey van Zegeren: 31 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds

The Hokies could only look to Christian Beyer, Marshall Wood and C.J. Barksdale off the bench, and the loss of Emelogu and Raines really hurt their depth.

“It’s very tough, especially when you have Will Johnston out there playing a lot of minutes and Devin Wilson is playing a lot of minutes,” James Johnson said. “I think that’s contributing to some of the turnovers, 17 is too much for us, but we get tired and don’t play as smart as we need to play.”

NC State countered Tech’s lack of depth with future first round draft pick T.J. Warren, who scored 31 points.  Former McDonald’s All-American point guard Tyler Lewis (who Virginia Tech recruited heavily and offered in the 7th grade) had 11 assists and no turnovers for the Wolfpack.

The Hokies trailed the entire game, but they did cut the NC State lead to four points with 36 seconds left.  However, Devin Wilson fouled out shortly thereafter, which ruined any chance Tech had to complete the comeback.

Things don’t get any easier this coming week, as the Hokies travel to Duke on Tuesday night.  Tipoff is scheduled for 7pm, and the game will be televised by ESPNU.

Box Score (HokieSports.com)

18 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. About our defence….quoted from THE RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER….”…but there zone had too many open spots in the middle and they couldn’t keep track of Warren or Lewis…”

  2. The free-throw shooting is alful,but the defense is still terrible. The execution is not very good, and I blame that on the Coach.This is not a fun team to watch!

    1. The defense is “terrible”? You must not have been watching the same game that I watched yesterday. Granted, they had some breakdowns, but overall I thought the defense was pretty good. We lost the game because we committed too many turnovers and missed too many free throws. You aren’t gonna beat many ACC teams shooting under 60% from the line with 15+ turnovers.

      But consider that Coach Johnson was without the following players yesterday that he thought he was going to have available this season:

      Ben Emelogou
      Adam Smith
      Donte Clark
      Cadarian Raines
      Malik Mueller

      That’s 5 of our projected top 10-11 players at the end of last season. I’d like to see what other ACC teams would look like if they had to absorb that level of attrition.

  3. I don’t see the best effort from Jarell Eddie. He seems lazy with the ball. He had the ball slapped out of his hands the first 3 times he touched the ball.

    1. Eddie has always had a weak handle. (i.e. He’s not a good ball handler) It’s a major weakness in his game, and for this VT team as a whole. Devin Wilson is the only guy we have who can break down a defense off the dribble and consistently get penetration.

  4. We do so many stupid, simple things wrong…like Eddie trying to rebound the ball with one hand and losing it out of bounds followed by a NC St basket, missing dunks and layups, missing FTs, fumbling the ball out of bounds unforced. I don’t know how many times we could’ve had rebounds that we just didn’t GRAB with two hands. We go after the ball with one hand so often, it’s not a coincidence, it’s lack if coaching. Yes, you can coach that stuff. The devil is in the details, and these little things really add up especially now that we’re keeping games closer by slowing them down. How often do we miss shots from in close because we don’t use the backboard from the block

    1. agree with you hokiepro. Other issues as well. What I saw yesterday was “regression”. Saw some of it vs. UVA as well, people just standing around on the floor, not moving, not defending. You could say that is a coaching issue and perhaps it is, but there is not much a coach can do if there is no one available to substitute. Injuries obviously hurting us, the kids look and play gassed toward the end of the game. I think next year will be better, maybe not much in the win column, but we will see more effort and closer games.

  5. The problem is VT commits lots of turnovers BEFORE they get tired. Yes, they played lots of minutes but the turnovers, the flubs by Trevor Thompson for example occurred early. Not to diminish how much they can play without rest but they are conditioned. I know they played hard and don’t fault the effort. But I just argue against the “tired” excuse for turnovers. This team is a turnover prone team. We know it. It is the identity since the beginning of the year and it has little to do with fatigue or being over-played.

  6. Effort is there… skill set is not. Don’t know what they work on in practice but this offence is a wreck. Some players seem to be there to occupy space . This is a hard team to watch. Love the players… hate the team. Still supporting this great group of guys and glad they want to be a Hokie!

  7. These guys are doing the best they can coaches and players both. I appreciate their effort.

    1. IS it really “the best they can”. I don’t think so. I think they can do better. Not to say they are world beaters but I do believe it Is not “the best they can”

  8. Liked the effort, but it looks like 0 wins the rest of the yr. It would be nice to make it thru a season without a ton of injuries.

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