2009-2010 Basketball Game Preview: UMBC

Looking for their tenth overall win and seventh victory in a row, Virginia Tech will
host Maryland-Baltimore Country tonight in Cassell Coliseum. The Retrievers have
a very young team, and they are just 1-9 on the season. However, they have a lot
of close losses, and they aren’t as bad as their record indicates.

UMBC starts one freshman and two sophomores, and the top three players off
their bench are freshmen. They don’t have a lot of experience, and that’s shown
on the court this season. The Retrievers have lost three games by five points or
less, and for the most part they haven’t been blown out.

UMBC doesn’t have a true power forward, but other than that this is a pretty
big lineup for a small conference team. Chauncey Gilliam is an NBA-sized wing,
and Robbie Jackson is a big presence on the inside.

Chris De La Rosa is probably the best player on the team, even though you
can’t tell it from his scoring average. De La Rosa is averaging a whopping 6.2
assists per game, which ranks seventh in the nation. He is a very quick point
guard, and Virginia Tech needs to play good defense on the perimeter and keep
him out of the lane. If he penetrates, he is major trouble.

Shawn Grant, the first man off the bench, might be the most natural scorer.
He’s got more of a green light from the outside than anyone else on the team.
Grant is shooting 38.1% from three-point range this year, and he’s playing over
23 minutes per game as a freshman.

Chauncey Gilliam can knock down the open outside jumper, but he mostly uses
his wide frame to score. If you want an ACC comparison, think of Boston College
wing Rakim Sanders. They have similar size. Dorenzo Hudson is a big shooting
guard also, so he should draw the assignment of defending Gilliam.

Robbie Jackson is obviously a threat because of his size. No one from
Virginia Tech can match his height or weight. He has put up good numbers this
year, averaging 8.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in just under 20 minutes
per game.

Jackson is UMBC’s top rebounder, but this is not a good rebounding team
overall. The Retrievers are getting outrebounded by an average of almost nine
boards per game. Virginia Tech should have an opportunity to get some second
chance points tonight.

One reason UMBC gets outrebounded is because they miss a lot of shots.
Through 10 games, they are shooting just 39.1% from the field and 29.7% from
three-point range, and they average just 60.3 points per game. Virginia Tech
allows only 60.1 points per game, and their opponents are shooting just 39.9%
from the field and 32.7% from the outside. Scoring is going to be pretty tough
for UMBC against the Hokies.

As that table shows, scoring has been pretty tough for the Retrievers against
anybody. They’ve only scored above 70 points just once, and they’ve scored fewer
than 60 points in five of their 10 games. The Hokies aren’t an offensive machine
by any stretch, but this UMBC team will probably be the worst scoring team they
face this year.

Kent
Square Condominiums, Blacksburg’s Premier Address

We told you earlier in the year that the VMI game might be the most exciting
game in Cassell Coliseum this year. This game is the opposite. Don’t expect many
offensive highlights out of UMBC. They don’t have the firepower to knock off the
Hokies on the road.