2011-12 Basketball Game Preview: Campbell at Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech has a dangerous game on Saturday when they host the Campbell
Camels, an 8-2 basketball team that is averaging over 80 points per game.
Campbell will have an extra incentive to beat the Hokies, because their entire
starting backcourt is from the state of Virginia.

The Camels have a good record, but to date the highest ranked RPI team
they’ve beaten was #179 Iowa by a score of 77-61. The only good team they’ve
played – #17 Creighton – dispatched Campbell 104-81. The Camels have played
Houston Baptist twice, beating them 82-68 in the first meeting, and losing 87-76
this past week.

You can bet that the players from this small college in North Carolina will
be ready to take on an ACC program.

Each player in the Campbell backcourt is a native of the state of Virginia.

Tony Freeman – Averaged 20 points per game at Kellam High School in Virginia
Beach last season. His team reached the state semifinals with a perfect 27-0
record before they ran into an I.C. Norcom team led by current Virginia Tech
freshman Dorian Finney-Smith. Freeman is a quality shooter, and he’ll be one of
the Big South’s top scorer’s throughout his career.

Rico Ferguson – A former L.C. Byrd standout, Ferguson played his AAU ball
with the Richmond Squires. He went on to play for Heat Academy in Martinsville,
along with his fellow teammate – starting forward Marvelle Harris.

Darren White – White is Campbell’s leading scorer at 21.2 points per game,
and he’s also good on the boards. He signed with Campbell after playing in the
junior college ranks. Before that, he played as a freshman for James Madison,
where he was on the All-Freshman team in the CAA. In his prep days, he was a
standout for Dan River High School outside Danville, VA. At Dan River, he was
the Group A Division 2 state player of the year, and he no doubt competed
against current Tech freshman C.J. Barksdale, who played for GW-Danville.

You can bet that those three players will want to come back to their home
state and walk away with an upset win over Virginia Tech.

Campbell scores a lot of points, averaging 83.2 points per game. They shoot
53.7% from the field and 43.6% from three-point range. They don’t have great
size, and this is a game that Virginia Tech should be able to dominate on the
boards.

A quick check of Campbell’s opponents shows that they have not faced good
competition so far.

The Camels are obviously a dangerous team, and they’ll be 100% up for the
Hokies. These next three games for Tech (Campbell, North Florida and Eastern
Michigan) are classic trap games. Tech is just getting finished with exams, the
players are ready to go home for Christmas break, and they are playing three
opponents that it is easy to overlook.

Virginia Tech should win this game, perhaps even if they don’t play
particularly well. However, Campbell is good enough to hang around and win the
game at the end, if the Hokies let them.