#21 Virginia Tech fell for the second consecutive game on the road, this time to #12 Florida State 93-78. The Seminoles moved to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC with the win. The Hokies dropped to 12-3 and 1-2.
Florida State was coming off an impressive victory over UVA in Charlottesville, and they were looking to remain tied atop the ACC standings with Notre Dame. They succeeded. This game was close early, and in fact the Hokies took an early 6-0 lead. Things were back and forth, and a three-pointer by Ahmed Hill put Tech up 20-16 at the 12:38 mark of the first half.
However, that’s when the Seminoles went on a run. An 11-2 run put them up 27-22, and they never trailed again. The Hokies had trouble with FSU’s size on the inside, but the main issue was stopping the ball against the Seminoles’ impressive array of wing players.
Terance Mann paced Florida State with 22 points, while star guard Dwayne Bacon added 17. Mann even managed to make his first two three-pointers of the season. He was 0-of-7 coming into the game. As a team, they shot 49.2% from the field.
The Hokies shot 45.2%, but missed most of their open three-point jumpers. Ahmed Hill was 3-of-5 from the outside, but the rest of the team combined to go just 1-of-10. Hill scored 16 points, and was one of four Hokies in double figures. Chris Clarke led the way with 22 points, eight rebounds and two steals, while Zach LeDay had 19 points and seven rebounds. Justin Robinson finished with 11 points, but he was just 3-of-8 from the field and had an uncharacteristic five turnovers.
The Hokies were without Seth Allen, who missed the game with concussion-like symptoms. With his absence, the Hokies were basically limited to a 7-man rotation. Robinson, LeDay and Chris Clarke spent part of the game in foul trouble as well, which made matters even worse.
With two tough road games behind them, the Hokies return to Cassell Coliseum for three consecutive home games. Tech takes on Syracuse on Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7pm, and ESPNU will televise the game.
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This started out as a good game but I feel as if we played right into the hands of FSU, especially considering how deep they are. They sped us up and overplayed passing lanes and forced us into a somewhat frenetic and careless pace. I think we could’ve still been aggressive but I would’ve like to have seen more screens and back-door cuts to make FSU pay for being so aggressive. Spacing is very important against teams like FSU too. You really have to make them guard all five guys on the floor every possession. A lot of times, we would drive into the lane and have nowhere to go. Seems we had trouble just getting into our sets at times due to their aggressiveness. Robinson being in foul trouble certainly didn’t help either as he’s clearly our best distributor and best player off the dribble. Did FSU have more talent? Yes, I think so as well as more depth but I think we maybe could’ve mitigated that with a slightly different approach..but I trust Buzz. It’s tough to change who you are game to game and FSU looks like a team that could make a deep run in the tournament this year. Hope we get back on track soon!
I think FSU’s defense, with the maze of long, extended hands all the time, was really effective. Their defense looked extremely tough, and they (Noles) played with the sort of intensity that Coach BW demands of the Hokies. In the end, VT seemed to tire a bit, not too unexpected given the absence of Allen and the thin bench. But Tech played very hard. I’d give them credit for that for sure. The better team won, but at full strength and in the Cassell, I’d say VT might very well beat them. All in all, FSU is an impressive team. Give them credit. A.H.
Size Matters!
Missing Seth Allen in an open court game like that was really tough to deal with
With Sy another year older, the shirt off of Fullard and Blackshear back, we should not have so much of a size issue next year. I feel good about this year and even better about next.
VT has a number of good to very good players but no great players. Chris Clarke has a chance to be a great player. Then of course there is the lack of size and depth. Would VT have lost three games if Blackshire had been available? Who knows? What I do think I know is that things are trending in the right direction. How ambiguous is that?