Today we’re going to talk about the main reason for last night’s loss to Penn State (turnovers) and what it means in the grand scheme of things (probably nothing).

Turnovers, and Robinson’s Worst Performance?

There are a litany of reasons for Virginia Tech’s loss to Penn State. Believe it or not, the game wasn’t all Ahmed Hill’s fault. It’s not ideal for him to go scoreless, but he spent much of the night guarding Penn State’s best player, Lamar Stevens. Stevens came into the game averaging over 24 points per game, but Hill held him to 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting. So while Hill didn’t bring his usual solid offensive game, he was above average on the defensive end.

The main issue last night was turnover margin. Turnover margin is critical for the Hokies this year. They are trying to win the turnover battle by a significant margin each and every night to help offset their disadvantage on the boards. Here’s a paragraph from the article I wrote last week…

“We all know that the Hokies have a disadvantage on the glass. Other teams will get more possessions thanks to offensive rebounds simply because of their size. For Buzz Williams, the question is how to offset that advantage. Looking at it from an analytics perspective, the best way to overcome that is by winning the turnover battle, and creating extra possessions yourself in the hope that your disadvantage on the glass and your advantage in turnovers offset each other.”

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