For the second time this season, Virginia Tech plays a team in back-to-back games.
The first occurrence was Pittsburgh back in early February, and the Hokies swept the Panthers twice in three days. This time around, it’s Clemson, and Tech lost on the road to the Tigers by four, 63-59, in Saturday’s regular season finale.
The stakes are also higher now. The rematch is in the second round of the ACC Tournament, and it’s a must-win game for Tech if it wants to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
“The advantage really for both teams is it’s an incredibly quick turnaround, right?” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said after his team’s win on Tuesday. “We’ve got 24 hours. Having just played them, [we] have a good feel for what they do. They’re going to know what we do. I’m sure they’ve been practicing for us and NC State for a couple days, but that’s a slight advantage. It’s somebody we played.”
The Tigers are coming off a 70-64 win over NC State in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday. It wasn’t a flashy performance by any means; It was very similar to its game against Tech a few days prior.
Clemson only shot 41.7% from the floor and was just 6-of-23 from behind the arc, but its defense was the key. Dereon Seabron (19 points) and Jericole Hellems (13) carried the weight for the Wolfpack, but it wasn’t efficient by any means. Four NC State players attempted ten-plus shots. As a whole, those four players finished for 13-of-52 (25%).
One of the first things Brownell said after his team’s win in the Barclays Center was how proud he was of the defensive effort. And he’s got a point. NC State was 34.9% from the field, 4-of-23 (17.4%) from three. In comparison, the Hokies shot 37.3% and 30% (9-of-30) in Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday.
“Proud of how we defended,” Brownell said. “I thought we guarded exceptionally well today. They’re hard on those ball screens. They do a great job of getting downhill. I thought P.J. and our post players really did a good job of leveling some things off. Kind of a game that was bump and grind for most of the start, but our guys just kind of hung in there, and I thought we got better flow the longer it went.”
“Bump and grind” is about how the Clemson-Tech game was over the weekend. 25 total turnovers, a combined 17-of-50 (34%) from 3-point range, a lot of hand-checking and players falling all over the place and getting knocked down.
The Tigers were the aggressor in the four-point win, which is something that the Hokies understand heading into Wednesday’s rematch.
“I think overall they were more physical than us,” Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma said on a Monday press conference. “I think that part of the game is a lot of it, so us just trying to be more physical and locked in.
“It’s a little bit of both [mentally, but also going out and playing freely]. … From the jump, they were just blowing up screens. I was getting almost ran over sometimes. They were just locked in from the jump.”
On the other end of the floor, Clemson shot the ball well, particularly in the second half.
A 50% clip from the floor, in addition to outrebounding Tech 17-14, propelled the Tigers in the second half. The main factor was PJ Hall, who received All-ACC Honorable Mention honors on Monday. The 6-10 sophomore had 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half.
Once again, Hall was good, this time against the Wolfpack on Tuesday. He battled a foot injury over the last month but is back healthy now, and he had 18 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes.
He was Clemson’s go-to scoring option against Tech in the first meeting, and he will likely be again on Wednesday.
The inability to slow him down was very uncharacteristic of the Hokies, who have been anchored by good defense over the last run of games. They’ve won nine of their last 11, and they shot better than their opponent in eight of those contests. Only North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Clemson were better from the floor, and two of those games didn’t end in Tech’s favor.
“Time,” Tech head coach Mike Young said of what’s anchored his defense as of late. “It’s a five-man proposition; it’s a 12-man proposition. [Darius] Maddox emerged and has been a very solid defender. [Sean] Pedulla has emerged and has become a very solid defender.
“Those five guys playing as one. Playing as a fist is such a critical part of it. It doesn’t happen overnight, but our quickness to the ball, our level of awareness, our physicality has gotten markedly better here. … I thought we played well enough defensively in spots on Saturday to win, but they were a little bit better than we were.”
That togetherness is something the Virginia Tech players have praised many times throughout this run of games. If the Hokies are going to make a run in March, which would start on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN2) vs. Clemson, that is going to be at the center of it.
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Can we defend well (hold CU 45% from the floor), and keep “PJ” off the boards? A tall order, but our team can do it.
Question is – can CMY not get outcoached, and call a bleeping timeout when we need him to!?
I have seen NOTHING from this team to lead me to believe they will win today…
They have chocked in almost every important game they have played this year. I don’t see why this one would be any different.
Hoping for the best but expecting the worse…..
Let’s see, they were 10-10, and then played essentially 11 important (almost must win) games in a row and have gone 9-2. Doesn’t sound like choking to me.
Doesn’t sound like choking to me either. They were backed into a corner, and fought their way out. These “fans” who expect us to win all the time and always see the worst are depressing.
Dude !
I thought I saw us in first four out now. Someone must have lost because we moved up. I was convinced that we had to have 3 wins but maybe two will do it. Don’t think we can beat UNC playing 3 games in 3 days. But we should play ND well if we beat Clemson.
Hopefully, Hokies will not be wearing the orange uniforms for the game today. That plus Pedulla and Aluma having stronger performances will likely secure a VT victory tonight! GO HOKIES!
If we can’t win this game, we don’t deserve to make the tournament anyway. Here’s hoping we play to our potential (and that the 3’s fall)
+1000 N_L_H I agree.
We have to be more physical with them, they got away with murder at littlejohn and we can’t be the passive team we have been in every game to this point. Use Ojiako and body them down low when we can.
Ojiako is clueless on defense. The pick and roll eats him up
This game might just come down to wether we show up and leave it all on the floor, play to win, and can shoot to win. Aluma and Mutts have to get physical like I know they can and take it to the tigers.
If Hall plays like he has Saturday and last night we’re in trouble. We need to be much more physical and get to the free throw line. Aluma did not attempt a single FT Saturday nor did 3 other of our starters…come on men, get big!
Not much to say, but…
GO, HOKIES!