Sometimes, it’s just not your day. That was the case for No. 7 Virginia Tech as poor shooting woes and the turnover bug bit the Hokies in their 64-59 loss to Clemson on Thursday night at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C.
The post-holiday hangover got to Tech (11-2, 1-2 ACC) from the tip. The defense allowed 26 points in the first quarter while the offense only put up 16 points on a 6-of-14 (42.9%) clip.
Tech jumped out an early eight-point lead but coughed that up at the 3:01 mark in the first quarter. The Tigers went on a 12-2 run to close out the first 10 minutes with a 26-16 lead.
From that point, Clemson’s offense (10-4, 1-1 ACC), which only scored 42 points in its lone regular season meeting with Virginia Tech last season, was shut down the rest of the way. In the second quarter, the Tigers scored 12; in the third, 11; and in the final period, they put up 15.
That should’ve been a formula for Tech’s success, despite its first quarter play. Except the Hokies struggled the rest of the way on offense. They only made 13 of their 37 baskets (35.1%) from the second quarter on and were just 12-of-20 (60%) from the free throw line.
Elizabeth Kitley, who made six of her eight free throws, only took seven shots (4-of-7 for 14 points) on Thursday. Cayla King, though, was hot from long range (5-of-11) and brought the Hokies to within one point at the 4:33-mark in the fourth quarter.
But that was the closest Tech came to catching Clemson as it turned the ball over twice in the last 45 seconds and lost possession of the basketball 15 more times throughout the night. It was the Hokies’ highest turnover rate of the season (26.2% on 65 possessions). The previous high was Tech’s season opener against Mount St. Mary’s, where the Hokies turned it over 19 times on 73 possessions (26.0%).
It’s rare for a group this talented to fall to a team like Clemson, who was projected to finish towards the bottom of the ACC, but the Hokies will have a chance to get back on track with a matchup against No. 13 North Carolina on Sunday. After that, a home meeting with a surging Virginia team looms. Both of those games will be in front of a Cassell Coliseum crowd.
Box score: Link
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Kenny is just not the best “game coach”. Does an adequate job of preparation, but once the game starts he is AWOL.Also- all the good transfers coming in (for which he deserves credit) disguises the fact that recruiting of high school players the last 3 years has been terrible. Next year’s team looks scary at this point.
Coach needs to give his top players a break every now and then. Both Amoor and Kitley played the whole 40 monutes against Clemson. After the ND loss he said that he needed to play more than 6 players. Even beating High Point like they did, he did not keep his word. I love Kenny and the job he had done at Tech with the women’s program but to be the best you have to develop depth and this year he has not done that, at least not lately. Players get tired and their legs go away. I was proud that they came back from being 14 down at Clemson, Coach needed to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. A long time ago the joke about Charlie Moir was that he did not call time outs because he was saving them for the end of the season so that he could leave early. Come on coach, stop the bleeding and manage your players in a different way. We have the players to go a long way this season but if you continue to only play 6 or 7 players they are going to get worn out and this is when injuries happen. God forbid if anything happens to Kit or Amoor to where they will be out long term. The season would be lost then. We cannot allow this to happen. GO HOKIES !!!
Well said
Neither team has handled their ranking well away from home. Disappointing to see this but plenty of time to recover.
Sorry, but I’m not sold on Brooks. Has never managed double BYE in tournament. Has managed only two above .500 in- conference seasons; career in-conference record is still well below .500. For too many times his teams choke in 4th qtr in games they seemed to have in hand. Can’t seem to win the ‘big games’, even at home (e.g. Notre Damn); lose too many games should supposedly win (e.g. Clemson); this in spite of having what is viewed as the best player in the league. Was unable to watch Clemson game; but, VT apparently never led beyond the early part of the 1st qtr and was down by a dozen at half. This kind of performance against the team picked 12th by the media (not that they know squat). Come on Brooks, show us something.
Couldn’t have said it better. Brooks doesn’t get all he should from his players. More of a father figure than a coach.
Not sold on Brooks? The only reason we are getting so passionate is because he built a top 10 program and put VT in unchartered waters. That said, I would like to see us get more physical and deeper so that we have more energy at the end of games.
Not much good to write home about. Kitley has to adjust to physical Ds and use her height.