Hokies Fall to Heels in Overtime

Virginia Tech led practically the entire game, but ultimately fell to North Carolina 72-60 in overtime on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill.  The Hokies fell to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in the ACC with the loss, while the Tar Heels improved to 15-6 and 5-3.

This game was book-ended by big runs by each team.  The Hokies jumped out of the gate fast, taking a 12-0 lead, and maintained an advantage throughout nearly the entire game.  UNC took the lead briefly during regulation, but two Joey van Zegeren free throws forced overtime.  Tech even had a chance to win in regulation, but Erick Green’s fadeaway jumper from about 18 feet away fell short.

UNC’s big run came in overtime when they outscored the Hokies 17-5.

Erick Green finished with 16 points on 7-of-21 shooting, and he did not have a free throw attempt.  It was just the second time this season that he has been held below 20 points in a game.  Jarell Eddie added 15 points, while Cadarian Raines had 12 points and six rebounds.  Robert Brown finished with 10 points, but 3-of-12 from the field, and he had five of Tech’s 14 turnovers.

Tech used both man-to-man defense and zone, but primarily stuck with a 2-3 zone to deny UNC’s entry passes and force the Tar Heels to beat them from the outside.  The strategy worked, as UNC went just 5-of-24 from three-point range.  However, they pulled down 19 offensive rebounds against Tech’s zone in the process, and finished with 20 second chance points.  That ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.

Overall, the Hokies have played much better in their last two games against two talented basketball teams.  However, a lack of defensive rebounding and the struggles of Robert Brown continue to plague the team.

Virginia Tech returns to action again on Thursday night when they host the Maryland Terrapins.  Tipoff is scheduled for 9pm, and the ACC Network will televise the game.

Box Score

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  1. No argument with much of what has been said, will add that watching Eddie set up for a 3 point shot with his foot out of bounds not once but twice was a first.

  2. Bench this, bench that. I remember plenty of Tech teams being shorthanded and running with no more than a 6-7 man rotation and being effective. These aren’t 35 year olds in the NBA, they are 18-21 year olds. Dowdell and Jaman Gordon would play entire games. So would Delaney and

    Brown has regressed. Jarell Eddie clearly has confidence issues. There is NO halfcourt offensive sets, or that I can see. The defensive effort was there yesterday, but something happened and coaches have adjusted to James Johnson’s style and neutering the fast open court style by forcing half court sets is what is obviously stopping VT on offense.

    Johnson may be shorthanded, but I have to believe that Greenberg would have at least had them winning about 3-4 of these games. JJ may have been dealt a crummy hand, but none of these players seem to have excelled under the new tutelage.

  3. Would agree with 77Hokiemike with the exception of Raines on Saturday. There is no way he could have muscled his way up time and again without getting one foul called.

  4. How about offensive rebounding as a culprit? Still it is encouraging to see the team has not come close to quitting.

  5. Tough loss today. But even with some missed opportunities for connecting on 3’s, I think that we are showing progress. This team just seems to be ever so slightly under confident. Brown and Eddie are trying hard to make a difference and I am glad that JJ continues to give them the green light.

    We will win some more games this season but our current players returning for next season should be much more confident.

    BTW, I didn’t appreciate the zebras.

    1. Yup. Amazing. My favorite one was right before the under 12 minute TV timeout in the 2nd half. Erick was absolutely mugged as he went up. No call. And also the one where they said it was not a shooting foul when it obviously was. I’d like to see JJ become just a little more Seth-like and bark a bit at the refs when we clearly get jobbed.

      1. JJ can bark at officials — but O Roy and K can banish them to other conferences — that’s why the FTs were 27-10 and Green had 0 FT’s and had been averaging almost 9 per game! Green was fouled twice on the last sequence in regulation–even if he had driven to the basket and gotten mugged, it would not have been called — especially in Chapel Hill.

        1. Here’s why that is an irrelevant statistic: 8 of UNC’s 27 free throws were in OT when Virginia Tech was trying to stop the clock. That means that the disparity in free-throw attempts (during non-intentional fouling situations) was actually 19-10.

          You might still think that a 19-10 disparity is evidence of unfair officiating, but consider this. Because UNC outrebounded VT by 10 (and had one less turnover), they also had more possessions and hence quite a few more chances to get fouled.

          Lastly, consider for a moment the shot selection of the two teams. Both teams took a lot of jump shots, and if I remember correctly, neither team was fouled in the process of shooting a jump shot. If you were to count the number of interior shot attempts by both teams, I am certain that UNC would be ahead in that category—and probably by a substantial margin. Teams like VT that shoot lots of long, contested jump shots do not tend to get fouled a lot.

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