Virginia Tech got another great defensive effort, but once again they couldn’t get consistent play from their role players in a 60-55 loss in Cassell Coliseum on Thursday night. The Hokies are now 11-11 overall and 2-7 in the ACC, while the Terps improved to 17-6 overall and 5-5 in league play.
Erick Green led the Hokies with 29 points on 10-of-23 shooting. He also had three steals in 38 minutes of action. Cadarian Raines had 14 points, five rebounds and five blocks, and limited future NBA player Alex Len to just 10 points and five rebounds. However, Jarrell Eddie and Robert Brown scored just two points each, and combined to go 2-of-17 from the field.
“It’s like the Shawshank Redemption,” James Johnson said after the game, referring to yet another game where some of Tech’s role players couldn’t score. “I love that move, and I watch it every time it’s on. I’ve seen it before.”
Tech held a 27-24 lead at halftime, but the Terps came out hot in the second half to retake the lead. The Hokies were within striking distance for the entire second half, but fell short in the end. The Terps did a good job of denying the ball to Erick Green at the end of the game, and Robert Brown missed a close shot with 35 seconds remaining that would have cut the lead to one point.
“We’ve got to have more guys step up,” Green said. “We’ve got to play harder. 50-50 balls, we’re not hustling. We’re not doing the things we really need to do to win a game. At the end, I’ve got to make more plays. I’ve got to do more to help this team win.”
Green went on to talk about the need for other players to step up.
“As a team, we’ve got to have more guys step up. Rob and Jarell, we can’t have them having less than 10 points. If you give them 10 points in a game, we can win this one by 5 or 6. If we’re going to win a game, two guys can’t just carry us. We have to have three or four guys put points on the board. And guys have to understand it’s not just about points. Rebounding, steals, defensive rebounds. You can score in so many different ways other than just having the ball in your hands. We’ve got to figure that out. Once you get going with a steal or a tip in, that gets you going [in other phases of the game]. Some guys just need to mature a little bit, and who cares if you go 2-for-10? Make other plays. Get steals, get rebounds, do something else other than just worrying about scoring.”
Virginia Tech returns to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Georgia Tech at 1pm. The game will be televised by RSN, and can be watched online on ESPN3.
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I think they really played hard. Especially our frontcourt on the boards against a much taller front court. Agree with others, Brown and Eddie look like deer in the headlights. You’d think they would be over that by now. I’m talking air balls and bricks. Can’t win with that poor a shooting night. I liked the effort, and you have to take your hat off to JJ for getting that effort. Noticed that Cassell was about 60% full. Used to be a tough place to come into; not anymore!
Not easy to fill seats for 9 PM weeknight game combined with freezing rain and ice. It was ugly outside.
This is just plain ugly basketball.
I am at at total loss to explain what has happened to Robert Brown. I’ve never, in my entire life, seen a player go from smoking hot to ice cold like he has. For the first seven games of this season, if you gave RB an open jumper you could almost mark down the points before the ball left his hand. Now he can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Jarrell Eddie’s shooting slump is only slightly less pronounced. At least he has had the occasional good shooting game since the WVU game.
But there’s just no way that this team can win with Brown and Eddie shooting under 20% from the field. The object of this game is simple: Put the ball in the basket. Right now, aside from Erick Green we don’t have anyone else who can do it with any consistency.
Bottom line (and it’s not meant to be personal) but Robert Brown is simply not a Division 1 basketball player. I have never seen a player with such poor ball handling and shooting technique start for any major college team. Every time he touches the ball I close my eyes.
He is at best a number 9 or 10 player on any other team. It really scares me that he will be our most experienced guard returning next year. The future seems pretty dismal in the near future.
Adam Smith will handle the ball next yr. and maybe Rankin.
I can tell you he has absolutely NOOO confidence. The only good thing about it is, he’s doing some other things really well, passing the basketball is one of them. Also, he’s scrappy as hell going for rebounds and mixing it up on the “D” end. For RB, this is a purely “shooting the ball ” problem with him. I’m 50 years old and played/coached ball my whole life and I’ve seen it a million times. It’s just taking him so long to get out of it, it’s really in his head. I may need to call my buddy Bob Rotella and see if we can’t get him out of this! It just kills me to see him have this, given how well he performed early this year.
As for JE…dude has a pure stroke, he just needs to keep taking it more to the rim take make easier shots as well as get fouled, to put him on the line. Nothing will get you out of a slump quicker, as a shooter, than making a few free throws.
Shawshank Redemption ? Seems more like Groundhog Day; good game by Green and another loss.
Go Holies vs. that other tech!