Writeup is abbreviated as I am doing it from my phone.
Gameday in Upstate NY‼️🆚 Syracuse🕖 7PM📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/vfvwZM9qPu— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 27, 2024
Hokies (15-12)
At Orangemen (18-10)
JMA Wireless Dome
7pm ESPNU
Line: Syracuse -1.5
Over/Under: 153.5
Orange Backcourt
Judah Mintz
3 SO G 6-3 172
18.3 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 4.4 Ast
JJ Starling
2 SO G 6-4 200
13.7 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Quadir Copeland
24 SO G 6-6 203
9.3 Pts, 4.9 Reb, 2.8 Ast
Justin Taylor
5 SO G 6-6 205
5.0 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Orange Frontcourt
Chris Bell
4 SO F 6-7 180
12.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Maliq Brown
1 SO F 6-8 213
9.3 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Benny Williams
13 JR F 6-8 215
5.4 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 1.2 Ast
What to expect from the Orange
Every Orange win has depended on Starling and Mintz having good games. Where they struggle is against teams that can limit either of them if not both.
They do it almost exclusively by getting to the rim. As a team they score 55 points in the paint or at the line (15.3ppg at the line in ACC play) and ACC teams are whistled for 16.5 PF per contest.
Small Forward Chris Bell is the only real outside threat and takes almost a third of the teams attempts. He is shooting 43% from outside on 6.4 attempts per game.
They run a two guard, three forward and most games a seven player rotation. The primary ballhandlers are Mintz and Starling.
Copeland is a slasher that moves off ball when Mintz/Starling drive and gets several put back buckets on rebounds or is free to receive a pass across the lane if the defense flexes to the driving guard.
Bell is more a wing than a true forward preferring to set up for an outlet pass in the corner to shoot threes. Brown and Williams in the frontcourt alternate the fifth spot.
Four of the seven Orange contributors are from the Virginia/Maryland area, although three of them were recruited out of IMG Academy as a group.
This game unfortunately looks to play out very similar to Notre Dame, where the athleticism is too much at the guard spots for the Hokies to handle cleanly.
💯 Mentality pic.twitter.com/9nUyNjTe5n— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 27, 2024
This is another game where the Hokies should have a decided advantage in the paint on offense considering the tallest Orange player is 6'8. The lingering question is will they be able to take advantage of it.
The final result comes down to whether the Hokies can avoid foul trouble guarding Mintz and Starling and can they avoid the dreaded scoring droughts they seem prone to on the road.
It's going to be tough with several factors working against them.
Shout out to incoming recruit Ryan Jones on winning a state championship in Florida.
SIAA 2024 State Champsss!🏆🏆🏆Jesus in topppp❤️🙏🏾 #statechamp #Champion #Florida pic.twitter.com/7PBY9nge06— Ryan Jones JR. (@RyanJonesJR1) February 25, 2024
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