VT 55, Maryland 60

Quick thoughts: The majority of the team gave tremendous effort (I’m looking at you, Jarell Eddie) and fought back the whole night. When down 11 in the first half, they easily could have given up. They didn’t and went on a 17-3 run to end the half. We’re on a 4 game win streak with effort, and that’s the biggest thing I care about.

We stayed in the 2-3 zone the entire night, and actually looked pretty good. Everyone was active and disrupted the passing lanes. Maryland had 15 turnovers and the zone had something to do with that.

With the zone, comes rebounding issues. Like I said in the preview, I expected us to get killed on the boards. That happened. We were out rebounded 46-38, but I was impressed with how well we held up.

Erick Green and Cadarian Raines combined for 78% of the teams points, while Robert Brown and Jarell combined for 7%. I think we found our problem here! A pretty similar storyline from past games.

Point Guards: Green scored 29 and had 3 steals. I did notice at one point in the first half during our run, he looked like he tweaked his knee and wasn’t quite the same after. He was 9-18 in the first 31 minutes but finished 1-5 the last 9. Remember how James Johnson said he sensed Erick wearing down late in games? I think he might be on to something. The only critique I have of E.G. on offense is he struggled to finish with his left hand; he needs to work on that.

Marquis Rankin was out due to illness.

Shooting Guards: Despite the 4 turnovers and 1-9 shooting from the field, I actually thought Robert didn’t do that bad. He had 4 of the teams 6 assists, and really looked to help others find open shots. All of his turnovers were from him trying to make too difficult of a pass. His passes make him look like Steve Nash sometimes, but he’ll need to cut down on turnovers. Rob again had open looks behind the arc and failed to knock them down. They were all just a tad too long, an issue he’s had all season. Simple fix: DON’T SHOOT AS HARD.

Will Johnston excelled in zone, and had by far his best game on defense. My one issue, though: If all you do is shoot threes, then make them. He’s made 2 of his last 12 attempts.

Forwards: Jarell, Jarell, Jarell. I saw something out of him that made me pretty upset. After the game was over and all the players went to high-five the fans, he didn’t look at one fan or come close to saying, “Thanks for coming.” I get the frustration, but when your shot isn’t falling, don’t mope around. Get back on defense and help your teammates out in other ways. His defense was poor and he lacked effort.

C.J. Barksdale was the exact opposite of Jarell. Even though he had the flu and came off of the bench, he fought for every 50-50 ball. Great effort and finished with 5 rebounds. His 2 makes came off a jumper just inside the arc and a beautiful fadeaway as the shot clock expired.

Marshall Wood got 3 rebounds in his 6 minutes on the court. That’s a good spark off the bench.

Centers: Raines has now scored double figures in 3 straight games for the second time in his career. He had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and a career-high 5 blocks. The competition he faced wasn’t half bad either. Alex Len is a legitimate top-15 draft pick who’s a good 4-5 inches taller. Dot held his own in the post.

Joey van Zegeran got the start over C.J. and had another big dunk off a Brown assist. I see so much potential in him and it’ll be fun watching him grow as a player. By far the funniest part of the night was when he pump faked at the top of the key and fans screamed at him to shoot it. Really, y’all?

Stat of the Game: Robert Brown and Jarell Eddie combined for 4 points on 2-17 shooting. See the problem there? I’m surprised the game was even close with that stat.

Mike’s Player of the Game: Erick had another phenomenal night scoring the ball and finished with over half of the teams points. He did miss his fair share of layups though, something I’m not used to.

The Hokies hardly get to rest before they take on Georgia Tech tomorrow at 1:00. Tech got the better of the Jackets last matchup and now look to get their 3rd win in conference play.