HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NIT Opener: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (19-14 (8-12, 11th in ACC MBB)) AT CINCINNATI (21-12 (11-7, 4th in AAC

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NIT Opener VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (19-14 (8-12, 11th in ACC MBB)) AT CINCINNATI (21-12 (11-7, 4th in AAC MBB)) 9PM ESPN2

Round 1️⃣ against the Bearcats!🆚 Cincinnati 🕘 9PM📺 ESPN2🏟️ Fifth Third Arena pic.twitter.com/rGU0eZ91dF— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 15, 2023

Cincinnati (22-9, 12-8 ACC)
vs. Virginia Tech (19-13, 8-12 ACC)
March 15, 2023
Fifth Third Arena
9 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Virginia Tech Sports Network

TV Broadcast
ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Mike Corey
Analyst: Perry Clark

Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop

Current Spread: Hokies +5
Over/Under: -154

Injuries/Absence:
Cincinnati: None
Virginia Tech: Darius Maddox (Forward) Personal - 2/27/23 Out Maddox is idle with a personal issue, and he is expected to remain sidelined for the rest of the season.

Effort? Desire? Drive?....
The Hokies go into the first round of the NIT with more questions than answers. The biggest one on all fan's minds is which team shows up when the game starts. Is it the focused defensive effort combined with rapid passing on the offensive end to create open looks or easy buckets under the basket.... Or is it the team that seems a step slow defensively and unable to stop anything from outside combined with turnovers and lackadaisical passing using up the entire shot clock before heaving a prayer?

The Bearcats are coached by Wes Miller. He began his college coaching career at Elon as an assistant coach in 2008. Cincinnati is his second college head coaching job, taking over the job in 2021. He is 39–27 overall after two seasons.

This team is led by former Hokie guard Landers Nolley joined by David Dejulius, who combine for 31 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. This has all the earmarks of the duo the Hokies squared off against in NC State. Nolley is lighting things up from outside at 42% while his counterpart hits around 36%. Off the bench look for Jeremiah Davenport to take as many looks from outside as Nolley.

Defensively, Miller's teams are known to play half-court, man-to-man defense while mixing in some half-court zones as well. His teams tend to mix in a 1-2-2 zone press, which isn't necessarily designed to force turnovers in bunches (though it can), but it does make it difficult for offenses to get into their sets. They also strongly focus on REBOUNDING. Miller kept it simple when discussing his teams' style of play: "Guarding and rebounding wins.. the teams that guard every single possession, that play together, and the teams that rebound the ball on both ends, those teams win."

Offensively, Coach Miller wants to go fast on both ends of the floor to keep opponents off balance. His teams alternate between a three guard/two forward look, to a four guard/one forward approach, constantly looking for an open perimeter look. They emphasize transition basket opportunities and beating a defense down the floor. The perimeter shots represent 40% of the Bearcats's total shots. Cincinnati shoot 51% from inside the arc and also are shooting 36% from outside.

The Bearcats Backcourt Starters in Bold
Landers Nolley
2 SR G 6-7 220
Fairburn, GA Langston Hughes HS 72 (2018)
16.6 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 2.6 Ast

David Dejulius
5 SR G 6-0 195
Detroit, MI East English Village HS
14.5 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 5.2 Ast

Jeremiah Davenport (Situational Starter)
24 SR G 6-7 205
Cincinnati, OH Moeller HS
9.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 1.6 Ast

Mika Adams-Woods
3 SR G 6-3 185
Syracuse, NY Bishop Ludden HS
9.3 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 3.3 Ast

Daniel Skillings
0 FR G 6-6 205
Blackwood, NJ Roman Catholic (PA) 83 (2022)
5.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 0.6 Ast

The Bearcats Frontcourt
Viktor Lakhin
30 SO F 6-11 228
Anapa, Russia CSKA HS
11.6 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast

Ody Oguama
33 SR F 6-9 225
Raleigh, NC Woodstock Academy
5.2 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 0.5 Ast

Kalu Ezikpe
1 SR F 6-8 235
Lawrenceville, GA Discovery HS
3.5 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast

What to expect from Cincinnati?
This Bearcat's team is eerily similar to NC State in terms of overall production, style of play and end results. Unfortunately this is a very bad thing for the Hokies. You might not have been able to pick a worse first-round opponent for the Hokies.

Cincinnati wants a fast paced contest and bring an in your face defensive approach that starts at or before mid-court. Cincinnati makes you earn every foot of the floor and shortens the time to run a set offense if you manage to get the ball across mid-court and the Hokies should expect some 1-2-2 press sporadically throughout the game. This is especially troublesome for the Hokies as they have struggled with set play execution and having less time to do so likely leads to quite a few lost possessions or last second heaves.

This is also a very experienced roster with six of the top eight guys being Seniors. They are bought in to their coaches intent and style. Cincinnati excels at rebounding on both ends of the court and every player is actively involved. This has led to them averaging double digit second chance points all season.

Perimeter shooting is a major part of the Bearcats strategy. It is better to risk a forward having a good day inside than to play off the perimeter. That said, you must position yourself defensively to prevent easy offensive rebounds leading to gimme lay-ins. NC State burned the Hokies with that multiple times.

🔭👁️📐#StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/OZt4mMCQk7— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 15, 2023

The Hokies
Can Cattoor and Mutts rally this team so they don't go out with a whimper on absolute huge careers overall. Yes, Cattoor could come back but this could be it. How do they want the end to be defined?

This game should focus on finding the open man down low as the Hokies should have a significant size advantage underneath regardless of which rotation of players is on the floor. Cincinnati has been decent defending the inside but pretty lights out defending the perimeter. Opponents shot a lowly 32% this season and only took an average of 18 attempts.

Can the Hokies disrupt the Bearcats shooting/scoring? Almost all their losses this season were more tied to poor performance on the offensive end. The Hokies biggest challenge will be not getting caught up in the run-n-gun back and forth game.

Can the Hokies avoid taking possessions off either physically or mentally? Too often this season we have seen sporadic effort or just flat-out mental lapses. The must play like a team and avoid Heroball.

In Closing

𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙄𝙣 🔒#StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/F9ErAfPuNs— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 14, 2023

Win each possession. Treat this game with the respect of it possibly being your last chance to don the Maroon & Orange. The Hokies need big games from both Mutts and Basile. They need defensive gems from the guard trio.