BYU thrashes Hokies
Well, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team suffered its 2nd straight lopsided loss today, falling to BYU 97-71 in Salt Lake City.
Wel have Associated Press in Utah covering this game for us, so you can read the AP account and interviews in tomorrow’s paper. But here is the gist of what happened today.
The 97 points is the most the Hokies have allowed in a non-OT game since a 100-65 loss at Duke in the 2004-05 season.
Coupled with the 36-pt loss to Colorado St. on Sunday, these are the most lopsided back to back losses for VT since 2000-01, when they lost back to back to Providence and Notre Dame by a combined 64 pts.
BYU shot 46 pct from the field, cooling off late in the game. VT shot 38 percent from the field and was just 2 of 20 from 3-point range. BYU made seven treys.
VT was just 21 of 38 from the charity stripe, while BYU was 24 of 29.
VT was outrebounded 48-39.
Erick Green had just 12 points, less than half his average. He was just 4 of 17 from the field. Green and Robert Brown were 0 of 9 from 3-pt. range combined.
Brown had 13 pts and was 5 of 12 from the field. Jarell Eddie had 17 pts and was 5 of 12 from the field as well. Eddie had seven boards.
Cadarian Raines had four fouls and no points. He was 0 of 2 from the field. C.J. Barksdale had just two points, attempting only one basket and making it.
Walk-on Christian Beyer had 9 pts and 11 rebounds off the bench. Joey van Zegeren had seven pts.
BYU guard Tyler Haws had a whopping 42 pts. He was 14 of 25 from the field, including 6 of 8 from 3-pt. range. His 42 points ties him for the seventh-best output by an opposing player against VT ever.
BYU forward Brandon Davies had 17 pts.
VT was coming off an 88-52 loss to Colorado State, so that makes 185 points allowed in the two games. That’s the most points VT has allowed in back to back games since allowing 192 in the last two games of the 2008-09 season: a 116-108 double-OT win over Duquesne followed by an 84-66 loss to Baylor.
As far as the most pts. allowed in back to back games that did not involve OT, it’s the most since VT allowed 185 in back to back losses to BC and Notre Dame in 2002-03.
BYU jumped out to a 9-0 lead and led the rest of the way. BYU led 47-27 with 3:44 left in the first half. BYU led 56-31 at halftime. BYU led 71-39 with 15:21 to go in the game.
December 29, 2012 - 4:51 PM
Didn’t see the game, but it was only a matter of time. I will commend their effort from here out, but as usual VT has blown all but one game against a decent opponent and has already removed themselves from NCAA tourney consideration. Nothing short of 10 ACC victories (with some against the top teams (i.e. Duke, NC State, UNC) will give us a chance if history is any indicator. What’s our RPI now? 170? 200?
Really ashamed. I’ll get out front and say this coach hire was a big mistake. It could work out but is going to take some years. What AD fires a coach because his assistants depart and then hires one of the assistants to placate players on their current roster? Erick Green wasn’t going anywhere and neither were any of the other players. Weaver over reacted, first by firing Seth Greenberg.
Funny how he can’t get the waterboy fired on the football team.
I saw the game and just started to laugh at how VT showed very little defensive. It amazes me how VT fans think that with this hot start they can beat anybody. The ACC season begins soon and like the normal the excuse will be that VT only has only 7 scholorship players. Here’s a tip stop shooting so many 3′s they can’t always go in and like the saying goes you live by the 3 you will die by it as well because this team has to true center and that Jeff Green thinks he can be so good and pump up his chest and say that he doesn’t want to go out like this! Like what? A loser I guess! Time will tell if these hokies will be the ordinary basketball team that gets trashed by UNC, Duke, etc and win the nothing games while the regular hokie fan think “Uh we are still the best as long as we try we can beat anybody” Good luck!!
Good grief, Redwolf. You’re not “getting out in front” of anything. Rather, you’re stepping into every stereotype and cliche of the average, tired, sports “fan.”
The only thing surprising about this team so far is that they’ve actually been competitive at times. They had a late coaching change, lost one of their best players, lost their best recruit, have only eight scholarship players and have now lost one of those to injury.
James Johnson may turn out to be the best coaching hire of all time, or one of the worst. But to “get out in front” of anything at this point is ridiculous. I doubt any of us are happy with consecutive blow out losses, but most of us can retain the proper perspective.
They are who we thought they are!!
Geez, Mr. tater chip, I’m amazed that you could push yourself away from that big heaping helping of crow you got served by the Hokie football team Friday to come over to Berman’s place and slam JJ’s guys…but you do love to kick ‘em why they’re down don’t you? Most of us Hokie fans knew what to expect out of the current BB team going into this season, and it’s showing up on the teams long road trip out west.
As some of my fellow Hokie fans posted in three and four…”they are who we thought they were” and “most of us can retain the proper perspective” …….proper perspective, Tater……you should try some. And keep chewin” on that crow man, you might get it digested by the New Year…..though I doubt it. By some of your posts during the football season, it’s obvious you have been suffering some lower GI problems. ( AKA, you’re full of crap)
“JJ” is not new, he was here last year with Seth and left. Why? I dunno, Weaver would have you think it’s because Seth hurt his feelings. The top recruit left because Seth left and Weaver recruited an unknown to coach the team. One of their top ranked players also left, although his first year had not panned out well – I think he went to Florida.
What I am angry about is this run and gun style of play. I think it’s Eric Green who has said that the coach let’s them play loose.
They will win as long as the shot’s keep falling, but when they don’t they lack the discipline to play tough defense and the players to press.
Yes they only have 8 scholarship players, whose fault is that? Weavers for hiring JJ? This is not a bottom 200 team as our RPI indicates. This is an ACC team that has finished in the top 4 for at least 5 years of our short time in the ACC and somehow got left out of the tourney in all but one of those years.
This team didn’t just get beat, they were destroyed, blown out, picked a part, demoralized.
Perhaps you’re right and they’ll pull it out in ACC play, but I’m tired of the inept coaching hires or lack thereof. VT or not, this is the ACC and there are plenty of resumed coaches who should have been interested in this job. I don’t like that Green very outspokenly threatened to leave unless they hired JJ. Just like every fan likes the backup QB, every player likes the assistant coach. I should not blame JJ, but how this all went down still sticks in my craw (sp?). Assts leave and somehow the AD gets the message that Seth doesn’t create a family atmosphere, AD fires Seth for not having family atmosphere on his coaching staff, AD hires assistant back as head coach at urging of player(s), Ex-head coach never calls again. You don’t think Seth knew what happened and how it all went down? Yes, I’m just guessing but I don’t like it.
Yes, you’re probably also correct that they are who we thought they were. Problem is I don’t see them being more than that for many years to come.
Huntersdad I guess this is how a typical homer chokie fan responds to when somebody speaks the truth! It amazes me how you chokie fans can take a beating and still keep on ticking. I never knew the love for VT was so deep that the chokie nation and people like yourself now have to take a stand for a sorry team. If you can’t stand what we are saying go choke on it!! Your precious hokies in football suck and for basketball they are over rated, and you still think they are the greatest? Get real dude! Your chokies will be playing for last while the media and chokie fans like yourself hype them up as if they are in the top 5 in the country! If you can’t accept that you sorry chokie lover you can go choke on it! Mr. Potato Chip approves this message!!!
I just had a question for the Roanoke Times staff, why is the story for this game only like a quarter of a page on page 6? Cause I know if UVa loses today, yall will have that displayed more prominently, just like if tech had won yesterday it would’ve been on the front page of the sports section. I just want to know why yall show such blatant bias when reporting UVa or Tech sports.
Lets give coach Johnson 4 years, not including this one. He has to have a chance to recruit his guys! I mean outside of Green who thought anyone on this team to be any good at all!
To say JJ was a bad hire @ this time is mis~informed. Greenberg had burned too many bridges the last couple of years. With the develpment of some of the younger players to this point, Van Zeggeren in particular the future does look bettter than in a while. Very good recruits coming in and playing a style that good players want to play will lift the quality of talent considerably. Add a staff that is going to hang around and is really better than anything since Greenbergs first staff. Knew last regime was in deep sh** when Ryan Odom left. May take a couple of years but we need to balance this out so that we quit bringing one good class every four years and bank that when this group has been there their third and fourth years we should be very good. Balance out the classes so you never have to replace more than 1 or 2 key players in a year. Things are already heading that way now. This year Green. Next year Eddie and Raines. All the while developing the replacements. Growing pains straightening out this mess but can be done. All the while the younger ones are getting experience and will hang around. Beides graduation we where losing on the average of 2 promising players a year. Insert the names Garland, Boggs, Krabbendam, Witherspoon etc. Know I am leaving off many more.
It has nothing to do with any bias. It has to do with the fact that a Roanoke Times writer was not there, instead it was an Associated Press writer out in Utah. Doug Doughty was at the Wofford-UVa game today so it will be out front no matter if UVa wins or loses.
When Tech lost to Georgia Southern, it was on the front page of the sports section because I was there.
You tellem Mark, they don’t know sh**. If ole tater chip was writing your article it would never get through the grammer/facts check and make the deadline. Ignorance is bliss.
I have to say – this team has gone off the rails sooner than I expected. In August, I posted on here my prediction of 8-5 OOC, 12-20 overall. I’ll admit to a week of post-OkState win euphoria, when I was ready to chuck rational thought for cheerleader-esque mentality. Thankfully, I’m back to reality, and can assess a few things with objectivity.
First, my prediction of 8-5 OOC included losses to Iowa & OkState with a win over GaSouthern. I got those three wrong, obviously. I’m going to stick with the 12-20 overall record until proven wrong. I might be off by 2 games on that one, at least I hope I will, but I really doubt it.
Thoughts for the season thus far – I thought Johnson was supposed to be a defensive minded coach? Wasn’t that the mantra we were given all summer long? I like the offensive enthusiasm when we execute it, but our weakness thus far has been on the defensive side of the ball. Greenberg preached toughness on defense, and we beat #1 ranked teams by executing that. We need to see more of that from Johnson’s guys.
I’ll keep harping on this – we need to rebound better, especially on the offensive boards. It seems like we give up offensive boards for rushing back on defense. Both can be done, if executed correctly. Poor FT & 3pt shooting are the reasons for our losses, just as excellent FT & 3pt shooting were the reasons for our unexpected wins early in the season.
I like Johnson, and really want him to succeed, but as the season progresses, it becomes more obvious why I thought Weaver erred in his hiring. At this rate, Weaver won’t replace him, but Weaver’s replacement certainly will, and quickly.
It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. The first seven games were euphoric, but reality is setting in. It’s about a program, not a single season. ‘Family’ doesn’t get you W’s.
Because this team’s defense has never been good, it depends on its offense, so let’s talk about that. All I have to say, is this team has lost it’s loose, decisive, fast paced play they had in the beginning of the season. Most disagree, but I believe Eric Green is part of the problem. After the 7 game streak, he started hogging the ball and not trusting his teammates as much. Before he was facilitating and the ball was moving quickly from player to player, and everyone was involved and they were beating teams. Now, it’s back to the one v one style of offense that has plagued this team forever. They MUST work together again and work that rock around.
Greenberg coached sound defensive teams. Weak offensively, but sound defensively. Green seems to be really focused on getting his 20 points every game, then on other things. It’s going to be a long season, ending by the middle of March.
Hey Mark I didn’t attend to put you down or slam your efforts. I commend you for speaking the truth, but when I said the media over hypes the chokies I guess your the media but I didn’t mean you. I am sorry for that but wanted to express my view that the ordinary reader or average Joe wants to hear about other sports programs and not the sorry chokies all the time. By the way I did enjoy this right up about how the chokies got trashed by BYU! Sorry for the misunderstanding keep up the realization that the chokie basketball program needs help all around!!
No offense taken at all, Mr. Potato Chip! I should’ve been more clear — my reply on Dec. 30 was not to anything you wrote but to a comment from “D” on Dec. 30, asking why the BYU game story wasn’t on the front page of the sports section. “D” said it was because of pro-VT bias at The Roanoke Times. So I was replying to him, saying that it had nothing to do with any bias, that it was not on the front because it was an Associated Press story as opposed to a story that I wrote or a UVa story by Doug Doughty or whatever. I was answering his comment, not yours! Thanks for posting