Virginia Tech, even as it was cooling off down the stretch in the 78-68 loss at #10 Virginia on Wednesday, was consistently running good offense, getting good looks.
A Darius Maddox three with 15:17 to go got the Hokies to within two, at 46-44, and at that moment, Tech was shooting a blistering 17-of-30 (56.7 percent).
A 10-of-25 finish would put the final number just below the 50 percent mark, but 68 points on Virginia in a low-possession game, you’re not going to do much better than that, most nights.
“Twelve made threes from us. You know, I’m proud of our numbers. Nineteen assists here, only eight turnovers. Those are Virginia Tech numbers,” Tech coach Mike Young said.
The Hokies ran their actions crisp, tight, a sometimes dizzying array of dribble handoffs, ball screens and reversals that often had Virginia defenders scrambling to get back from double-teams to try to get a hand in the face of an open shooter.
“I would just say like for defensively, just closing out those shooters. I thought they got too many, like, rhythm shots,” UVA forward Jayden Gardner said.
“They run really good stuff, you know, they put you in a hard spot,” said guard Kihei Clark, adding that Virginia had to make adjustments to what Virginia Tech was doing “on the fly.”
“Virginia Tech is really good,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “They’re healthy, or healthier now, and when they have Hunter (Cattoor) back, and he’s such a good player, and then they put a lot of pressure on you.”
And now, the stunning admission from Bennett:
“Rarely will you hear me say this, but we had to score. We had a hard time stopping them,” Bennett said. “We ran good offense, and the guards made timely, big baskets, but they put a lot of pressure on you.”
Cattoor returns
Aforementioned, Hunter Cattoor, the 6’3” senior, was back in the lineup, and his presence was noticeable right away.
Cattoor had missed the Hokies’ previous four games with a left elbow injury, and Tech lost all four games.
Wednesday night, he was busy stuffing the stat sheet – 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 3-of-6 from three, six rebounds, five assists, 34 minutes played.
“He’s like a tide; he raises all of our ships,” Young said. “He makes everybody better, alright, he makes everybody better offensively, because he’s a gravity shooter, alright. They gravitate to him because of his ability to catch and shoot, which opens up a little bit more. He’s an unbelievable floor general at the off-guard spot. He’s a great teammate. They love playing with him. They trust him. And he’s tough as a pine not.”
To that end, there was a sequence inside of eight minutes to go, the game on the line, that saw Cattoor sub out and leave the floor, after having apparently reinjured his elbow, which was dangling at his side.
“He got it stuck between (Armaan) Franklin, who was guarding him as the primary defender, and the ball-handler. And it spooked him and scared him. I don’t want to tell you what it did to me, OK,” Young said.
Cattoor checked out at the 7:15 mark. He was back in at the 5:20 mark.
“A minute, minute and a half later, he walks right by me going to the scorer’s table,” Young said. “That’s the kind of juice Hunter Cattoor has with me. He checks himself back in the game. I don’t think he even asked who he was coming in for. But just, uh, I love that boy, I love that kid. He’s, he’s a Hokie, man.”
Too much of a good thing?
The issue down the stretch offensively for Virginia Tech may have been overreliance on the three-ball.
Thirteen of the Hokies’ final 25 shots from the floor were threes, and they only converted on four of them, after starting the game 8-of-14 from long-range.
And there was a coinciding game-long issue in getting the ball in the paint. Tech had just 12 shots at the rim to Virginia’s 25, contributing to a noticeable discrepancy at the free throw line.
Virginia was 12-of-13 at the stripe on the night; Tech was just 2-of-2.
Young complained about free throws with reporters after the game, but he has to know that free throw attempts are a function of how much a team attacks the paint and gets shots at the rim.
The zebras, basically, don’t reward teams jacking up two-point jumpers and threes with trips to the line.
The streak now stands at six
For all the good, it was another loss for Virginia Tech, which has gone from 11-1 and a Top 25 ranking to enduring what is now a six-game losing streak.
Young has been here before, and not that long ago. This time last year, Virginia Tech got out to an 0-4 start in the ACC, and was still at 2-7 in the conference before going 9-2 down the stretch, then going from a buzzer-beating win on Wednesday at the ACC Tournament to cutting down the nets on Saturday night.
“I’ve been doing this for 37 years, alright. I’ve seen a lot of things, OK. I can remember that team last year, and I’m tired of making the comparisons between the two teams. I don’t know how else to handle it, alright. You know, this is who I am. I’ve got incredible faith in those kids,” Young said.
“That effort, that level of basketball – we’re going to guard better,” Young said. “They’ve got a really good outfit. I tell you what, if there are 10 teams out there better than them nationally, I’d like to see them. They are very good. And so are we. We’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna figure it out.”
Share
Chris Graham
