I'm sure many of you knew there was a UNC-G, but I did that for effect. Brilliant, if I do say so myself. Apparently they are called the Spartans, and apparently we have played them several times in the last 5 or 6 years. Who knew? I guess they aren't very memorable because we throw the smack down on them every single time we play them. Tuesday night was no exception, although the beatdown wasn't as large as it could have been if we had actually shot the ball well. So with that, I thought I might include some points from the game against UNC-G:
- Foul shooting is our nemesis right now. Seth Greenberg and the players swear up and down that they practice 100 of them every day and that they are hitting the free throws in practice. My guess is that the team has game-time jitters and those will lessen as the season progresses. Hudson has been poor from the line so far, but I am pretty sure he started out badly from the line last season and turned it around by ACC play. What I do like is that Hudson is getting to the line more this year, and I'd like to see that continue.
- Erick Green got a little more time in this game (6 minutes... double his last game!), but he needs to be out there even more. Delaney was in the game for 37 minutes. That's just way too much. I'm not sure why Seth Greenberg is trying to wear Delaney out before we even get into January, but that seems to be the plan. You'd think last season would have been a lesson for him. Sometimes you just have to trust that your backups will play well when they're in the game. I would think it's similar to mother birds letting their baby birds drop like rocks from the nest to see if they can fly.
- The Hokies' defense really shined through in this game. They caused 23 turnovers while only committing 12. That's 13 extra possessions right there, which is nothing to sneeze at. We also limited UNC-G to 35.3% for their field goals, which would have been even more awesome if we had managed to hit better than 37.5% ourselves. It wasn't as though UNC-G was playing stellar defense either... we just weren't hitting wide open shots. I am glad, though, that if we had to have a bad shooting game, it was against a team that we dominated defensively. Jeff Allen had 6 steals and 3 blocks. He also had his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He is a monster, and I'm not talking about one of those lame cuddly monsters with buck teeth like from "Where the Wild Things Are". Monsters don't say things like, "I don't won't you to go, I'll eat you up I love you so." Monsters just eat children up without the commentary on love.
- Our offensive rebounding was stronger in this game, although you have to expect that considering UNC-G's tallest starter is 6'6" (and very rotund I might add). They had a couple 6'8" guys come off the bench, but overall we out-rebounded the Spartans on the offensive glass 18 to 13. They had more total rebounds than us, but that has a lot to do with the fact that we had 18 more possessions (from turnovers and offensive rebounds), plus the fact that we didn't shoot well which boosted the Spartans' defensive rebounds.
- Victor Davila and Jeff Allen both had excellent games, which is to be expected against a team as small as UNC-G. Will they be able to do it against bigger opponents? I don't know, but I will say this... I LOVE that both of these guys have really worked on their post moves. They are a real danger on the offensive end. I'd like to see Davila grab more than 4 rebounds per game, but he did improve his defense by racking up 3 blocks and keeping Pete Brown in check (which is a little like keeping a caged sloth in check, but it still makes me happy). Allen played excellent defense on the Spartans' best player, Ben Stywall. Stywall was 3-9 and a complete non-factor offensively in this game.
- Terrell Bell had a mixed game as he stuffed the stat sheet with 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 8 rebounds, but he also shot poorly and turned the ball over 5 times. Most of those were unforced errors where Bell got over-eager and whipped the ball out of bounds or stepped on the line. He could stand to clean up his play a bit, but I love his athleticism and defense.
- Manny Atkins, Gene Swindle, and Paul Debnam got into this game for the last minute. They basically got one possession, so there's not much to say except that they got into their first game.
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