In front of a raucous Cassell Coliseum crowd, the Hokies saw their lingering season finally come to a close. This game had a rather weird feel to it from the get-go. The Hokies started the game on fire, making close to 75% of their shots in the first five minutes. However, the Hokies defense was non-existent as they allowed the opposition to score easy baskets on the offensive end. The Hokies hot start eventually came to a close and Rhode Island capitalized and will now make reservations for a trip to New York City next week.
There are a lot of reasons to be disappointed with this loss if you’re a Virginia Tech fan. The Hokies led by as much as 12 points in the 2nd half before tanking down the stretch mainly due to poor shot selection and the inability to get the ball to go through the hoop. However, the Hokies lost this game because Rhode Island exposed one of the Hokies biggest weaknesses, a simple lack of depth.
The tempo of this game favored Rhode Island for the entire affair as the quick up and down game eventually wore out the Hokies starting five. Malcolm Delaney, who started out on fire making his first two three-pointers, went cold over the final 10 minutes. The rest of the team seemed to follow suit, as the Rams became the tougher team in the last 15 minutes.
The turning point came at the 14:43 mark in the 2nd half when the Hokies had a 60-48 lead. The Hokies were on a roll but Rhode Island locked down their defense and Tech only scored 12 points in the final 15 minutes. By the 11-minute mark, the Rams had taken a one-point lead after going on a 13-0 run. At that point, the season was officially over.
The Hokies were gassed thanks to Coach Greenberg only going eight deep on his bench and Rhode Island stole the momentum and never surrendered it. Honestly, it was beautiful execution by the Rams who had forced Tech to play to their tempo for the entire 40 minutes.
The Rams had a simple gameplan heading into this game. They wanted to force the Hokies to run up and down and score in transition. However, they used a full court-press to force the ball out of Malcolm’s hand and get them out of their flex offense. Although the Hokies did a good job breaking the press, they had a few too many turnovers. Allen, who has now officially been eliminated from the back-up quarterback job after tonight performance, threw three passes out of bounds while trying to inbound the basketball.
While the Hokies did shoot the ball well in the first 25 minutes, the little things that Rhode Island did right eventually won out. Too many turnovers, too many mistakes, and a few too many touch fouls eventually doomed the Hokies and officially ended their season.
Stats
Notes
The Hokies lack of depth really hurt them in this game especially with Raines sitting on the bench in jeans and a dress shirt. The good news is that next year the Hokies should be able to increase their depth a bit with three new pieces but the lack there of this year really doomed Tech tonight. Rhode Island scored 28 of their points off the bench. The Hokies countered with just eight points.
The Hokies have been in the NIT four times in the last five seasons and have yet to make the final four even though they’ve been a high seed three times. The inability to win crucial games is something worthy of noting as we head into next season.
Lewis Witcher has shot 14 free throws this season; he has made just four of them. He missed two crucial free throws with 5:18 left that could have given the Hokies the lead. Instead it led to free throws at the other end thanks to a foul on Terrell Bell under the basket.
Terrell Bell had a rough game as he finished with just six rebounds, four points, and three turnovers. Combine that with a few bad fouls and this will be one he’ll want to forget over the off-season.
There was a lot of sloppy play on both sides in this game but I’ve honestly never seen so many bad passes. Part of that was due to the defensive pressure by Rhode Island but part of it was the inability to recognize where the defense was. The Hokies finished with one more steal then Rhode Island but while watching the game I never would have guessed that was the case.
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed and never miss another! Or sign up to get exclusive VirginiaTechFan.com Sports Analysis delivered straight to your inbox!
