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Hokies Basketball: 8 Notre Dame Beats Virginia Tech 85-60

By Tim Thomas

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Jan 22, 2015; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams instructs his players during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports

There was some hope that the Virginia Tech Hokies might be able to give the #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish a hard time, and possibly pull off the upset. However, that was definitely not the case at any point in this game.

The Hokies were absolutely demolished by the Fighting Irish by a final score 85-60 in a game that Notre Dame absolutely dominated from the beginning to the end. A comeback seemed possible when the Hokies were only down 10 at halftime, but the Fighting Irish increased the lead by 15 more in the second half to the final 25-point deficit.

The frontcourt is likely going to be an issue for the rest of the season for the Hokies as Satchel Pierce only had 4 points while Shane Henry didn’t have any points. The frontcourt duo did improve some on the glass in this game with Pierce having 6 rebounds and Henry having 4 rebounds though the hope is that continues to improve.

One player who came in and did a solid job is Christian Beyer who only played 7 minutes in the second half. However, Beyer brought tons of energy, and played quite well in those 7 minutes with 7 points and 3 rebounds on 3 of 4 shooting. Beyer should be getting consistent playing time, and that seems likely after his strong 7 minutes last night.

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One thing the Hokies struggled with is the Notre Dame ball movement which was quite quick and helped the Fighting Irish create plenty of open three-pointers for Pat Connaughton, Jerian Grant, and Demetrius Jackson. Connaughton was the star of the game that Virginia Tech couldn’t stop as the sharp shooter had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists.

The loss of Justin Bibbs showed a lot last night as Jalen Hudson and Ahmed Hill both struggled shooting the basketball as they were a combined 10 of 26 from the field and 2 of 10 from beyond the arc. Bibbs helps create space for everybody, and he has already proven that he can be a high-volume scorer which Hill and Hudson are not at this point in their development.

Hill was the Hokies’ leading scorer with 13 points while Hudson had 12 and Devin Wilson had 11. Wilson did not have his best game against the Fighting Irish, but he was fairly productive attacking the rim with his 11 points while also shooting 5 of 8 from the field.

Will Johnston has been purely a three-point shooter and this game was the latest proof as he was 1 for 3 from the field with all of those shots coming from beyond. Johnston is one of Virginia Tech’s top 3 three-point shooters, and the Hokies need to do a better job of giving him space to make more shots from beyond the arc.

Despite the blowout loss, the Hokies still have a small chance at pulling off an upset over #2 Virginia in front of a sold out Cassell Coliseum. Of course, the Hokies need a healthy Justin Bibbs to make sure they really have a chance of pulling off the upset, but not having Bibbs would make it next-to-impossible to take down the Cavaliers.

This was definitely a disappointing loss for the Hokies, but hopefully they can play a lot better against Virginia.

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