Justin Bibbs Will Bounce Back Against Syracuse

Dec 3, 2014; University Park, PA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies guard Justin Bibbs (10) puts in a lay up during the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State wins 61-58. Mandatory Credit: Brett Carlsen-USA TODAY Sports

The Virginia Tech Hokies were hoping to try to finish 2014 off with a big non-conference upset over the 17th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown. The Hokies kept it close in the first half, but were absolutely destroyed by the Mountaineers in the second half on the way to a 82-51 West Virginia victory over the Hokies.

The Hokies had 25 turnovers in this game with Justin Bibbs leading the way with 8 turnovers in this game. Bibbs also only had 4 points and 4 assists in a game that was undoubtedly the worst of his collegiate career so far.

Bibbs never was able to find a rhythm against West Virginia, and the Hokies need him to get back going against Syracuse.

Bibbs has done a very good job of bouncing back from some of his weaker performances throughout the season. After having 8 points and 3 turnovers against Northern Iowa, Bibbs bounced back with a career high 22 points against Miami-Ohio though he did also have 6 turnovers.

After having 8 points and 3 turnovers against Morgan State, Justin Bibbs responded with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers in a close loss at Penn State. Bibbs had only 9 points against The Citadel, but bounced back in the next game against VMI with 20 points and 4 rebounds.

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Bibbs has been able to bounce back from bad games many times even against decent competition in the case of his performance against Penn State. However, Syracuse is not going to be an easy team to go against, but the Syracuse backcourt is not as strong as the Orange’s frontcourt duo of Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough.

The Syracuse 2-3 zone can cause problems especially if the ball movement is not very good by the opposing team, but the Hokies also have a lot of good shooters led by Bibbs who is shooting 50.4% from the field and 47.6% from beyond the arc. The Hokies will likely try to get Bibbs going early and often in this matchup.

Bibbs has the talent to go off for at least 15 to 17 points in this game, and that could really give the Hokies a good chance to pull off the upset in Blacksburg. Bibbs is also becoming more than just a scorer as he is also becoming a decent rebounder and solid ball distributor outside of his very bad game against West Virginia.

Justin Bibbs has proven that he is a guy that knows how to bounce back after a disappointing loss, and he will do that once again against a solid Syracuse basketball team.

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