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Hokies Basketball: Virginia Tech Loses to Florida State 86-75

By Tim Thomas

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Jan 6, 2015; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies guard Justin Bibbs (10) goes up for a shot past Florida State Seminoles forward Kiel Turpin (11) during the first half of the game at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

The Virginia Tech Hokies nearly pulled off the upset at home over the Syracuse Orange to start ACC play which gave fans some confidence that they could get a few games against some of the ACC’s weaker teams. The Hokies were hoping to get a win against Florida State before facing four straight top 25 teams.

Unfortunately, the Hokies were not able to get the job done in Tallahassee.

Florida State defeated Virginia Tech 86-75 in a game that seemed likely to have even more points after the Seminoles led 53-45 at halftime. However, both teams struggled shooting the basketball in the second half, and Virginia Tech gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and easy layups.

Virginia Tech only had 6 turnovers and force 14 turnovers, but the Hokies gave up 15 offensive rebounds and 42 total rebounds. The Hokies also only had 22 total rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds in what was a disappointing game.

The Hokies’ rebounding issues were due to their lack of size along with the allowance of too many long, offensive rebounds to Florida State. Florida State had three guards who had at least six rebounds in this game which shows that it just wanted size that was the issue.

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Virginia Tech must improve their rebounding while they also need to avoid allowing easy layups. The Hokies allowed too many easy drives that did not have any sort of help defense to create some challenging layups.

One player that actually had a fairly good game was Justin Bibbs who had a career-high 25 points. Bibbs made 8 of 17 shots from the field, 4 of 9 three-pointers, and 5 of 7 free throws in what was a decent but not great shooting day for Bibbs.

Overall, Bibbs has had a great start to ACC play with 47 points in two games. Bibbs is already looking like one of the top freshmen in the ACC, and should continue to shine even as the competition gets tougher.

Jan 6, 2015; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies guard Adam Smith (3) moves the ball past Florida State Seminoles guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes (22) during the first half of the game at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Adam Smith also was fairly good in this game as he had 24 points in this game on 8 of 18 shooting. Smith was effective from beyond the arc as he made 5 of 10 three-point shots in this game. Smith’s shot selection still has room to grow, but he showed some progress in this game.

Devin Wilson didn’t have a great scoring night with only 6 points, but did a good job of distributing the ball with 7 assists and 0 turnovers. Will Johnston also made a couple of three-point shots in this game while Ahmed Hill only had 3 points and shot 20% from the field.

Satchel Pierce and Shane Henry still have a lot of work to do as both struggled in this game with only 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks between the two tonight. Virginia Tech was willing to go with a smaller lineup on multiple occasions which is just a sign of the struggles of these two big men.

It is unknown when Joey van Zegeren will be back, but the Hokies will need Pierce and Henry to start playing better. However, both these players have not gone against this level of competition before and should play better as the season goes along.

Patience will be key in the first season of the Virginia Tech basketball rebuilding project under Buzz Williams.

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