Hokies frigid from the perimeter
Tech turns ball over, struggles to keep up with efficient Penn State
BLACKSBURG — Through the first two weeks of the season, Virginia Tech coach Mike Young has learned the most about his team playing against programs from the Keystone State, but the lessons from Tuesday night’s 75-55 loss to Penn State weren’t terribly encouraging.
After defeating then-No. 3 Villanova just 10 days earlier, No. 15 Virginia Tech came into its ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup against Penn State with confidence that it could play with anybody, but Tech showed shooting deficiencies last week in a close win against Virginia Military Institute that carried over to Tuesday night.
Combine those shooting woes with a significant turnover problem and suspect defensive effort, and the recipe for disaster emerged against Penn State (3-1).
Tech (4-1), which saw its 35-game home winning streak against nonconference opponents snapped, finished with 14 turnovers, compared to just five for Penn State — the fourth-fewest ever by a Tech opponent in Cassell
Coliseum.
“That’s a microcosm of where we were defensively on our heels,” Young said regarding how Penn State valued possessions. “We chart deflections, we chart contested passes and we just simply weren’t good enough in that category and a number of categories.”
The discrepancy in giveaways led to a 22-4 advantage in points off turnovers for Penn State, which didn’t have a first-half turnover, and didn’t commit its first turnover until there was 16:53 left.
After missing 23 of 27 shots from 3-point range against VMI, Tech failed to convert 16 of its 22 3-point attempts against Penn State while shooting just 37% from the floor overall.
Jalen Cone led Tech with 11 points off the bench, while Nahiem Alleyne was Tech’s only other double-figure scorer with 10 points. Keve Aluma had eight points and 12 rebounds.
Penn State, which was led by guard Izaiah Brockington’s 24 points, countered by making 12 of 23 shots from beyond the 3-point line and 50% of its field goal attempts overall.
“We let them shoot right in our face,” said guard Wabissa Bede, who made a 3-pointer on Tech’s opening possession as the shot clock expired — before Penn State went on a 17-0 run. “They were all
great shooters.”
Three things we saw
Penn State’s lead grew to as many as 29 points in the second half, as Brockington and guards Myreon Jones (14 points), Myles Dread (11 points), Sam Sessoms (10 points) and Jamari Wheeler (six assists) consistently had open looks or were able to penetrate past defenders.
“Everything they throw in the air seems like it’s going in the hole,” Young said. “That’s not the basketball gods. That’s the Virginia Tech defense. We weren’t nearly as good on that end as I have grown to expect us to be.”
Tech guard Hunter Cattoor was averaging 6.6 points in 19 minutes per game coming into Tuesday night, but he played less than a minute against Penn State because he had strep throat.
Young said Cattoor’s most recent coronavirus test was negative
He was cleared to play and was shooting well in a pregame warmup in Tech’s practice facility, but he didn’t feel great during the game.
With a week off before Tech’s ACC opener at home against Clemson, Young indicated shooting will be a point of emphasis, but he’s confident his team will bounce back.
“I don’t think we’re shooting it particularly well right now,” Young said. “That is not a big concern. I don’t think it is any deeper than Penn State came in here and flattened our nose. They did so early. So, (I’m) surprised and disappointed in our response, but I’ve got good people back there. We’ve got a week to work at it.”
Never could’ve seen it coming
Despite its dominant overall effort, Penn State didn’t get a single point from forward Seth Lundy, who came in leading the Nittany Lions with an average of 22.3 points per game.
Lundy picked up two fouls early and only played nine minutes in the first half before going on to miss all four of his shots from the floor.
“Not in a million years,” Young said when asked if he could’ve imagined his team losing by 20 points if it held Lundy scoreless. “One of those inexplicable occurrences that can happen in this thing.”