Tech Struggles on Offense in Loss to BC

Virginia Tech played another poor game offensively, this time with Erick Green out with a leg injury, and fell to Boston College 61-59 on Saturday afternoon. The Hokies dropped to 11-6 overall and 0-3 in ACC play. BC improved to 7-10 overall, and 2-1 in league games.

Green injured his knee in practice on Thursday, and as a result freshman Marquis Rankin and shooting guard Dorenzo Hudson had to handle the point guard position. Rankin played 23 minutes and was 0-of-8 from the field, while Hudson scored 13 points but finished with seven turnovers.

Victor Davila had 14 points and four rebounds, but the Tech offense didn't run efficiently enough to get him enough touches. Jarell Eddie had another tough game. He scored eight points, but six of them came in the final few seconds when the outcome was already decided. Robert Brown had seven points off the bench, but like Eddie, he hit two threes late in the game when BC already had a comfortable lead.

C.J. Barksdale had six points and four rebounds off the bench, and the Hokies outrebounded BC 30-28, but their halfcourt offense was non-existent for much of the game. Tech scored 21 of their 59 points at the free throw line, and even though the Eagles played a poor game in their own right, the Hokies looked lost offensively.

As a team, the Hokies shot just 17-of-47 (36.2%) from the field, though it was worse than that for most of the game. They made four of their last six field goal attempts to make the score close, but BC led by 11 late before Tech ran off several shots to make the score closer.

Robert Brown and Jarell Eddie combined for four three-pointers in the final three minutes. Before that, Victor Davila, Cadarian Raines and C.J. Barksdale were a combined 9-of-13 from the field, and were responsible for nine of the team's first 13 field goals. The rest of the team made just four shots in the first 57 minutes of the game.

Through three ACC games, Tech has not been able to score 60 points in a game. Defensively, they aren't quite as good as they usually are, but it's still been good enough to win. However, their offensive struggles have been tough to watch at times.

They'll have to get better in a hurry, because they'll face an angry UNC team fresh off a blowout loss to Florida State. Tip-off is scheduled for 9pm on Thursday night, and the game will be televised by ESPN.