Offensively, VT let the added pressure force them into quicker shots. They were also rushed even when they had a clean look. At times it looked as though they were seeing ghosts.

Despite that, the Hokies got great looks. Both from 3 and in the post. They simply failed to convert. I said before the game that if the Hokies lost and they got clean looks and played well defensively then Im very much ok living with that result. I stand by that. Just in the last 5 minutes, the Hokies missed 3 open 3s from good shooters, 2 layups, and a missed great look from Aluma in the post. Convert those and VT wins running away. Literally a game of inches between losing by 8 and winning by 7.

Defensively the Hokies did what was needed to win. They kept the game in the 60s and forced tough shots. The problem came from lapses in transition defense and rebounding as a unit.

Memphis scored 23 of its 69 points off of transition buckets and second chance points. 1/3 of their points were due to these stats that VT could quite easily control with a little more effort and attention. Wipe all those points out and its a blowout. That isnt realistic however, but if you wipe out half of those points you win by 4, even with the shooting woes.

So VT had multiple paths to victory. They squandered both. They let Penny Hardaway off the hook for lazy coaching offensively. Putting all 5 of your players in an iso post is very AAU and lazy, and quite frankly a disservice to the athletes he has. If they had any kind of continuity or motion offense, they would be very dangerous. Alas, they have the basketball equivalent of Ron Zook at the helm and theyll pay for it.

I felt VT got better for this game. They took a bunch of haymakers and kept moving forward. In the end, the small mistakes added up to be too much, but they were right there when they shouldnt have been. They held 2 sure-fire NBA top 5 picks to an average of 7.5 points between them, despite both holding significant advantages over those who were guarding them.

Would gladly welcome seeing Memphis again in March. Theyll be doing the same things. Would VT still be missing shots? The stats would indicate it isnt likely.