Previewing NC State’s Opponent: Virginia Tech

NC State (13-4/5-1) will host Virginia Tech (10-7/2-4) in PNC Arena at Noon today. Before tipoff, lets take a look at the Hokies.

Virginia Tech’s best win this season was against Iowa State on November 24th on a Neutral court, defeating the Cardinals 71-62, which is a Quad 1 win. Iowa State currently ranks 10th in the NET Rankings.

The Hokies lost their other 4 Quad 1 games:

Florida Atlantic (29) 50-84 (N)
Auburn (8) 57-74 (A)
Wake Forest (46) 63-86 (A)
UVA (56) 57-65 (A)

While VT doesn’t have any Quad 3 or 4 losses, they do have 3 Quad 2 losses.

South Carolina (71) 77-79 (N)
FSU (87) 74-77 (A)
Miami (62) 71-75 (A)

It’s worth noting that the Hokies lost those three games by a combined 9 points.

Virginia Tech’s defense is stronger than their offense. The Hokies rank 13th in the ACC in Scoring Offense (73.1), but rank 5th in Scoring Defense (67.5). Numbers can be weird sometimes, because they rank 6th in Field Goal Percentage (45.6%), and rank 12th in Field Goal Percentage Defense (43.3%).

The Hokies like to shoot the three, ranking 5th in Three Point Field Goals made (140), making 35.5% from beyond the arc.

Virginia Tech ranks 5th in the ACC in Rebounding margin (3.8), and rank 1st in Opponents Combined Rebounds (30.6).

Considering the fact that VT ranks 11th in Turnover Margin (-0.24), and NC State is 3rd in creating Turnovers, the Wolfpack should be able to take the ball away effectively today.

In a little more advanced statistical analysis, Virginia Tech ranks 22nd nationally in preventing their opponents from grabbing Offensive Rebounds. On the other side of the court, they can’t grab an Offensive board of their own, ranking 256th in Offensive Rebounding Percentage. Also, when the ball is in their hands, it doesn’t always stay there, ranking 211th in Turnover Percentage.

Virginia Tech has three players averaging double figures in scoring.

Junior Guard Sean Pedulla is averaging 16.3 Points per game (11th in the ACC), making 39.5% of his three pointers. He also leads the Hokies with 4.2 Assists per game.

Senior Center Lynn Kidd (6’10″/235) is averaging 14.0 Points per game, while shooting an insane 66.4% from the field, which is tops in the ACC by more than 4%. He also leads the Hokies with 6.8 Rebounds per game.

Senior Guard Hunter Cattoor is averaging 13.4 Points per game, shooting 47% from the field, and 41.1% from three.