NEW YORK – Once again, Virginia Tech has been bit badly by the injury bug this season. It seems to be an annual occurrence, and this season the Hokies have lost Allan Chaney and J.T. Thompson, both frontcourt players. Thompson already missed a season with the same injury – a torn ACL – to his other knee. In other words, it seems like business as usual for a team that seems to be snakebit every season.
While depth, especially in the frontcourt, would seem to be a concern as a result, thus far that doesn’t appear to be the case. That was evident in Virginia Tech’s 59-57 win over Oklahoma State on Friday in the NIT Season Tip-Off consolation game.
Virginia Tech’s bench was the source of important contributions on Friday. They had an 18-7 scoring edge over Oklahoma State’s bench, but more importantly a 13-6 rebounding edge over the Cowboy reserves. Best of all, it’s in the frontcourt where the development is coming, as Cadarian Raines had nine rebounds and three blocked shots in 12 minutes and C.J. Barksdale didn’t put up big numbers for his nine minutes but was a presence as the Hokies slowed down Oklahoma State after the Cowboys started off by scoring the game’s first eight points.
“We’re throwing them to the fire,” head coach Seth Greenberg said of his frontcourt players. “Other people get opportunities. All these guys were recruited for a reason, because they’re good players. Now we’re giving them an opportunity. We’re trying to empower them. We’re trying to get them to believe in each other and play.”
Greenberg noted that Raines’ play was a big improvement from earlier, when he had one rebound in 16 minutes against Syracuse. Raines has been hampered by foot injuries in his career, redshirting last season after having his second foot surgery, so they haven’t fully seen what he can offer them to this point in his career. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Hokie staff is knocking on wood that he doesn’t get bit by the injury bug again.
The player who has led the charge inside is freshman Dorian Finney-Smith, who has quickly made an impact as a double-double machine. Greenberg noted that he has a great nose for the ball, and that’s an important trait of good rebounders. The younger brother of recent Old Dominion star Ben Finney, he had 10 points and 14 rebounds on Friday for his third double-double in his first five career games.
“He has a feel for where the ball is going to come off,” Greenberg said of Finney-Smith. “He has those long arms, he pursues the ball, He’s a natural. Some guys are natural rebounders.”
The Hokies did such a good job of slowing down Oklahoma State, aided in part by slowing it down offensively, that they won despite a so-so game from Dorenzo Hudson. The senior guard has started off the season with some solid numbers, but on Friday he had just five points on 2-7 shooting. The continued development of Erick Green at the point certainly helped, and he made shots at several key junctures of Friday’s game.
The development of depth comes at a good time, because the Hokies don’t have an easy non-conference slate ahead. They host St. Bonaventure on Sunday night, head to Minnesota for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, then host Kansas State. Later, they play Oklahoma State a second time, this time in Stillwater, before they open ACC play in earnest. The jury is out on just how good those teams are, but they could be chances for quality non-conference wins before ACC play. That’s also crucial because the ACC may not be full of quality win opportunities given the question marks aside from North Carolina, Duke and perhaps Florida State. Adding to it is that they only play the Tar Heels once.
The Hokies do have a soft patch in their schedule after they go to Rhode Island, a winnable game in itself as the young Rams are struggling. But Greenberg is defending his team’s schedule, and on the whole it’s not bad as it has the aforementioned good teams on it.
“This is an extremely difficult schedule for such a young team,” Greenberg said.
While they Hokies won’t have it easy, they’ll be doing it with a deeper team than they had before. That means they’re in a better position than they appeared to be when the season began and two frontcourt players were again out of action already.
