Virginia Tech played another poor defensive game, losing to Maryland 94-71 in College Park. Tech dropped to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in the ACC with the loss, while the Terps are now 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC.
The Hokies have now lost three straight games by 23 or more points for the first time in school history. They've lost three straight games by 20 or more points for the first time since the 1936-37 season.
C.J. Barksdale did not play in this game, leaving the Hokies with just six scholarship players. James Johnson said following the game that Barksdale was benched for lack of effort in practice and in games. He had recently lost playing time to walk-on Christian Beyer, and Beyer had six points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes on Saturday.
Joey van Zegeren got the start over Barksdale and had 10 points and 5 rebounds. Cadarian Raines finished with eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Erick Green was very good as usual, scoring 28 points.
Unfortunately, Robert Brown continued his slump, going just 4-of-15 from the field. He scored 11 points, but it was not an efficient day offensively. Jarell Eddie also struggled, scoring just five points on 2-of-12 shooting. He was 0-of-6 from three-point range.
Though Tech had some players struggle on offense, their main problem continued to be defense. The Terps made 51.7% of their field goals, and were 10-of-23 (43.5%) from three-point range. Maryland came into the game shooting just over 34% from the outside, and had countless open looks against a Tech defense that looked confused and was very slow in rotations.
Perhaps the only bright spot the Hokies can take out of this game was their offensive rebounding. Tech pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and scored 24 second chance points.
The Hokies will finally return to Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday night when they host Boston College. Tipoff will be at 7pm, and the game will be televised by RSN. Check your local listings.
Box Score