Hokies Fall Again, This Time to Boston College

Virginia Tech played another poor defensive game, losing to Boston College 86-75 on Wednesday night in Cassell Coliseum.  The Hokies lost their fourth straight game, and are now 9-6 on the season and 0-2 in the ACC.  BC improved to 9-6, and their ACC record is 1-1.

Tech was without Robert Brown on Wednesday, who didn't attend the game because of flu like symptons.  Brown had a temperature of 102 degrees, and tried to give it a go during Wednesday's shootaround, but couldn't play.

Erick Green paced the Hokies with 24 points and nine assists.  He was 10-of-19 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range.  Jarell Eddie also added 21 points and six rebounds, but he also committed five turnovers.

It was the turnovers that were the story of the game for the Hokies.  Tech turned the ball over 17 times, while BC had 17 assists and just five turnovers.  The Eagles outscored the Hokies 29-0 in points off turnovers.

C.J. Barksdale returned to the lineup, but played only 16 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds.  Christian Beyer, who has stolen a lot of Barksdale's minutes, had six points, eight rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes of action.  He and fellow walkon Will Johnston were the only Tech players without turnovers.

"Yeah, definitely," Beyers responded when asked if he's feeling more comfortable the more he plays. "Even the first time I played I wasn't nervous at all.  I grew up playing basketball.  I've been confident."

Cadarian Raines also appears to be in the doghouse of head coach James Johnson.  Raines had two points and three rebounds in 17 minutes.  His backup, Joey van Zegeren, had seven points and four rebounds in 24 minutes.

The real story of this Tech team at this point in the season is their lack of defense.  It was average to begin the year, but it has gotten worse recently.  Tech's last four opponents have had great games offensively...

Colorado State: 88 points
BYU: 97 points
Maryland: 94 points
BC: 86 points

The Eagles scored just 50 points in a narrow win over Auburn, managed just 54 points in a loss to Bryant University, and scored only 63 in a 16-point loss to Harvard.

Virginia Tech returns to action this Saturday when they take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  Tipoff is scheduled for 2:30pm, and the game will be televised by the ACC Network.