The Tigers travel to Blacksburg to take on a Virginia Tech squad that is struggling mightily. The Hokies (12-10, 1-5 ACC) have lost 7 of their last 8 games, and are coming off of a short turnaround (suffered a loss to Duke at home on Thursday night). The Tigers, on the other hand, are coming off of one of their better performances of the season. So just from looking at the recent wins and losses between the two teams, the Tigers should be favored.

BUT, you have to remember that this game is being played in Blacksburg. It is a road game. The Tigers haven't won a true road game since November. And when you take a closer look at the Hokies' schedule, you'll notice that 5 of their 7 January losses have come by 4 points or less (the other 2 were blowout losses to UNC and Duke). In other words, they might be better than their record indicates, as they are extremely competitive in every game against teams not named North Carolina or Duke.

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Devin Booker (16 pts) and Tanner Smith (14) led the way, but their play wasn't enough to overcome Virginia's duo of Mike Scott and Joe Harris, as the Cavs held on at home for the 4 point win.

That was a fun game to watch. Both teams shot the ball very well, and there weren't many turnovers or many fouls. It was just a fast-paced entertaining game. The game opened up with a couple of fouls in the opening two or three minutes, but after that play went uninterrupted all the way to the 11:32 mark. You don't get to see uninterrupted play like that very often in the modern world of college basketball, not with media timeouts every four fucking minutes. So it's really entertaining to watch a free flowing game with no stoppages in play.

There actually wasn't a single turnover from either team in the opening ten minutes of the game. And the Tigers finished with just 4 turnovers in the game, one of the lowest totals in school history. Tanner's stellar play (no TOs) had a lot to do with this, as did the suspension of Milton Jennings.

So we didn't turn the ball over, we didn't foul much, and we shot well at the free throw line (9-11). We played well. Well enough to win, if not for the following:

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So this week I got an email from a childhood friend who just so happens to write for UVA's SBNation site Streaking The Lawn. Tim and I played sports together growing up and he was always a huge sports fan. I keep up with UVA sports, but when Tim reached out to me I figured his thoughts would probably be more in depth than my own. Therefore, instead of writing a preview for tonight's game at UVA I decided to go with a Q&A. We'll use this article as the gamethread for tonight's game as well.

Head on over to Streaking the Lawn for my responses to his questions.

UVA was expected to be much improved this season, but I didn't expect them to be this good. Have they exceeded your expectations?

They’ve definitely exceeded my expectations. I feel like we’re playing at the level I thought we’d be playing next year. A large part of that has been Mike Scott’s return, obviously. But the way the team has gelled on the defensive end is probably the biggest story. The players clearly understand Bennett’s Pack-Line Defense and they’ve bought into it. We’re holding conference opponents to 51 points per game. As long as we have something resembling a decent offense, we’ll have a chance to win every game this year.

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Andre Young is on a roll. He didn't score a career-high like he did last weekend, but he did end up with a game-high19 points (7-12 from field, 3-6 from 3, 2-4 at the line) and a 5:0 assist to turnover ratio.

Speaking of turnovers, we did a great job of not turning the ball over in the first half. We only had two turnovers through the first 25 minutes of the game (both from Milton), but then Tanner and Rod Hall started to making bad decisions, and we ended up with 6 in the 2nd half. Still, we did a much better job today of making good decisions with the ball.

Speaking of Tanner, he continued to struggle from the free throw line (1-3). But it's not from a lack of trying. He was out there on the court by himself before the game practicing free throws. He made the vast majority of his shots in his solo pregame warmup, but his training regime didn't translate into in-game success. This team has had some free throw struggles of late (although we did better today: 15-22, 68.2%), and a lot of fans have (understandably) demanded that they practice their free throws more. But it's really hard to simulate an in-game environment outside of a game. I'm not trying to make excuses for Tanner; he still needs to make the shots. I'd just like to point out that his misses are not from a lack of practice. It's more mental than anything else, in my opinion.

Speaking of recent criticism, Devin has obviously seen his fair share of it recently. He looked better today in his return to the starting lineup. He had his signature dunks as always (and didn't miss one this game, as far as I can remember), and he had a pretty good defensive game with a trio of impressive blocks. He didn't go too strong to the hoop today, instead settling for some bank of the glass hooks. Many (myself included) have criticized him for not going strong to the hoop, arguing that with his frame (6-8, 245) he should be able to every time he gets the ball in the post. But a couple of factors today probably discouraged him from taking the ball right to the rim, and encouraged him instead to settle for some hook shots. 1. He had to worry about Ty Walker's shot blocking ability (he had 3 today). And 2. The refs weren't always calling fouls for us today, even when some of the guys went strong to the hoop. Considering the factors above, I think Devin had a pretty good game today.

The refs weren't doing us any favors today. The Deacs were in the bonus at the 8:45 mark of the 2nd half, but only commited 4 fouls in the first 18 minutes of the 2nd half. They committed a slew of them at the end there to intentionally put us in the bonus. And by a slew, I mean 8 in the final 70 seconds. This obviously skewed the final foul count for them. The box score lists both teams with 18 personal fouls, but this was not indicative at all of how the game played itself out.

Milton had a rough game. It took him less than a minute to commit both a turnover and a foul. He went 2-10 from the field today, and committed both 3 turnovers and 3 personal fouls. And he didn't play the best defense either; he just needs to do a better job of staying between his man and the basket. Time and again, one of the Deacs was able to blow right by him. And it didn't help that he would sometimes over pursue for the steal, and then give his man an open lane to the hoop.

It was great to see a nice offensive performance from Bryan Narcisse today. We only scored one field goal in the first 9:30 of the game today (we actually had some pretty good mid-range looks as well as some open long-range shots, but we just aren't a good shooting team), with the lone converted hoop coming from B-Nice. Bryan scored our first 4 points today, and 6 of our first 10. A couple of late free throws game him 11 points for the game. He did a great job of attacking the hoop, and went to the free throw line early and relatively often (6-6 at the line), but his defense still leaves a bit to be desired. When he's defending along the baseline, he doesn't play close enough to the line, and the ball handler is able to just blow by him right along the line.This has been a problem all season, so I don't see it getting fixed sadly. Although luckily for B-Nice, oftentimes when his guy blows by him, he just uses those lanky arms of his to get the block from behind.

Brownell has said that his guys' playing time in games is indicative of their play in practice. So I guess KJ McDaniels had a real bad week in practice. Devin Coleman (14 min.s), Rod Hall (14), TJ Sapp (15), and Bernard Sullivan (5) all saw action, but KJ didn't even see the court today. If he was suspended from the game today, I wasn't aware of it. The freshmen didn't do too much offensively today (only a combined 5 points), although Rod got a nice 3-point play that was reminiscent of his bucket that forced overtime against SIU back in December.

Oh, and congratulations to B-Nice and Tanner today. They graduated back in December, but didn't get to walk due to their basketball schedule, so before the game today, they received their diplomas from Barker in front of the Littlejohn crowd. Congrats guys.

Brownell's club would love to win two conference games in a row at some point this year, and a home game against Wake Forest (11-9, 2-4) gives the Tigers the opportunity to do just that. Wake was absolutely putrid last year, going just 1-15 in the ACC, but 2nd-year coach Jeff Bzdelik's squad is much more competitive this year. The Deacons knocked off Virginia Tech at home to start the conference season, and also won at BC by 15. But they lost road games at Maryland and Duke, and got blown out at home by NC State.

The Deacons are led on offense by sophomore Travis McKie and junior CJ Harris (17.3 ppg). Harris (17.3 ppg) is Wake's best jumpshooter; Wake's shining moment this year came against VT, when Harris hit a pair of 3s in the final minute to give Wake a 3-point victory. Tony Chennault plays point for the Deacs and leads the team with 2.9 apg. The sophomore can shoot (10.6ppg), and has also shown the ability to split defenders in the lane.

McKie is Wake's best in the frontcourt, leading the Deacons with 6.7 rpg. McKie is one of the team's leading scorers (17.2 ppg), but is coming off of a game against Florida State that saw him foul out after going 1 of 13 from the field (he looked especially horrendous from beyond the arc, where he went 0 of 4 with 2 airballs).

The frontcourt also features a versatile senior forward in Nikita Mescheriakov, whose size (6-8, 220) gives him the ability to work the ball inside, but the transfer from Georgetown also has the ability to shoot the 3 and drive the lane. Ty Walker rounds out the starting 5 for the Deacs. The senior doesn't do much on offense, but he's a great defender, and is widely considered to be Wake's best shot blocker since Tim Duncan. Walker (2.9 pbg) had 4 blocks against FSU in the 1st half alone before leaving the game with a concussion (took an elbow to the face).

Wake Forest's Projected Starting Lineup:

#30-sophomore F-Travis McKie (6-7, 210)

#11-junior G-CJ Harris (6-3, 190)

#1-sophomore-PG-Tony Chennault (6-2, 195)

#25-senior-F-Nikita Mescheriakov (6-8, 220)

#40-senior-C-Ty Walker (7-0, 230)

Also watch out for:

33-sophomore-C-Carson Desrosiers (7-0, 240)

10-freshman-G-Chase Fischer (6-3, 180)

I thought about including Clemson's starting lineup here too, but then I realized that I really don't know who's gonna start for us on Saturday. Andre and Tanner are the only 2 guys that I'm absolutely sure of. Milton will probably get the start too, but only probably. As for the 5 spot, Brownell said after the GT game that he was not yet sure which guy (Bobo or Book) would get the start, and that it would probably depend on who had the better week at practice. The 3's a toss up too. Could be B-Nice. Could be Rod. Could be Sapp. Who knows.

Regardless of who we see start at the 5, it would be nice to see Bobo continue to improve. He's looked a hell of a lot better in the last few games, and has finally figured out how to use his size to his advantage, but he still has plenty of room for improvement. He's got to cut down on the turnovers and do a better job of keeping a firm grip on the ball. And hopefully Devin shows up too, but I'm not hoping for much. At the very least, it would be nice to not see any missed dunks from him on Saturday.

As for the other guys, same keys as always. Andre, shoot the ball well, preferably like you did last weekend. Tanner, stop turning it over. Milton, it's all mental. Just play with confidence and you'll be fine.

What happens Saturday? Wake is much improved from last year, but not they're not good enough to beat the Tigers on the road (although when we play in Winston-Salem just 14 days later, the story might be different). Andre Young continues his hot streak, Devin finally manages to not screw up any of his dunks (but doesn't do much else), and Bobo scores in double figures. Wake keeps it close for 30 minutes, but Tigers roll in the end.

The game will tip at noon and will be televised by the ACC Network (ABC in the Upstate).

It sure doesn't feel like we just ended a 3-game winning streak and picked up our 2nd conference W of the year. It wasn't a very fun game to watch from a Tigers perspective. It was, at least for me, very frustrating to watch. At the time of the power outage, 14 minutes into the game, the Jackets had turned the ball over 14 times, and the score stood at 13-10. They turned the ball over 14 times in 14 minutes and all we had to show for it was 13 points. Ouch. We shot just 25% in this span, and hit just 1 of 6 3-point attempts. And we were out rebounded 17 to 8 in this period. The only positive thing that came out of the pre-power outage period of play was some nice offensive play from Bernard Sullivan, who was able to slash into the lane a couple of times. Sullivan hasn't gotten as much attention or praise as Rod Hall, TJ Sapp, or KJ McDaniels, so it was cool to see some good offensive moves from him.

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If Clemson is going to salvage any sort of decency this season, beating GT at home is a must. Georgia Tech heads to Littlejohn Colliseum with a record of 9-10, 1-3. They are fresh off a pasting on their (pseudo) home court at the hands of UVA. UVA is a very good basketball team, but losing by 32 at home is not good.

Brian Gregory is more than halfway through his first season as GT's head man, and it's been a rocky start in what already figured to be a rebuilding year. Gregory comes to GT from Dayton, where he took the Flyers to 2 NCAA tournament appearances in 8 seasons. He is a Tom Izzo disciple. He was an assistant coach under Izzo at Michigan State for 5 years, 3 of which resulted in Final Four appearance (1 National Championship).

GT's best player is Glen Rice Jr. He can shoot from 3, but his forte is really midrange pull up jumpers. He loves to shoot it off the bounce. The key to throwing off a rhythmic shooter is to make him uncomfortable. Don't let him get to his spots on the floor. I'd expect to see Tanner Smith guarding him. Tanner needs to crowd him and be physical with him. If you let him catch it and get a rhythmic dribble into his shot, he'll hurt you.

Junior PG Mfon Udofia is GT's 2nd leading scorer. He was a highly regarded recruit coming out of high school, but hasn't really lived up to that billing thus far. He's not a very good shooter and is left hand dominant. However, he is quick, but that shouldn't bother Andre Young too much since he's as quick as almost anyone in the conference.

In the frontcourt, GT has very good length. Kammeon Holsey is a bouncy PF that seems bigger than his listed 6'8 height. Daniel MIller is a 6'11 shot blocker (2.6 bpg) that could give our undersized frontcourt a bit of trouble (think Henson vs Grant). Neither guys poses much of a threat with their backs to the basket, so it will be important to clear the defensive glass and not let these guys get any easy points.

The last guy to keep an eye on is Jason Morris. He was another highly regarded 4-star coming out of high school. He was supposed to be a shooter, but has struggled with his shot so far this year (30% from 3). I'm not counting him out though, since Malcolm Grant was struggling with his shot until he got out of his slump against a soft Clemson perimeter defense.

This is a game we as fans should expect to win. Lets go out and avenge our football team's beatdown at GT.

I'm not sure how this is possible, but ESPN3 blacked out the game where I live, yet I couldn't watch it on TV either. Instead, RSN was broadcasting the 1-12 Washington Wizards. Forced to choose between the Wizards or following a gamecast for 2 hours, I decided to follow the gamecast for 2 hours.

My thoughts and opinions are strictly based on what the gamecast has told me, so if I'm wrong I plead ignorance. Please feel free to fill me in on anything I may miss.

Tanner Smith owned the first half for Clemson. He was absolutely on fire and finished the first half with 18 of Clemson's 39 first half points. Unfortunately he didn't receive much help from his supporting cast and our defensive effort was atrocious. F1NS' comment after last game, where he said we can't seem to get multiple guys hot at the same time is very true. If Tanner is feeling it, it seems like Andre Young is off. If Jennings sneaks up on us and has a good game, Tanner is off.

In the second half, the good Tanner cooled off and turnover Tanner came out. He finished the game with 6 turnovers, of which 5 came in the 2nd half.

This loss does not fall on the offense, though, from what I read. Yes, we could've shot better from the foul line and from behind the arc, but we put up 73 points while shooting 48% from the field. We had 4 guys score in double figures, with Tanner leading the way with 23 points.

What hurt us in this game was our defense. We allowed Miami to shoot 51% from the field and 45% from behind the arc. Miami was also able to knock down 13-14 free throws. Malcolm Grant got out of his slump, just as Category 6 had predicted, leading Miami with 16 points. This is not the same defensive team we saw lock people down defensively last year. I may not have been able to watch this game, but I've seen enough this year to know that our perimeter defense is soft and we lack a shot blocking presence to mask this deficiency.

It's tough to win on the road, especially in conference play. Losing to Miami by 3 isn't a terrible loss by any means. Miami is a more talented team than Clemson. I believe 4 out of their 5 starters would be starting for Clemson right now. So losing on the road at Miami doesn't surprise me. However, I'd like to be able to stop using the lack of talent excuse after every loss and instead praise these guys for winning with effort and smart play. The FSU game gave us a false sense of hope, which makes this losing streak tougher to swallow.

Also, can we get more KJ McDaniel? Please??

I'd love to hear the thoughts of people that were actually able to watch the game...