Virginia Tech lost tonight, 64-81, to the duke blue devils. The Hokies gave it their best shot, but without Jeff Allen, who was serving the first of a two-game suspension, they just couldn’t hang with the devils and their eight McDonald’s All-Americans (Virginia Tech has had exactly one McDonald’s All American in school history – Dell Curry).
A.D. Vassallo somehow managed 16 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Hokies in both categories. How did he ever manage 16 points? It’s a miracle. It’s a miracle. Deron Washington scored 12 and pulled down 7 rebounds.
While the blue devils may have won as expected, they left battered and bruised because the Hokies came out and absolutely punched duke in the face and forced coach k to play the physical style of ball that generally suits Tech. In fact, the only team to beat duke this season was pittsburgh, which plays that typical Big East physical style.
No doubt Seth Greenberg looked at that pittsburgh game and realized that without Allen, playing physical was the only chance the Hokies had at an upset tonight. And it worked for the first 30 minutes of the game. The Hokies trailed by only four at the half and got to within three at about the halfway mark of the second half.
Tech pounded and hounded duke and made them earn every dribble, shot and rebound. Tech made no apologies for the physical play. In fact, it was quite obvious they wanted the devils to know they were in for one hell of a fight.
Even as time wound down (3:47) with duke well in control (55-77), demarcus nelson got fouled by Deron Washington and took exception even though it was a clean foul. nelson mouthed something that got him T’d up and he fouled out of the game. It was a small consolation, but it was great watching a duke player lose his cool and foul out.
Now we get to the point in the recap where I tell you that Tech is a young team and games like these are learning experiences, blah blah blah. Enough. This team may be young but this is the ACC and they need to grow up — now. The lazy turnovers have to stop — that’s not a “youth” issue, that’s a lazy issue. That’s a they-need-to-run-stairs-until-it-sinks-in issue.
Other Observations and Comments:
- Near the end of the ESPN broadcast, the announcers said, “give duke credit” because the Hokies came out and punched them in the face, but the dookies persevered. Huh? They have 40 All-Americans — they’re supposed to win. How about giving Virginia Tech credit? The Hokies have seven freshmen, and their second leading scorer and the ACC’s 4th leading rebounder was suspended.
- The Hokies continue to turn the ball over in the open court with lazy passes. I have written my congressman and asked him to propose stiffer penalties for Hokies who turn the ball over.
- Tech shot 59.3 percent from the FT line (16 of 27) – 10 percentage points below their season average — pathetic.
- The Hokies pestered and agitated duke, keeping them in foul trouble most of the game — but with 60 All-Americans, the devils can get away with it.
- duke continues to get questionable calls because they’re duke and their coach complains enough.
- Considering Tech was without their 2nd leading scorer Jeff Allen, the Hokies did about as well as could be expected.
- I hate moral victories, but with a team this young, you have to take any victories you can get your hands on.
- It was obvious that duke really wanted to get the game over with because with about 10 minutes left, they started burning the shot clock.
- J.T. Thomspon scored 13 points in his first start of the season; his average was 3.1 ppg.
daveywoods’ randoms:
- The Hokies continue to perform well on the boards at least, winning the rebound battle 37 to 34.
- J.T. Thompson has been my favorite new high-energy guy this season. He got big minutes tonight (actually starting) and delivered well.
- duke is relentless — waves of talent off the bench are tough to handle. King’s monster three’s were a punch in the neck.
- duke shot 47.5% tonight (vs the Hokies’ 41.1%) — with the defense duke brings, shooting 47.5% is just about unbeatable.
- Bill Roth had a great post-game observation, if perhaps an obvious one — the Hokies have a lot more trouble on the perimeter when Jeff Allen isn’t drawing double-teams inside.
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just a small comment, but I think thompson actually got the start tonight.
heck of a game to be at. Everybody in the student section was loud, at least until duke put it away midway though the second half. The Hokies on Fire guys handed shirts out to us, and somebody brought a ton of teabags and distributed them, so a bunch of us were waving them during the chants, too.
I thought Thompson started last night – but the initial ESPN box score had him coming off the bench. Wick, Rob and I were driving over to the Cassell last night and missed the first couple of minutes (slow service at PKs and the blizzard), but we heard Thomson’s name on the broadcast and all three of us said, “Thomson started?”
I think we saw a picture of what the Dookies are going to do in ACC tournament play and in the NCAA tournament… that had to do that modified four corners thing (with apologies to Dean Smith) with 4 guards because they don’t have a post player… the tried to slow the game down when they had a lead… we really missed Jeff Allen… he would have given Singler fits.