The Setup

Printable (PDF) Roster Card: VT wake Roster and Stats Card

The deacons come to town for Senior Night, as the Hokies will honor their two departing Seniors in their final regular season home game:

• 13 – Deron Washington
• 5 – Marcus Travis

The Hokies clinch at least the 5th seed in the ACC Tournament with a win and put themselves on the brink of getting a first round bye if miami loses either of their last two games and/or VT beats clemson next Sunday.

Series:

• All Time Series: wake 26-23
• At VT: VT 17-9
• Since VT joined the ACC: VT 3-2
• Last Meeting: wake 77, VT 75 (12/23/07)

The Game

Both of these teams are better than they were back in December.  In that game, the Hokies fell down early and trailed by nine at the half.  But thanks to wake foul trouble and some injuries, the deacs were thin in the 2nd half.  Tech had an eight point lead with 1:20 to go, but choked thanks to some spotty defense and poor clock management and lost on an 18-footer by Ishmael Smith with less than a second left.

Tuesday will be a different story.  wake is not a strong road team.  They are just 2-9 away from Winston-Salem and 1-6 in ACC play.  The Hokies need to come out strong and get on top of the deacons to take away any confidence they may have.

Both teams have far exceeded preseason expectations.  Tech was picked to finish 10th and wake dead last, but VT is in control of earning a bye (top four) and wake is 7th.

If you thought VT was the Baby Hokies, well, these are the diaper deacs. Of their eight main players, seven are sophomores or freshman. Their lone upperclassman, junior #4 Harvey Hale, often comes off the bench. They do not have a single senior on the roster.

Get there early and show the seniors, and all the Hokies, how much we support them!  We know the attendance will say 9,847, but let’s actually have that many there!

Keys to the Game
 

• Rust or Thrust?: Tech hasn’t played in a week. We saw how flat they looked after a week off at unc (and at odu for that matter). This is Senior Night. The team should come out with a lot of emotion and be firing on all cylinders early. The Hokies need this, and you, John or Jane Q. Fan, could help inspire the team. Be a factor and the Hokies might kick in like a turbo booster.
• Tempo: Tech must get back on defense otherwise the deacons will shove the ball down their throats.  They love to run and dictated the tempo in the first half at wake.  Tech also helped feed the wake transition game by committing 22 turnovers.
• Thieves: VT must do a good job of protecting the ball. wake averages 8.5 steals per game, good for 4th in the ACC. wake had 11 steals in the first meeting, most in the first half.  They are extremely aggressive trying to get steals. If Tech can make smart passes, wake’s aggression can lead to easy buckets.
• D: wake is a lousy shooting team. They are 11th in the ACC in FG% (43%) and last in 3-Pt% (31%), and 11th in FT% (66%).  Tech can collapse inside on McFarland and Johnson and force the deacs to beat them from the outside.
• Rebounding: wake is one of only two ACC teams with a negative rebounding margin.  VT is 3rd in the ACC in rebounding margin.  Tech needs to aggressively go after the glass.
• Free Throws.  Tech had 32 free throw attempts and hit 29 in the first meeting.  You can’t expect the Hokies to shoot that kind of percentage again, but Tech does need to go hard at the basket and draw fouls.  McFarland is foul prone.

Key Match-Up: Tuesday’s game will feature two potential low post members of the ACC All-Rookie team in 6′8″, 200 lb. James Johnson and 6′6″, 258 lb. Jeff Allen. Both are in the top four among freshman in scoring and rebounding in the ACC. Both average close to two steals per game and have quick hands.  The differences are Johnson gets more touches than Allen does and shoots for a lower percentage. He also will shoot the three even though he is awful at them (under 30%). Also, Johnson is no where near the physical presence Allen is, although both are great offensive rebounders. I doubt either will cover the other most of the time. Expect to see Thompson or Witcher on Johnson with occasional help from Deron or Jeff.

The Opponent

Mildly interesting facts:

• Private – founded in 1834 in what became the town of Wake Forest (north of Raleigh) but moved to Winston-Salem in 1946. Yes, that’s right, wake forest is not in the town named after the school.
• Enrollment: 4300 undergrad (one of the smallest, along with rice, in D 1-A football)
• Famous Alums: Chris Paul and Tim Duncan of the NBA, that jerk Billy Packer (who once called Allen Iverson a “monkey” on-air), Arnold Palmer, and that Kirsten Dunst look-a-like heartbreaker – Christina Horten
• ACC Basketball Championships: 4 (’61, ‘62, ‘95, ‘96)
• 16 straight post-season appearances, the longest streak in the ACC

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