For the second time in four games, the Hokies nearly drank in a huge out of conference win, only to find out victory was just a mirage, losing on a devastating buzzer-beater. The last time it was xavier hitting a half court shot after being down two at the end of overtime. This time it was Trevon Hughes of the wisconsin badgers (6-1) hitting an off-balance 14-footer with 0.9 seconds left to break a 72-72 tie, erasing an All-American effort by A.D. Vassallo, including a three-pointer to tie the game with 7.0 seconds left. wisconsin became the first Big (11) Ten team to win a road game in the ACC/Big (11) Ten Challenge since 2005. The Hokies are now 1-3 in the challenge, having lost at ohio state (2005) and penn state (2007), and having beaten iowa at home (2006).
After Vassallo tied the game with 7.0 seconds left, Hughes took the ball the length of the court and wedged between Thorns and Hudson. He lept into the lane and shot the ball from straight on. The shot hit nothing but net. Vassallo inbounded the ball to Hudson behind half court, but his shot, which would have counted, fell short and the Hokies were left with another sick feeling in their stomachs.
This game featured the best combined three point shooting I have ever seen by two teams — or the worst perimeter defense ever, depending on your outlook. wisconsin finished 12/18 (67%) on threes, while the Hokies hit 11/16 (69%). Marcus Landry hit all four of his attempts from behind the arc for the badgers, while Vassallo drilled 6/9 from deep.
A.D. hit clutch shot after clutch shot in the second half, keeping Tech in the game. He finished with a career high 30 points, 24 of which were in the second half. His previous game high was back in 2006 at wake (29 points). Vassallo was 6/7 in the final 20 minutes from behind the arc. Vassallo is now just two points behind Jamon Gordon for 24th place on the all-time scoring list at VT.
Despite the final score, the Hokies trailed by a sizable margin most of the second half. In fact, the Hokies never led in this game, and fell behind by as many as 13 in the final 20 minutes. wisconsin went up by nine (67-58) with 1:14 left, but Delaney, Hudson, and Vassallo hit four threes down the stretch to tie the game.
The biggest disappointment of the game, other than the Hokie defense, was Jeff Allen. His play, or lack there of, put the Hokies in a big hole early. Jeff committed a very questionable ticky-tack foul 17 seconds into the game and then picked up his second foul with 16:24 left in the first half and sat the rest of the period. He was done before the first media timeout. In the second half, the badgers did a great job of collapsing on Allen. He finished the game with just two points and fouled out with 1:35 left, playing just 15 minutes for the game. Two of Allen’s fouls were on high screens were he stepped out too aggressively and bumped the screenee. Two of the other fouls were very questionable, but that’s the breaks. His final foul was a fluke as he tripped and took out a badger guard’s legs. You have to love his intensity, but he must learn to play more under control.
After Allen’s second foul, VT hung tough for a while until the badgers took advantage and went on a 10-0 run to jump out to a 23-12 lead. Tech would close the gap throughout the half (and game), but whenever the Hokies got close, you could guarantee wisconsin would hit a wide open three.
On a more positive note, Victor Davila continues to play lights out. After scoring 16 in his last contest, Davila filled in nicely for Allen with 13 points in 25 minutes. He showed an array of low post moves. The sky is the limit for this kid.
Dorenzo Hudson also did a nice job tonight. He finished with 8 points on 3/6 shooting and looked comfortable hitting two three-point shots. Hudson had averaged just 2.7 ppg coming in.
Malcolm Delaney continues to struggle in the first 38 minutes of games. He had 12 points, which sounds good, but once again several of those points came late (five of them). Delaney was just 3/9 from the floor and 1/7 on two point shots. He is shooting an impressive 39% on threes (15/38), but just 30% on two pointers (8/27). Malcolm seems hesitant to go at the rim and settles for off-balance jumpers.
Tech’s defense ultimately cost them this game. They could not defend the perimeter shooters of wisconsin. The badgers were just more fundamentally sound then the Hokies, which you would expect from a veteran team. wisconsin had better positioning on rebounds and slid to open spots on offense that led to loose balls and open looks. Tech can learn a lot from this game film.
With the loss, the Hokies missed out on another big opportunity for an NCAA Tournament resume-building win. But once again you have to love the effort and never-say-die attitude. Greenberg was as intense as I’ve ever seen him, and the players gave him 100%. But at some point you have to find ways to win these big games, and of late the Hokies have come up short. Here’s hoping this is the last time I have to write one of these recaps feeling like I got punched in the gut. The way these guys are working, and with J.T. Thompson back soon, that might just happen. At least my heart hopes so.
Stat of the Game: The 11 made three-pointers for VT was their highest total since 11/10/06. The Hokies beat coppin state 94-43 in that game and hit 12/29 threes.
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I’m devastated right now. A lot of people are upset at the loss now, but it’s really going to hurt when looking at “quality wins” in the beginning of March. Basically if we don’t beat UNC or Duke, we may fall short again. I’m not sure what was with our double-teams tonight, but those Wisconsin players had no problems passing out of them to wide open guys behind the arc.
You guys should keep a counter of last second losses this year, i think there could be several more.
Thorns could not stop the penetration and it cost us the game late.
Why didnt Seth play more pressure D in the back court?
Why did he back off the 1-3-1 when obvioulsy the man to man was not effective?
Where the Refs on the take? there were several fouls on our end that were not fouls on Wickys end.
We will have to go at least 9-7 i the acc and not lose anymore out of conference games to get the NCAA tourney.
AD has become a great passer.
Lewis Witcher is soft and what the hell happened to his 90% free throw shotting from high school?
Do you think Bo Ryan was telling ADV that if he came to Wixky hw ould average 30 a game and have unlimited 3s?
The big 11 still sucks at football.
VT’s guards needed to collapse less aggressively on post players when they realized how bad they were killing Tech with threes.
Bo Ryan would be lying if he said that, his teams only average 67 per game! That would be like mike groh telling Tyrod Taylor he’d be able to do more in uva’s offense!
The half court trap was a nice change of pace. Surprised they only used it twice considering it produced one of the few badger turnovers.
To be fair to Thorns, A.D. was also a big liability on defense. But when you put up 30, you forgive that.
I don’t blame the refs that much. Like I said, wisconsin was more fundamentally sound and in better positions, which led to calls. But yes, there were some stinkers, too.
Oh I’ve got the counter of some of the last second losses…
1.) Decmeber 2008 – Whiskey in the ACC/Big10 Challenge.
2.) November 2008 – xavier in the Puerto Rico Shootout
3.) March 2008 – unc in the ACC Tournament
4.) March 2008 – On the Road at clemson
5.) December 2007 – On the Road at wake forest
6.) 2005 – Half court shot from dook… loss.
Feeling ill… I can’t take any more heart break anymore…
Positives… Senior Small Forward A.D. Vassallo is the best player Virginia Tech has had since Del Curry… he has the sweetest three-point shot I’ve ever seen… Freshman Power Forward, Victor Davilla will be starting by year’s end… also, we aren’t blowing the stupid games (like the mid-majors… so we need to beat Longwood and Richmond)… we just need to beat the big boys when we have the chance.
We needed this game… needed a win against a top 50 RPI school… this means we need to go 10-6 or 11-5 in the ACC, otherwise it’s NIT again… 9-7 or 8-8 won’t get the Hokies in the NCAA tournament. I will be at the virginia game on January 10, boston college game on January 17, and duke and unc later in the season… we need to go undefeated at home and steal a few on the road… we need to sweep virginia and boston college… need to beat maryland (I hate marylnad) and need to find a few other W’s (need to get a game from dook/unc… I want to be dook more than anyone) or it’s going to be heartbreak city again…
need to dfend the final basket but also need some fans to like give tix to fans who can make the games!!!! not that many hokies at the dungeon last night whcih led tooo somof the badger nation getting tixx and showin up at the match!
I hate to blame a game on the referees because it feels like something a poor sport would say, but I am putting this loss on the officiating. Did Bo Ryan pay off the officials? Is he best friends with the guys? The first foul and fourth foul on Jeff Allen were absurd. His first foul (and later a foul on Lewis Witcher) was a hand check, yes, but they were allowing Wisconsin to hand check as much as they liked. You have to call it even, and it seemed like every questionable call went against VT last night. Our players were afraid to body-up and play hard defense because everything they did seemed to be a foul. I hope those officials get fired, or at least fined for the way they called that game. Now VT has to either beat Duke or UNC to get into the tourney AND they have to go at least 9-7 in ACC play. That’s a tall order.
GR,
I disagree with you. We need to go 10-6 in the ACC… I don’t think 9-7 will cut it this year… there are at least 8 Big East teams that will get into the NCAA Tourney (and maybe 9… for heaven’s sake, they have 16 teams in their conference)… we cannot expect to make it in at 9-7. We need to pull some outright sweeps this year… need to sweep virginia and bc… need to beat maryland on the road… would be good to take at least one from clemson… would be good to take one from florida state… one from wake… gotta finally beat nc state… gotta beat Georgia Tech… gotta take one from either Duke or UNC. That’s the way I see it… these are minimum wins we need.
It is freakin great to be playing meaningful basketball games, in a meaningful conference, with great recruits like Allen and Davila coming to VT. The xavier and wisconsin games hurt, but its still so freakin great.
Davey – Next time I see you I’m going to punch you in the gut just because I’m sure you will still turn around and say, “What a great day to be punched in the gut!” Then we will both feel better.
vth50, and I respectfully disagree with you. We may even get in at 9-7 without beating UNC or Duke if we don’t lose any games until ACC play and win a game or two in the ACC tournament. UNC or Duke would give us the top 50 win that kept us out of the tournament last year. I think it’s good enough this year if we get that win and go 9-7. I know the Big East will receive a ton of bids, but other conferences will most likely receive less, especially the craptastic Pac-10.
GR, assuming we run the table and beat Navy, Georgia, Longwood, Columbia, St. John’s (or Marist), Charleston Southern, and Richmond (and running the table there is a big if)… that gets us to 11 wins, but let’s say, for the sake of argument, we lose one of thos games and we are at 10 wins… 9-7 in the ACC gets us 19 wins… a 10-6 record in the ACC with 20 wins puts us in a better position, in my humble opinion… I don’t want us sweating it out again in March… yes, Duke and/or UNC is a top 50 RPI win… but I’m not sold on 19 wins as an NCAA tourney entry… the only way I agree with you is if we win all 7 non-conference games and beat UNC or Duke… that gets us to 20 wins… 19 wins will not do it this year.
Fair enough vth50, but I think you also have to recognize that there will almost certainly be more ACC teams in the RPI top 50 this year. The conference was down last year, but has been very strong in out-of-conference games so far this year (except for VT). Wake Forest, Clemson, and Miami all seem to have a chance to finish in the RPI top 50, and a win against any of those teams will help our resume, whereas last year our win against Miami in the ACC tourney didn’t help very much because they weren’t top 50. Frankly, I think it sucks that there should be such a big difference between a team ranked #49 in the RPI vs. #51, but that seems to be how the selection committee works these days. I think your situation certainly keeps us out of being on the bubble, where mine I think keeps us as possible bubble, but likely in.