Despite near catastrophic foul trouble midway through the second half, the Virginia Tech Hokies held off and defeated the defending National Champion tar heels 74-70 to remain undefeated at The Cassell this season. Junior guard Malcolm Delaney, the ACC’s leading scorer, paced the Hokies with 21 points. Dorenzo Hudson (Jr.) scored 17 points and Jeff Allen (Jr.) added 14 points. Terrell Bell had a solid game and recorded a career-high 11 rebounds.
Tech got off to a hot start thanks to Hudson, who scored 10 of the Hokies’ first 14 points. The Hokies dominated the heels in the first eight minutes, leading 20-10 at the under-12 media timeout. Tech led by as many as 12, but the heels came roaring back and the Hokies went cold from the field, allowing unc to get its first lead of the game at the 5:32 mark with an Ed Davis free throw.
The Hokies would retake the lead, but Larry Drew II hit a short jumper in the paint as time ran out in the first half, giving the heels a 35-33 halftime lead.
The second half was frustrating for Tech head coach Seth Greenberg as five of his key players all had four fouls late in the game. Malcolm Delaney picked up his fourth foul with 12 minutes to play in the game. Starters Allen, Bell and Davila also had four fouls, as did JT Thompson.
After picking up his fourth personal, Delaney sat on the bench for five minutes. When he left the game, the Hokies had a seven-point lead, and when he checked back in, it was still at four points. Give credit to freshman Erick Green for playing a pretty solid game at the point. While he struggled with his shot — he was 0/5 and 0/3 from three-point range — he played 21 minutes and did an admirable job when the Hokies needed him, tallying 3 assists and 1 turnover.
The atmosphere at the Cassell was incredible and it was clear that the Tech players fed off that energy. Tech is 11-0 at home this season. Meanwhile, the tar heels have lost six of their last eight games. The Hokies improve to 4-3 in ACC play and 17-4 overall. No. 10 dook, which leads the ACC, is 5-3 in conference and 17-4 overall. So, Tech isn’t that far removed from the top of the conference. The Hokies have a quick turnaround to face clemson at 4 PM on Saturday in The Cassell.
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Really a clutch effort down the stretch by the Hokies to hold off UNC and maintain the lead when Delaney had to sit in the 2nd half. They might be young and they clearly aren’t the team they were last year, but this is still UNC and there’s a ton of talent on that roster. Anytime you can pick up a win over them it’s been a very good day.
As good as the home crowd was tonight, they need to be even rowdier on Saturday against Clemson. If we can win that game and move to 18-4, we’ll be in great shape at the halfway mark of the ACC schedule.
Awesome win for us Hokies… though this was yet another game that we SHOULD have won. The thing about this season, though, has been the fact that we HAVE won every game that we should have. Maybe except for the one @Miami… but they play well there and are really a better team than their recent slide suggests.
Great stuff though all around… to get a win against the UNC-CH Tarholes is always an enjoyable experience. We should know, considering that we’ve played them as tough as pretty much anybody else since we joined the ACC.
Malcolm’s 21 points were again a mystery to me… still seemed like he was off and that if he was hitting more of the shots that he usually does, that he would have scored 40 instead. I’m worried about his legs being tired here at the end of the year… hopefully he can keep going strong. Dorenzo was amazing yet again… I still can’t emphasize enough what an amazing turnaround he has shown this season. I actually think he might even have a chance to play pro one day, if he keeps this up. Also very proud of Jeff for the way he played aggressively but for the most part controlled last night… THAT is the Jeff Allen that I want to see out there.
J.T. was phenomenal again, too, and it almost seemed like he couldn’t miss out there. It seemed like basically EVERY shot that he threw up in the paint would bounce around and then fall right in… what a nice touch down low. As the article mentioned, Erick Green also did a great job of handling the ball and distributing it to good spots out there. Just wish he could shoot… he was ice cold out there. Need to practice the jumper some, young’n… And lastly, great stuff last night from both Bell and Raines, who even though they weren’t all that involved offensively, filled some key minutes on the defensive end… especially T-Bell. I really like his game and he fits his role perfectly. Cadarian’s effort in a big game like this was great as well… I hope that Seth keeps showing confidance in him so that he can continue to bring his game up to the ACC level… he definitely has the ability.
Overall, just very proud of the fellas. We fought through some very ticky-tack and adverse officiating out there, and kept our heads in a game that I considered essentially an NCAA elimination game. Now we are in a great spot heading into Saturday’s showdown with Clemson… finishing the weekend at 18-4 (5-3) sure would be nice…
HOKIES!!!