So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance!  The Hokies NCAA Tournament pulse, though faint, starts beating a little harder again.  Wow, I need a shower after that game…

Had to love the effort from everyone tonight.  Every Hokie played hard.  Tech wanted this game more.  clemson played hard, but VT played desperate.  They fought and clawed for this game.  And on clemson’s final possession, when they had to hit a three, VT played amazing defense, forcing Stitt to throw up a wild shot that I believe was inside the arc anyway.  Gold star to everyone.  Tech must keep this desperation in every game from this point.  They didn’t have it at the beginning of fsu and we all saw what happened. 

This game was all but a reversal of the first one.  Home team jumps out to a lead.  Road team takes the lead in the second half and holds on.  Road team kills the home team from 3-point range — clemson was 14/25 in the game at VT while the Hokies were 7/19.  In this game, VT was 11/19 while clemson was 7/20.  Tech was a lights-out 7/11 on threes in the second half tonight.  A.D. and Delaney were on fire!

Tech has now beaten the #1 and #12/13 teams in the nation on the road.  Overall, VT is 2-2 against the upper half of the ACC away from home but just 1-2 against the lower half.  Frustrating.

Other tidbits:

• The Hokies are now 12-1 on the season when scoring 75 or more points.  The one loss?  clemson in Blacksburg.
• VT moves to 11-10 all time against clemson, one of just two ACC teams the Hokies have a winning record against all time (gt is the other).
• Tech’s 11 three-pointers ties a season high.  This marks the third time VT has hit 10 or more threes, including the last game against fsu, but was the first time the Hokies won the game (they hit 11 threes against wisconsin and lost).
• The Hokies had an eye-popping 12 steals tonight, tying a season high.  Tech is 7-1 when getting eight or more steals, including seven wins in a row since losing to georgia.  Thorns and J.T. Thompson each had four steals.
• Speaking of which: Was that really Hank Thorns out there?  He came into the game shooting 24% in ACC play, but hit 3/4 shots and tied his season high with 10 points.  He also played a season high 30 minutes and got his first start.
• Tech, once again, did a great job against the tiger press.  They didn’t destroy it like they did in the first meeting, but by my count VT only had three, maybe four at most, turnovers as a result of the press.  Greenberg could certainly live with that. 
• If you love whistles, you loved this game!  46 fouls and 52 free throws!  Yippee!
• The Hokies got 28 points from the non-Big 3.
• Speaking of turnovers, VT had just 12, which is great against a full-court press defense.  Tech won the turnover battle — 12 compared to clemson’s 15.  That was a key to this game.
• Did Greenberg really break that pad on the scorer’s table in the second half?
• Delaney had 63 points combined in the clemson games this year and was 10/17 from long range.  He also battled through a nasty fall as part of a three-point play in the second half.  Gutsy effort as always from the VT leader.
• PLEASE tell me Booker has declared for the NBA Draft.  I already know half his highlight film is going to be against the Hokies.  And how is this for creepy — Booker had 21 points and 13 boards exactly in both games against VT this year.  And, he has scored exactly 21 points in five of his last eight games.  He had 15 in the first half tonight and was absolutely dominating the low post.  But I compared it to when Mr. T fought Rocky the second time — he seemed to get worn out in the second half from dominating too much!  Tonight marked the first time clemson lost when Booker got a double-double — they were 9-0 before tonight.
• Tech gave up 40 points in the paint — way too much — and gave up many easy looks off the drive.  But VT did outscore the tigers in second chance points 14-12.  In the first meeting, I mentioned VT only got 53% of the defensive rebounds.  Tonight I predicted it had to be at least 65% for Tech to win.  It was 63%, so pretty much right where it needed to be.
• Oglesby is now on my short list of ACC players I can’t stand.  Seriously, did he hit a three from the fifth row tonight?  Where does his range end?  He had 22 points tonight and all but carried the tigers in the second half with 14 points, including a 7-0 run all by himself that tied the game with seven minutes to go. 
• Tech limited K.C. Rivers’ looks tonight.  He scored 11 points and shot for a high percentage, but he killed VT in the first match-up for 29 points, including 7/10 from downtown.  He only seems to have big games in Blacksburg.
• Anyone else feel like going out and shooting some free throws?  Tech’s 59% effort from the line was simply pathetic.  Victor Davila led the futility with an 0/4 performance, including missing the front end of a one-and-one.
• Allen was just 2/11 from the field for five points and eight rebounds, but he did a solid job on Booker in the low post, and he was VT’s best rebounder.  He did enough to help Tech win.
• Congrats to Vassallo!  He is now firmly cemented in Hokie basketball history now that he has entered the Top 10 in career scoring.

OK, beat duke or unc (I know, I know… ) and then win at least one ACC Tournament game, and I like VT’s chances for the Big Dance.  Win at fsu and then win two in the ACC Tournament, and I like VT’s chances.  Just need to keep accumulating wins.

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Box Score

The Hokies finally got a close game to go their way with a gritty 80-77 win against clemson Wednesday night in South Carolina. Malcolm Delaney struggled early, shooting just 2 of 7, but he kept shooting until he found his groove and went on to lead Tech with 26 points.

A.D. Vassallo added 21 points, and in doing so he moved into 10th place on Virginia Tech’s all-time scoring list. Hank Thorns made his first start of the season and played extremely well in helping the Hokies break the clemson press, giving Delaney more room to find open shots on the wing. In all, 10 Hokies scored.

Jeff Allen struggled offensively, but led the team with 8 rebounds, including a crucial defensive board with 1:09 to play with Tech leading 78-75. Allen was just 2/11 from the field and 1/4 from the free throw line for 5 points — his third lowest point total of the season.

Allen picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes left in the game and Victor Davila came in and played brilliantly, giving back everything clemson’s bigs were dishing out. He only scored 4 points, but they were key buckets. Davila helped the Hokies maintain their low-post presence, forcing the tigers to tighten up inside, which gave the rest of the Hokies some better looks from the perimeter. Victor also added 5 rebounds.

The Hokies grabbed an early 5-2 lead before the tigers used a 12-2 run to take a 7-point lead, 7-14, but that’s as big a lead as either team would see in the game. Tech came back to tie the game at 16, and from there it was a seesaw battle the rest of the first half. Trailing 32-37, Dorenzo Hudson drained a trey with 50 seconds to play. Clemson added a free throw to take a 35-38 lead into the break.

The Hokies came roaring out in the second half behind four big three pointers from Delaney and Vassallo who had two each. clemson opened with a pair of foul shots for a 35-40 lead before Delaney answered with a trey. Trevor Booker got a tip-in to put clemson up 38-42, but then the Hokies got five quick points from a Delaney three and then a Thorns steal and fast break layup to put the Hokies on top 43-42.

Tech surrendered the lead again, falling behind 43-47. But then Vassallo stepped up with two big long distance bombs to push the Hokies back to a 49-49 tie with 15:50 to play. For the next nine minutes the lead changed hands seven times and there were three ties. The Hokies finally grabbed the lead for good with 6:44 to play, but it wasn’t without drama (what else is new).

The Hokies were in complete control of the game and had a 68-61 lead with 9:21 to play. Delaney had just hit a pair of free throws, and the tigers just couldn’t solve the Hokies stingy defense. But as we have come to expect in every Tech game, the Hokies went without a FG for nearly three minutes and allowed clemson to come back and tie the game 68.

Despite the nearly three-minute drought, which is actually pretty short compared some of the other scoreless stretches we’ve seen this season, Tech managed to regain its composure and retook the lead on a Delaney foul shot.

The game came down to the final seconds. Tech had a 78-75 lead when Jeff Allen missed a wide open layup on the baseline. K.C. Rivers pulled down the board and fed Booker for the fast break layup to cut Tech’s lead to one, 78-77, with 22 seconds left.

On the ensuing inbounds play for Tech, clemson did not foul immediately and instead let 8 seconds run off the clock before fouling Vassallo. A.D. hit both free throws to give Tech an 80-77 lead. The tigers took the ball upcourt, but couldn’t get a good look for a trey to tie the game thanks to Tech’s D. Demontez Stitt took the three at the buzzer but missed. There was a lot of contact on the shot, but the official did not blow the whistle and the game ended with the Hokies 80-77 winners.

It was yet another physical ACC game that left both sides exhausted. Tech returns to Blacksburg to host the dookies Saturday night at the Cassell. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ABC. The Hokies are looking to avenge their worst loss of the season, in which they were torched on dook’s home floor, 44-69 in what is undoubtedly Tech’s worst game of the season. Can you say “payback?”

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THE SETUP

Spread: clemson by 10 1/2 (ouch – obviously Vegas doesn’t realize how close these games usually are… and doesn’t care)

Rerun of an article from before the first meeting: The Opposing View 

If the Hokies are again left out of the NCAA Tournament this year, they are going to look back at one point in time as to why they are headed to the Junior Prom: the 16:30 mark of the second half against clemson on January 29th.  At that time, VT led 63-48 over the highly ranked #12 tigers.  Tech stood at 4-1 in conference and were about to enter the “easy” part of their schedule.   A win would have put the Hokies at 5-1 with five winnable games against teams in the bottom half of the ACC upcoming.

After that point, clemson went on an 18-0 over the next seven minutes.  Tech would regain the lead in the final three minutes, but were unable to get key stops down the stretch and lost 86-82.

 You could easily argue that the Hokies have been in a tailspin ever since, losing five of their last seven games (including that game) and were lucky as heck to have won the nc state game after trailing by 18 in the second half.  Tech has had their opportunities, but just have not been able to finish games at the end.  And they were blown out in their last two road games against teams no where near as good as clemson.

The Hokies no longer have any margin for error.  If they want to get to the NCAA Tournament, they have to win either this game or the game at florida state, and steal either the unc or duke game at home.  Plus, they will have to win at least their First Round match-up in the ACC Tournament and maybe even win in the Quarterfinals.  It is time to put up or shut up.  No Greenberg plea to the NCAA Committee will mean anything if the Hokies don’t start winning games.

Of Note: A.D. Vassallo will move into 10th place on the VT all time scoring list with six points in this game.

THE SERIES

When the Hokies and tigers play you know one thing – the game is going to come right down to the wire.  Greenberg joked before the first meeting that whomever led with 30 seconds to go was going to lose.   Unfortunately, he was wrong.

For more on the series since VT joined the ACC, check out Wick’s article from three weeks ago (before the last game): Hokies and tigers: An instant classic

• All-Time: 10-10 (georgia tech is the only ACC team VT has a winning record against all time)
• At clemson: 4-5
• In the ACC: 2-5
• Streak: clemson – 4 in a row

Last Meeting: In the first half, the Hokies absolutely torched clemson’s full court trapping press.  Tech committed three early turnovers against it, but then started finding easy bucket after easy dunk after easy wide-open three.   The result was a 53-44 halftime lead, Tech’s largest first half output of the season.  Malcolm Delaney had 22 points in the first half alone, including a 3/4 court shot at the buzzer.

The second half saw the Hokies build their lead back up to 15 as I mentioned above but then the wheels came off.  The tigers stopped pressing, something they never do, and forced the Hokies to beat them in the half court set.  clemson went on an 18-0 and went on to win the game.

The key for clemson was their three point shooting.  The tigers hit 14/25 from long range (an astounding 56%), including 7/10 from K.C. Rivers, the Hokie-killer.  He is the guy that hit the shot in Blacksburg to give clemson a win over the Hokies in the final regular season game of 2007 that cost the Hokies a share of the ACC regular season title and the #1 seed in the tourney.  In other words, he loves Blacksburg.  He had 29 points in the game.

Inside, Trevor Booker dominated as expected.  He had 21 points and 13 rebounds.  Tech really struggles with big, athletic low post players, and Booker is as good as you will see in the ACC.

Delaney added 15 more points in the second half, giving him 37 for the game which is still the season high in the ACC and the most points ever scored by a Hokie in an ACC game.  He was 11/17 from the floor and 6/10 on threes.  But, it was all for not in a losing cause.

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