Boxscore

Once again the Hokies were within reach of getting their NCAA Tournament ticket punched, only to have the ticket-taker drift away into the night and leave Tech empty handed.  VT now faces a must-win situation on Sunday at florida state.

The Hokies played uphill all game, trailing most of the contest — VT never led.  But VT cut the heel lead to one with 5:17 to play.  After that, unc went on a 10-0 run to go ahead 73-62 with 2:59 to play and the Hokies never got closer than five after that.  Remind anyone of the duke game and the final five minutes in that contest?

A.D. Vassallo, aka: Mr. 2nd-Half, had another stellar night in his final regular season game at Cassell.  A.D. scored 25 points, including 19 in the second half, and moved ahead of Ace Custis into 8th place on the VT all-time scoring list.  Jeff Allen had his sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds, but 14 of his points were in the first half.  He was the Hokie offense in the first stanza.  Malcolm Delaney added 19 points, but many of them were free throws in garbage time.  He was just 4/16 from the field including 1/7 on threes.  He is 6/28 in his last two games and just 1/13 from long range. 

The heels dominated the Hokies inside on offense.  They were able to score at will in the low post.  Tyler Hansbrough had 22 points while Deon Thompson and Ed Davis added eight each.  On the perimeter, Ty Lawson seemingly could score whenever he wanted to.  He was just too quick for any Hokie to guard.  Lawson poured in 22 points.  Wayne Ellington added 15, hit three big three-pointers in the first half.  He shot over the Hokies when he wanted to, especially Hank Thorns.

For the game, Tech held unc to just 41% shooting from the field and 32% on threes, but gave up 14 offensive rebounds. VT lost the turnover battle by three (11-8).  unc converted more of Tech’s turnovers into points, outscoring VT 15-4 on fast breaks and 18-8 on points off turnovers.  Tech just could not cash in on a couple of 3-on-1s, and missed two easy layups in the game (stop me if you’ve heard that before).

It was deja vu all over again for the Hokies in this contest.  For the fourth straight game Tech started slow and stared a significant deficit in the face by the first media timeout.  As has become the norm, the Hokies started slow from the field and trailed 12-6 at the first media timeout.  This was the fourth straight game the Hokies trailed by six or more at the first TV timeout and 13th time in 15 ACC games Tech has been behind at the first break.

The Hokies did battle back and got to within one in the first half.  But a Tyler Hansbrough three at the end of the half pushed the unc lead to six at the break.

Tech finished their home slate a disappointing 4-4 in ACC play.  The Hokies did play a very difficult home schedule, but Tech went just 1-4 against teams currently above .500 in ACC play.  They went 3-0 against the bottom three teams in the league.  bc is the only team above .500 that VT beat at home, and they sit at just 8-7 in the league right now and were 1-2 in ACC play when the Hokies defeated them.  If you want to make the Big Dance and want to compete for a bye in this league, you have to beat the teams in the upper half of the league at home on occasion.  The Hokies were unable to get that done this season.

Tech finishes the regular season on Sunday at 2 PM at florida state.  VT lost the first meeting, less than two weeks ago, 67-65 at the Cassell.

THE SETUP

Note: Wednesday is Senior Night.  Please come out to Cassell and show some love for A.D. Vassallo and Cheick Diakite!

Spread: unc by 9.5

If unc was ranked #1, I’d have a lot of confidence coming into this game — Tech is 2-2 against #1′s under Greenberg, with one win over #1 unc in 2007 and a two-point loss to #1 unc in the ACC Tournament thanks to a Hansbrough shot with less than a second left.  But unc aren’t #1.  The heels are “only” #2. 

That aside, Tech obviously still has everything to gain in this game.  A win secures a VT finish of at least .500 in conference play for the fourth time in five ACC seasons, and may lock up an NCAA Tournament bid.  But unc is playing for a #1 seed in the Big Dance, and will want to avoid a slip-up heading into their game at home against duke this weekend.  So don’t expect the heels to coast through this one.  That said, Tech does have more on the line and should come out scratching and clawing, much like they did in the ACC Tournament, playing for their lives (which in some ways they are).  The Hokies cannot afford to wait until the ACC Tournament to make a statement this year.

Stats Six Pack:

• VT is 5-1 on Wednesdays this season including 3-1 in ACC play (the wins over #1 wake and #12 clemson were both on Wednesdays).  Tech is 3-0 at home on Wednesdays. 
• The Hokes are 4-1 against ACC teams that Tech only plays once this season (unc is the last team VT plays once), and 2-0 at home against those teams
• With a win, Tech will clinch their fourth winning record at home in ACC play in five seasons.  Tech has gone 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in past seasons, and are 4-3 this year at the Cassell.
• Senior A.D. Vassallo will move into 8th place on the all-time VT scoring list with nine points in this game.  He currently sits eight points behind Ace Custis.
• Senior Cheick Diakite is 5th on the all-time shot block list at Tech with 123.
• This senior class has won 74 games to date.  That’s the most wins for a class since the 1997 seniors finished with 81 wins (that class included Ace Custis).

THE SERIES

• The Series: 12-57
• Since VT joined the ACC: 2-4
• At the Cassell: 1-2

Last Meeting: ACC Tournament Semis — unc 68, VT 66: Yeah, this one stung.  Tech lead most of the second half, but Hansbrough’s baseline jumper with .8 seconds left killed the Hokies’ NCAA Tournament hopes in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals.  And this was after unc beat Tech by 39 in Chapel Hill a month earlier.

Virginia Tech

 unc

* We’ll have to wait and see if Hank Thorns is cleared to play in this game.  He had to sit the duke game after coming down with the flu on the clemson trip.  His playing status and playing time will depend on how tests go this week.  Since Lawson is just 5’11″, and lightning quick, Tech could use the speedy Thorns on defense.  And it would be nice to rest Delaney some and allow him to play off the ball.  You can be sure his 2/12 shooting performance against duke had a lot to do with tired legs and not running off screens (plus Elliot Williams is a big time defender in the making).

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