Thursday, January 22, 2009

Did you attend the Wake last night?

WOW! I mean, that game was ridiculous. Virginia Tech downed Wake Forest 78-71 in an extremely entertaining game in Winston-Salem, NC. The Hokies went up by 16 points at one point in the first half (becoming the first team to lead the Demon Deacons by double digit points THE ENTIRE SEASON), only to have their lead dwindled down to 2 points late in the second half. The Hokies played suffocating defense all night, holding a team that averages 84 points per game to only 71 points on the night. Tech forced Wake to shoot from the outside for most of the game, which is not Wake's strong suit. Man, there is just so much to talk about.

Let's start with Aminu busting his forehead open on Vassallo's arm! AD went up for a rebound around the 16:00 mark of the first half, and his arm came down accidentally on Al-Farouq Aminu's head. The one-and-done freshman had blood just spilling out of his head into his hands and overflowing onto the floor. I have never seen anyone bleed like that after getting hit by a body part. Aminu had to come out of the game for a significant portion of the first half. The Demon Decons relied on little-used Gary Clark during that spell, and the advantage was to the Hokies. Clark went 0-3 with a turnover in his six minute stint. I was a little surprised that Dino Gaudio didn't put Harvey Hale in during that time, as Hale is a regular bench player and the second best 3-point shooter on the team, but I guess Gaudio has seen Hale's statistics against VT. He never plays well against us. In five career games against Virginia Tech, Hale is averaging 4.8 points per game. He is only 9-of-35 from the field and a paultry 3-of-21 from three-point land coming into last night's game. Hale finished 1-4 with 3 of those shots and his only make coming from the 3-point line. Greenberg seems to have his number, and it's close to zero.

Aminu came back from his head injury to put the hurt on the Hokies in the paint. There were a couple of plays where he knifed through the lane for a layup, or putback, or dunk, and I felt like weeping softly as I wallowed in my own self-pity in front of my fiancee and three other women. Virginia Tech looked like the Hokies of former years as they blew free throw after free throw and kept Wake in the game, but their stifling defense was enough to pull out the victory in the end. And let's be honest, VT shot the ball exceedingly well from the field. I mean, let's not lie to one another... our relationship is too far along to play those head games. The Hokies shot 50% on the game, which is far beyond normal for the boys in burnt orange and chicago maroon. Tech hit shot after shot in the second half, making me wonder if I'd slipped into a strange alternate dimension where the Hokies shoot well and where girls love college basketball and know a lot about the players. Yes, that was the case last night... it was eerie and awesome, like walking into your bathroom and finding your dog using the toilet.

Let's talk a little bit about VT! The "Big Three" of Vassallo, Delaney, and Allen had another solid game, although they also accounted for 11 of Tech's 13 turnovers (yikes). Allen was the most efficient shooting 6-10 from the field and pulling down 7 rebounds. Vassallo and Delaney struggled from the free throw line though, and that had to be quite upsetting to most Hokie fans, but they were pretty decent from the field and Delaney pulled down the quietest 8 rebounds I've ever seen (or not seen). I was really surprised after the game to see that he led the team in rebounds. Cheick Diakite on the other hand played his best game of the season. He grabbed 5 rebounds in 22 minutes of play, and he posted 8 points going 4 of 6 from the charity stripe where he usually shoots around 50%. He had two saucy pull-up jumpers from the wing that seemed to spark the team. And let's not forget that he purposefully slammed into Chas McFarland late in the game, which resulted in a double technical foul on both Diakite and McFarland, giving Chas his fifth foul and fouling him out of the game. YEAH! SUCK ON THAT! McFarland was being a little pansy the entire game, or at least when he wasn't on the bench with foul trouble. He intentionally rammed his shoulder into Delaney, coming from behind, and didn't even get called for a flagrant or technical foul. That was probably why Diakite's shoulder bump resulted in a double technical later... I think the refs were making up for the fact that they missed the technical foul on McFarland earlier in the game. Chas finished the game with zero points on 0-4 shooting. He averages around 10 points per game.

VT's role players were more than adequate last night, getting steals, rebounds, key 3-pointers, and harrassing Wake on defense. Ish Smith was bugging the crap out of Delaney and forcing turnovers until Hank Thorns came in to handle the point guard duties. From then on, Smith was completely neutralized and Thorns didn't turn the ball over once! The mighty mite also provided a key 3 later in the game to ignite the Hokies' spirits. He got pretty feisty at one point as he dove for a loose ball only to find Jeff Teague straddling him when he tried to get up. Thorns pushed Teague out of the way and gave him a nasty look, and he was right to do it. The refs quickly got between the two players and diffused any possible altercations. Nobody messes with Hank Thorns! He's a 5'9" powder keg ready to blow your face off!

This win for the Hokies was exactly what their NCAA tournament resume was lacking. It's a signature win against an definite top-25 RPI team. What is even better than that? It happened in an away game. What this win means for the Hokies is that as long as they go 9-7 in ACC play, they should expect to be in the big dance come March. But can the Hokies ride this wave of sweetness, or will they fall hard back down to earth as they take on Miami away on Sunday? I don't know about you kids, but I'm pumped to find out! I don't know how the 'Canes intend to stop the Hokies when they can't even see them. That guy knows what I'm talking about.

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