What the heck just happened?

A more frustrating game, I cannot remember. Virginia Tech had at least a 15 point lead in both halves of their Thursday night game against Clemson, but a 20-1 run in the second half gave the Tigers the lead which they would not relinquish. A career night for Malcolm Delaney, where he scored 37 points, was overshadowed by the joint play of KC Rivers and Trevor Booker, who combined to put the smack down on the Hokies. Delaney was 6-10 from the 3-point arc, and he was also fouled on two 3-point attempts where he converted all six free throws. The kid played his heart out and deserved a win, but the Hokie defense was pourous and the guys could not contain Trevor Booker down low. This meant that whoever was guarding Rivers would often come down to help on a double team, and this left Rivers wide open for the 3-pointer. He converted 7 of 10 attempts. And when Booker didn't pass the ball? He made the shot anyway. The Hokies did manage to clamp down on Terrence Oglesby, who was only 1-5 in the game. Oglesby has hurt us in the past, and perhaps got too much attention from the VT defenders since Rivers was always so open.

The first half was the thing dreams are made of. After a shaky start, Tech got their feet under themselves and absolutely destroyed Clemson's full court press. The Hokies passed their way through the press with ease and found open shooters on the other end of the floor. VT put up 53 points at halftime, their best total of the season. Malcolm Delaney hit an incredible half court shot that had the crowd going nuts as the Hokies went in for halftime. Hank Thorns had a sick pass to Jeff Allen for a slam, and then Allen had another move where he faked the pass, drove to the bucket, and threw it down (actually, this was in the second half but still worth noting... thanks Sam!). JT Thompson had a huge dunk in the first half on a fastbreak where he dipped under the defender, then rose up to flush with two hands. The guys and I were going crazy for the whole first half... we couldn't believe how well the Hokies were playing. That all came back down to earth in the second half. Clemson abandoned their crappy full court press, and all of a sudden the Hokies forgot how to score in a half-court offense, and they forgot how to defend a half-court offense for that matter. At one point it got so bad that Greenberg pulled Vassallo out of the game for slacking off on defense, and Vassallo did NOT take it well. In fact, Vassallo had what experts call a "piss poor game" all around, but especially on defense where KC Rivers made him look like a chump. Greenberg tried to calm Vassallo down, but he wasn't having it and he was yelling at the coach. This was a sure sign that VT was going to lose the game, and as the seconds ticked down it turned out to be true. It was a tale of two halves.

If you get a chance, watch the game film of this game on Techhoops.com whenever they post it. The Hokies had some of the most incredible plays I've seen in a long while, but they just weren't enough. This definitely puts the Hokies in a bit of a hole concerning their schedule. Tech has a relatively "easy" ACC stretch for the next six games, but they finish up with their last four games: at Clemson, Duke, UNC, and at FSU. That's a rough way to finish. The Hokies basically need to go 5-1 over the next six games, or they're going to have a really tough time getting into the NCAA tournament. That Clemson win would have been huge... oh well, maybe next time.

In other news, is anyone wondering "What is 'G'?" Those lousy commercials have been taunting basketball viewers for weeks. Well your answer is right here. They are Gatorade commercials. That's right, freaking Gatorade. And you thought "G" was going to be something cool. Oh, you feeble-minded fool.

I'm so ticked from this loss, I could spit right into my cubicle-neighbor's mouth.