I Totally Called It

The win that is. But let's not go patting me on the back too many times... I was wrong about Diakite having a good game and Greenberg opted to play Terrell Bell for only seven minutes despite the fact that he picked up 3 rebounds during that time, played awesome defense, and helped neutralize Trevor Booker in the second half. Bell's minutes should be flipped with Dorenzo Hudson, particularly because Hudson is adept at making one or two shots, then going extremely cold after that. Luckily for the Hokies, Hudson only attempted two shots and made them both, but he put up zero rebounds and zero assists in 13 minutes, and that isn't really what you want out of a guy who isn't a scorer. But I will lay off of Hudson because he did not do anything to blow the game, and this win was truly a team effort.

Malcolm Delaney was your high scorer for the evening as Virginia Tech knocked off Clemson on the Tigers' home court 80-77. This was a fast-paced, exciting game with a whole bunch of lead changes. It was exactly what you are used to seeing in a game between these two opponents, but for the first time in the last 5 match ups, the Hokies came out victorious. Delaney had 26 points to lead all scorers. Terrance Oglesby had 22 and Trevor Booker had 21 for Clemson. AD Vassallo also had 21 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a block, and 2 steals. Delaney also put up 4 rebounds, 6 assists (versus only 1 turnover), a block, and a steal. He also got reamed on a blown call where he blocked Oglesby's 3-pointer and got called for a foul, giving Clemson 3 free points since Oglesby is automatic from the line. Come to think of it, there were plenty of bad calls to go around in this game, but I felt like the referees dished them out pretty evenly, so no complaints here. Jeff Allen really struggled shooting the ball last night, hitting only 2 of 11 shots, but he did manage to pull down 5 offensive and 3 defensive rebounds to help the Hokies even up the offensive boards as Clemson only had 2 more offensive rebounds than the Hokies compared to 8 in the January match up.

This team doesn't win without the efforts of Delaney, Vassallo, and Allen, so it's easy to overlook those guys and try to find other players who contributed. Well, that's what I'm going to do because I've already talked about the Big 3. The Hokies got some really inspired play from freshman Victor Davila last night, who scrapped for 5 rebounds, made things happen on offense, and really played tough on defense. That's actually what impressed me most since Davila is known for his offensive post moves, but not at all for his defense. Davila did a great job help-defending on screens, and he did exactly what a player needs to do when matched up with a dominating big man (aka Booker)... when he's close to the basket, you front him so he can't receive an entry pass, and when he's far away from the basket, you get between him and the basket so they can't lob over your head. It's that easy, but for some reason Jeff Allen and Cheick Diakite really struggle with this concept.

This game was intense, with several moments that required me to go back on my DVR and watch again. I'm going to say that the craziest moment of the game was late in the first half when the Hokies stripped the Tigers, JT Thompson ran the court trying to get a layup over a defender but bricked it, Clemson grabbed the rebound and started pushing the ball up court, but Tanner Smith's ultra-fancy behind-the-back pass hit Delaney's foot, and all of a sudden Thompson was open for another run at the basket, but this time he double-clutched and jammed it home. It was pretty wild. In addition to that play, Jeff Allen had a monster dunk on a lob pass and Hank Thorns abused Clemson's lack of defense on him for the quietest 10 points I can remember. Yeah, Little Hank!

One of the key differences between this game against Clemson and our last game was that Clemson never stopped their full court trap this time around. They used it every time the Hokies had to inbound from the Tigers' end of the court. Tech did not blow apart the trap the same way they did in January, but they were successful enough that I thought Oliver Purnell should have scrapped it in the second half. He never did and the Hokies were able to take the lead. Clemson had plenty of time to get off a 3-pointer before the end of the second half, but the Hokies finally played some suffocating defense in the waning minutes of a close game, and the Tigers were unable to get a good shot off.

This was a key win for Tech as they now sit at 7-6 in ACC play with 3 games left before the ACC tournament. A win against Duke or UNC might be enough to be on the bubble come Selection Sunday, even if we lose to FSU in the final game and lose our first round ACC tourney game, but I think the Hokies would be safer winning at least 1 of the next 3 games and winning their first round game in the ACC tournament. The mountain feels a little smaller right now, but it's still a mountain. It just went from Mt. Everest to Mt. McKinley. Virginia Tech plays Duke at home in the Cassell at 3:30PM on Saturday. I'll be at home watching it. Come on over and bring some delicious beer.