The Real "Tech"

After last night's battle of the Techs, Virginia Tech proved once again that we own Georgia Tech and have every right to the nickname "Tech". Choke on that, Yellow Jackets! The game was on ESPNU, which real people don't have access to, so I went down to Home Team Grill in the Fan (of Richmond... Virginia... USA) to watch it. Actually, it was a pretty sweet night to be in a sports bar because there was a World Cup qualifying soccer game, USA v. Mexico, that was on at the same time, and the Duke-UNC game was on right afterward. There was a lot of back and forth as Hokie fans would cheer a big dunk by Jeff Allen, then USA fans would cheer for a goal by Michael Bradley, then there was the halftime buzzer-beating layup by Malcolm Delaney, then there was another goal by Bradley, then there was the winning free throws by Delaney, etc, etc, etc. Home Team remains my favorite place to watch a game. This one ended up being tougher than I thought it would be at halftime due to a four minute scoreless drought in the second half by the Hokies that allowed GT to go on a 10-0 run. It was close throughout the first half with VT holding a slim lead for most of it, but in the last 2 minutes or so, the Hokies managed to pull away and had a nice 10 point lead at the half, with Delaney's buzzer-beater sending the Cassell crowd into a frenzy. The Hokies came out firing in the second half and managed to build a 50-37 lead, only to then go cold from the field and allow the Yel-Jacks (my new nickname for the too-long-to-type-or-say Yellow Jackets) back within 3 points. VT's struggles to contain the other teams' big men continued as Gani Lawal and Alade Aminu combined for 36 points. Those guys were all over the boards, sucking up rebounds and getting themselves so low in the paint that they basically just had to turn and put the ball in the hoop. Seth Greenberg will have to take some time this offseason to teach Jeff Allen, Lewis Witcher, and Victor Davila how to front a big man to keep him from receiving the ball when he's almost under the basket.

Some notes from last night:
- AD Vassallo was excellent last night, and it seemed like every time the Yel-Jacks were about to climb back into the game, Vassallo would hit a big three or a pull-up jumper. He was 4-7 from the arc, had 18 points, six rebounds, and a steal, and he wore his man-pants tonight.
- Jeff Allen had a quiet night and all I really noticed from him was his big put-back dunk, but by the end of the game he'd racked up 15 points, his usual 1-2 from the 3-point line, 9 rebounds, a steal, and his usual poor free throw shooting as he hit 4-8 from the charity stripe.
- Delaney had a rough night shooting the ball and made most of his points from the free throw line, where he was 14 of 15. He was only 4-12 from the field and 1-5 from the 3-point line, making it his second poor shooting performance in a row. He did have 6 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal, and only 2 turnovers to help make up for the poor shooting from the field, and honestly he probably could have gone to the line 2 or 3 more times when he was fouled near the basket and the refs swallowed their whistles.
- Referees hate JT Thompson. They know this before they even arrive in Blacksburg. I'm not sure why this is, but Thompson seems to pick up the cheapest fouls of anyone on the Tech roster, and I'm at a loss to explain why it's always him. Early in the second half, Thompson was called for lightly brushing a GT player, which makes sense because basketball isn't supposed to be a contact sport... HA, sorry I couldn't say that with a straight face. JT couldn't throw a beach ball into the ocean the way he was shooting last night, but he was active on the floor and caused some turnovers.
- Hank Thorns came into the game last night with an 8.7 assist-to-turnover ratio, which was by far the highest in the ACC. The next highest was Ty Lawson at 2.9. I didn't know that until I read the preview for this game on TechHoops.com, so it only made sense that Hank would proceed to dish out 0 assists and give up 3 turnovers in only 8 minutes of play. I guess everybody has to come back down to earth. Kudos to Little Hank for hitting 2 clutch free throws at the end of the game (particularly because he'd missed both of his attempts from earlier).
- Cheick Diakite stepped up to be the 4th scoring option in this game, hitting his patented yet awkward jump shot from the foul line and throwing down some monster jams. He had 10 points, 7 rebounds (which is a high number for Cheick), and was the only Hokie to record a block (he had 3 of them). It should also be noted that at one point, Delaney tried to lob a pass into Cheick while he was on the run, and the ball went right off of his fingertips out of bounds. That's our Cheick!
- The big difference in this game? Offensive rebounding, and don't ask me how, but the Hokies managed to pull down 16 offensive boards... 5 more than the Yel-Jacks. Those extra opportunities won't show up in the field goal attempts, where VT had one less than GT, but they do show up in the free throw attempts, where Tech had 16 more attempts than the other Tech.
- Gani Lawal is fantastic and I covet him.
- Victor Davila showed off his jump shot, which looked so horrible that my eyes started to bleed. Let's stick with the post moves Vic.
- The Hokie bench was 1-10 last night. Gross. Thank goodness our starters played so well.
- And finally, a note about the USA v. Mexico soccer game (because I love US Soccer); The US missed out on a couple of good opportunities, but I don't think Mexico ever really threatened in this game. Tim Howard had to make a nice save with his legs in the first half, but the shot was right at him. He also dove for another good save on a shot that didn't really have as much power as you would have expected from that range. Landon Donovan was really active for the entire match and was the key to the first goal. Michael Bradley did what he does best, which is clean up loose balls around the goal. That's how he scored 19 goals in the Dutch league last year and that's how the first goal of the game was scored. His second goal was of much better quality; a dipping shot from about 25-30 yards out that wasn't as close to the post as it should have been, but was good enough to beat the Mexican goalkeeper. This is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports, and the heated back-and-forth was fun to watch. USA wins 2-0 and is now 9-0-2 in their last 11 matches on US soil. I was born in the USA!