Suck it, Raleigh

Virginia Tech won against NC State in an away game in Raleigh for the first time since 1917. Yes, you read that correctly. How absurd is that? It's not like NC State has been incredibly dominant over the years, especially recently, but for whatever reason the man in the gross red jacket (aka Sidney Lowe) has owned Seth Greenberg. Last night was different though. Behind 23 points from Dorenzo "Where the Heck Did That Come From?" Hudson, Tech managed to whoop the Wolfpack by 20 points on their home floor.

Frankly, I was getting a little tired of the Wolfpack-red handprints being left on our asses every time VT went down to Raleigh, so I guess Hudson was feeling the same. Jeff Allen had an active and impressive game with 14 points and 8 rebounds, as did JT Thompson with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Malcolm Delaney took what NC State gave him, and what they gave him were opportunities to get his teammates involved. Malcolm dished out 5 assists and only took 10 shots in the game. Allen and Victor Davila each recorded 4 blocks. Davila had a really tough time offensively against Tracy Smith, but was very effective against Smith on the defensive end, holding NC State's leading scorer to 12 points on 12 field goal attempts. Nicely done my Puerto Rican friend.

I had to add this in after my friend Dave brought it to my attention. One of the big reasons for the VT win was that NC State went 0-13 on their three-point shots, and a big reason for that is the way Greenberg had our players defending. Usually, when a post player on another team sets a high screen around the 3-point line, you will see our big man step out on the opposing guard to try to stop him while our guard is forced to run around the screen. This can leave the opposing guard open for a 3-pointer if VT's guard decides to go "over" the screen. This is almost always the defensive style that Greenberg prefers. Yesterday, however, Greenberg had our guys switching players when those screens happened, and by doing so we really seemed to surprise the Wolfpack. This creates a size mismatch, as you will have guards defending centers in the paint and centers defending guards on the perimeter. NC State wasn't ready for this, and they weren't able to take advantage of the size mismatch, with the exception of Dennis Horner, who isn't the type of player who can put a team on his back and carry them. Horner made some shots, but overall the Hokies were able to shut down the perimeter shooting of the Wolfpack, and that was the biggest contributing factor to our win.

A fan of any other team in the ACC might wonder why I'm getting so pumped up over a win against NC State, but they just don't realize our historic ineptitude against these chumps. This win brings us to 6-3 in the ACC. Things are looking good, but it's not the right time to rest on our laurels. Our next two games are at home against UVA and then Wake Forest. 2 wins would be incredible, but if we're going to pick a game to win, you have to hope that it's against Wake. For whatever reason, the RPI loves Wake Forest and a win against them would do a lot more for the Hokies than a win against our in-state rival. With that said, to quote Coleman's bikini-clad companion at the end of Trading Places, "Can't we have both?" I don't see why not. Virginia Tech has yet to lose a game in the Cassell this season, so you have to think the players will be keen on keeping that streak intact. One more win will give Virginia Tech 20 wins on the season. In a usual year, this would be enough to make the NCAA tournament, but with our craptacular schedule, we need 22 or possibly even 23 wins to get there. Keep chugging along, Hokies... the end is in sight.