No. 13 Virginia Tech beat Washington 73-61 in the Hoophall Boardwalk Classic on Saturday night in Atlantic City. The Hokies improved to 9-1 overall with the win, while the Huskies dropped to 7-4.
Despite an early run from Washington in the second half, this was a game that was controlled by Virginia Tech. There were no ties or lead changes throughout 40 minutes of basketball, and though the Huskies did cut Tech’s lead to single digits a few times in the second half, it was the Hokies who dominated when it mattered.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the MVP of the Charleston Classic back in November, and he shined on a neutral site yet again on Saturday. He finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and he also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals. He was one of four Hokies in double figures. Ahmed Hill, Justin Robinson and Kerry Blackshear had 10 points each.
The Hokies were able to win this game with relative ease despite an off night from star point guard Justin Robinson. He scored his 10 points on just 3-of-11 shooting, including a 1-of-6 mark from three-point range. Kerry Blackshear was also just 2-of-9 from the field against a tough Washington zone defense.
However, it was Virginia Tech’s defense that stole the show. The Hokies forced 15 Washington turnovers, and the Huskies shot just 36.7% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. Tech came into the game No. 8 nationally in defensive efficiency and remained in that spot after Saturday night’s win. However, they moved up from No. 34 to No. 26 in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric, which shows how effective they were against the Huskies.
Though Tech surrendered 17 offensive rebounds to Washington, they were not dominated on the glass, losing the battle just 40-38. In fact, they outscored Washington 14-11 in second chance points. The Hokies also had seven steals, and they rank No. 27 nationally in steals per game.
Virginia Tech led the Huskies by as many 21 with 5:09 remaining in the first half when Justin Robinson hit his one and only three-pointer of the game to make the score 35-14. The Hokies went on to take a 39-21 lead into the halftime intermission.
To Washington’s credit, they fought back in the second half, cutting the lead to as little as seven points (53-46) with 9:03 left in the game. The Huskies made their first six shot attempts of the half, which helped them get back into the game. Still, Tech’s lead was too big, and the Hokies eventually settled down and closed out the game well in the final minutes, eventually pushing their lead back to as many as 14 points.
Washington entered the game ranked No. 47 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which replaced the RPI in the offseason. As it stands, the Hokies have two Quadrant One wins for the NCAA Tournament Committee to consider when seeding Tech in March. They had no Quadrant One wins in the non-conference portion of their schedule last season.
Virginia Tech returns to action on Wednesday night when they host North Carolina A&T. Tipoff is scheduled for 7pm, and the game can be seen online on ACC Network Extra.
Print
We give up too many offensive rebounds. That is going to hurt us in ACC play.
Photo accompanying story is at the Saint Francis game. Oooooppsss
Not an “ooops”. We don’t send photographers to road games, so we have no pics from the game.
All I want for Christmas is a 6’-10” C for 2019, Chris Clarke reinstated and Landers Nolley cleared by the NCAA.
Super exciting to watch this team and it feels nice to get some kudos from the pundits. Shooting wise this is definitely our most talented team in a long time if not ever. Yes Kerry has to *try* to stay out of foul trouble but that’s going to be hard to do in the ACC. The good news is Horne is playing really well and continually improving.
The defensive scheme and intensity is also what sets this year’s version apart from recent years. They look bought in that strong defense matters.
I’ve never seen a Hokie BB team where everyone can shoot. 66 years a Hokie. This year has been a pleasure to watch.
We’ve come a long way since James Johnson’s second year as a coach. Back then, we arguably had two players capable of shooting the 3 and both of them struggled with consistency.
Here’s the roster from 2013-2014 and my rating of their 3 point shooting ability
Malik Müller (Sometimes in the corner if he is wide open…)
Joey van Zegeren (NOPE)
Adam Smith (When he was on)
Cadarian Raines (DREAMED)
Marquis Rankin (Accidentally)
Devin Wilson (Sometimes when least expected)
Greg Donlon (Not in a game)
Ben Emelogu (Great from 15 feet in)
Maurice Kirby (Nope)
Christian Beyer (Not in a game)
Will Johnston (Maybe in garbage time)
Jarell Eddie (When he was on)
Trevor Thompson (Nope)
Marshall Wood (Nope…although he kept trying…[sigh])
C. J. Barksdale (Nope)
Hard not to think this team won’t keep on rolling, though. No one wants to get ahead of themselves, but these guys are consistent – and all around good. They look to be working toward a 4 seed in the tourney, at this point, and who knows where that could lead? Yes…it’s early! OK, OK. But this time next month, it won’t surprise me if we view this 18-19 team as our best ever.
Kerry gotta stay out of foul trouble.
We are a small team and that is going to cause problems when we get into ACC play!
Don’t like the last part where you assume we make the NCAA. We have a great team, but it’s a long brutal season.
Agree… how we deal with injuries (cuz they gonna happen), cold shooting nights (a la Penn State), low energy nights (a la Penn State)… playing tough consistently is gonna be key