Virginia Tech Routs Miami 84-70 On Senior Night

Virginia Tech’s seniors went out with a win against Miami. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

Senior Day for Virginia Tech couldn’t have gone much better, as the No. 15 Hokies easily handled a struggling Miami squad en route to an 84-70 victory inside Cassell Coliseum on Friday night.  Tech finished the regular season with a 23-7 overall record, as well as a 12-6 mark in conference play.  Miami dropped to 13-17 overall and 5-13 in league play. 

For the tenth consecutive game, Justin Robinson was not able to play.  However, he did dress for the game and was included in the starting lineup for the opening tip.  After Miami won the tip, Miami coach Jim Larranaga called timeout, and Robinson was removed from the game in a pre-planned moment, so he could get a standing ovation from the Tech crowd.  It wasn’t exactly the senior moment everybody hoped for from Tech’s veteran point guard, who dropped 35 points on Syracuse in his last real game in Cassell, but he got the sendoff he deserved.

“Robinson has just meant so much, and it’s not just him,” said Buzz Williams, who won his 250th game as a head coach on Friday night. “He has just meant so much to the transformation of our program. I wanted to make sure that we did the best we could, that we honored him and his family, while at the same time not causing too much of a show. It’s not about Five [Robinson], it’s about our program. I thought it was the most respectful thing we could do considering the situation.”

Williams said after the game that Robinson would not play in the ACC Tournament, and it was “going to be close” as to whether or not he’ll be available for the NCAA Tournament.

Fellow seniors Ahmed Hill and Ty Outlaw had storybook endings to their college careers.  Outlaw had 19 points and was 5-of-9 from three-point range, while Hill finished with 17 points and went a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range.  Hill also pulled down five rebounds.  Both seniors exited to standing ovations in the final minute of the game.

After going just 8-for-48 (16.6%) from three-point range in the month of February without Justin Robinson, Hill has been a new man as the calendar has turned to March.  He is 8-of-11 (72.7%) over his last two games.

“The basketball gods,” a happy Hill joked when asked why his shooting has improved so much over the last two games.

Ahmed Hill
Ahmed Hill was a perfect 5-of-5 from the outside in his final home game. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

Hill admitted that things got a bit emotional for him before the game as he dressed in the locker room for the final time, but he was able to keep them in check during the game.

“[My emotions] almost got away from me when I went in the locker room, and I kind of figured that was my last time playing here,” Hill said.

The two seniors weren’t the only players with a huge game.  Sophomore Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who may have also played his last game in Cassell Coliseum, dominated the Hurricanes and nearly recorded a triple double.  Alexander-Walker finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.  He said after the game that he wanted to play as well as possible for Tech’s outgoing seniors.

“It was all about our seniors,” Alexander-Walker said. “All the work that they’ve put in – Med, 5 [Justin Robinson]… I mean, Med has been here from the beginning. He literally built it with his bare hands. Seeing him do that, and J-Rob and Kerry and Ty, everyone is deserving. The fact that I could be there for them was huge.”

“He’s really, really good,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said of Alexander-Walker. “He can handle. He can shoot. He’s got size. He’s got length. He’s got athletic ability. He has layups, floaters, threes and free throws. He’s a guy the NBA guys are drooling over.”

Freshman guard Isaiah Wilkins came off the bench to score 11 points, while Kerry Blackshear had eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Miami took an early 16-8 lead immediately following the emotions of the pre-game senior ceremony, but it didn’t last long. Virginia Tech quickly closed the gap, took the lead, and then ran the Hurricanes out of the gym following a 24-3 run that put the Hokies up 32-19.  They increased their lead to as many as 21 points before the final buzzer.

It was a good ending to the home careers of Tech’s seniors, who have helped turn the program around since their arrival.

“The lessons that have been learned by all of us in this experience has made us all better,” Buzz Williams said of his seniors. “Because I have never been a part of something like this, I think the wisdom that comes from the experience is I didn’t know to say that when I first met Robinson. I remember the first time I met Robinson and all of them, the things I have said to them have all come true. I was betting on the ‘come true’ in a lot of it, but looking back at it I wish I would have been able to quantify what the experience would do for their life. That’s the coolest thing.”

Virginia Tech will return to action at approximately 2:30pm on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament as the No. 5 seed, where they will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between Miami and Wake Forest, whom the Hokies went 3-0 against in the regular season.  The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Buzz Williams recorded career win No. 250 against Miami. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

Game Notes From Virginia Tech

The Hokies entered the game ranked 15th in the AP poll and 16th in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Tonight was Senior Night. Tech honored seniors Ahmed Hill, Ty Outlaw and Justin Robinson, along with senior manager Francis Duggan. All three players got the start tonight. Robinson came out at the first whistle. He made his first appearance since injuring his left foot at Miami on Jan. 30.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 21 points. It’s the 26th time this season he has scored in double figures and the 10th time he has scored at least 20 points.

Alexander-Walker had a team-high eight assists, tying his career-high.

Alexander-Walker had a career-high 10 rebounds. Along with his 21 points, this marks his first career double-double.

Ahmed Hill scored 17 points. In doing so, he reached the 1,400 career point mark at Virginia Tech. He passed Deron Washington into 20th place in career scoring at Virginia Tech. He now has 1,413 career points.

Ty Outlaw scored 19 points. It is the 11th time this season he has scored in double figures and the third consecutive game.

Isaiah Wilkins scored 11 points, the third time this season he has scored in double figures.

With the win, the Hokies are now 23-7 overall and 12-6 in the ACC. The 23 victories are tied with the 2009-10 season for the most victories in a regular season in school history.

The 12 ACC wins sets a new mark for ACC victories in a season.

With tonight’s win, head coach Buzz Williams recorded his 250th career victory.

Tech sweeps the season series with the Hurricanes. The Hokies are now 16-22 all-time against Miami.

With his eight points tonight, Kerry Blackshear Jr. moves past Marshall Ashford into 44th in career scoring at Virginia Tech. He now has 1,064 career points.

Virginia Tech Box Score

14 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Credit to Chris for putting his cards on the table in his last article concerning Senior Night. If he wanted to give the Basketball gods a chance to mess with him, that was the way to do it. Instead we got the Senior Night that these guys deserved/earned. Maybe they felt they had done enough shutting JRob down just after getting the assists record. I dunno.

    These guys have been fun to watch even in losses, lots of energy for the most part, guys still having fun and pushing the boundaries out on a not storied program. Thanks guys.

  2. I saw a jump ball violation. Before the ball was tossed up KJ appeared to be reaching over the center line and hit the ball early after the toss while the Miami player didn’t give much resistance. Teddy whistled the call and did so without any theatrics. Need more proof :))

  3. Watching last night was lots of fun. Really happy for Outlaw, Hill and sad Robinson could not play his final game at Tech. Buzz is the man and has done wonders for the program. He deserves COY in the ACC and I hope he gets the honor. The ride continues into the ACC tourney and into the NCAA tourney. Go Hokies!!!!!

  4. Miami did not call a TO to allow J. Rob. to leave the game. They allowed us to knock tipoff out of bounds, which stopped play allowed Bedde to come in for J. Rob and gauranteed them first possesion. Nice of Larranaga to play along, but cost them no competitive disadvantage. In fact, we essentially conceded the 1st possesion to them.

    Why would Miami call a TO waste one to start game to allow our injuried star a cameo? If a TO was necessary, it would be VT who would have to use it.

    Get the story right! Hell, even Burman got this correct.

    1. Wrong. The ball never came anywhere close to going out of bounds and was actually caught by a Miami player. Not sure what the official call was, but TV Teddy blew his whistle and pointed towards our side. At the time, I was guessing he called a jump ball violation on Blackshear. But, it is also possible Laranaga caled a TO off camera.

      The only thing that is certain, is that your obnoxious post got it wrong.

    2. having missed the start of the game, I wondered why Miami would have gone along with it and given up a TO. This makes much more sense.

    3. Miami clearly won the tip and the ball did not go out of bounds. The whistle blew quickly and the ref pointed toward KB. Miami did not burn a timeout.

    4. Why so angry? I’m heading down to the ACC tournament with my 3 boys. I’ve got tickets for Wednesday and Thursday. If we win Thursday night, I’ll have to buy some off of the FSU fans. Can’t wait!

    5. In reviewing the box score, the play-by-play does not indicate any sort of violation by Blackshear, nor does it indicate that either team — or even the refs — called a timeout.

  5. This is the most fun VT BB team that I’ve ever watched… and I’ve been watching since 1963, Thanks seniors, Buzz, and team.

    1. I agree, these guys play for each other every night, no matter the roll they are ask to play. Not sure this team knows what an ego is!

    2. Agreed. We should be 8 point favorites in our first NCAA game. At worst, the 5 seed. If we win that it will be a toss up vs. a team very similar to FSU. Maybe Villanova, maybe Iowa State. Something like that. If we can get to the 2nd weekend, and maybe with a healthy JRob, all bets are off. No reason we can’t win some more.

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