Philadelphia, PA – Malcolm Delaney scored 32 of Virginia Tech’s 50 points in a 61-50 loss to Temple on Friday night in Philadelphia. The Hokies offense had been struggling all season, and when matched against an excellent defensive team like Temples, Tech looked completely inept. The Hokies dropped to 3-1 with the loss, and the Owls improved to 4-1.
The biggest problem with this Tech team is that they have no one besides Delaney who can consistently knock down an open jumper. To make matters worse, there were plenty of misses from point blank range as well. The Hokies shot just 17-of-57 (29.8%) from the field and 3-of-15 (20%) from three-point range. Delaney had nine of Tech’s 17 field goals, and all three of their three-pointers.
Tech’s other wings and guards – Terrell Bell, Dorenzo Hudson, and Erick Green – combined to go 1-of-14 from the field. Ben Boggs played five minutes, but could not get an open look against Temple’s tough defense. J.T. Thompson added to Tech’s miseries by going 1-of-8 from the field. Malcolm Delaney had zero assists because no one else on the team could score. Victor Davila had six points and five rebounds, while Jeff Allen had six points and nine rebounds. No one else scored more than two points in the game.
Virginia Tech’s defense kept them in the game for much of the contest. Temple was just 24-of-56 (42.9%) from the field, and only 4-of-18 (22.2%) from three-point range.
The Hokies were in the game for most of the first half before a late run by the Owls made the score 27-17 at halftime. Malcolm Delaney had just four points at halftime, while Jeff Allen scored all six of his points in the first 20 minutes.
Delaney tried his hardest to get his team back in the game in the second half. The junior guard from Baltimore scored Tech’s first 11 points of the second half, and the Hokies trailed just 30-28 with 15:24 remaining in the game.
It looked like the Hokies had a legit shot at the comeback win, but the Owl defense was just too tough — too tough for everyone but Delaney, that is. Delaney scored 28 of his 32 points in the second half. The Hokies scored 33 points as a team in the second half. That means that Tech’s other eight players combined to score just five points over the last 20 minutes of basketball. That will not win very many basketball games, particularly at the ACC level.
Not enough can be said about Delaney’s efforts on Friday night. He came into the game with an ankle injury that he suffered against UNC Greensboro. During the Temple game, he tweaked his hamstring in the second half. Playing with two leg injuries, he managed to score more than 60% of Virginia Tech’s points.
Despite Delaney’s efforts, Temple gradually pulled away in the second half. After a layup by Victor Davila with 14:08 remaining, Tech trailed 34-30. However, the Hokies scored just two points between Davila’s layup with 14:08 left and another Davila layup with 8:08 left. In that six minute span, all the Hokies could manage was two free throws from Delaney.
Temple wasn’t good offensively either, but they were much better than the Hokies. They managed to extend their lead to 14 points during the Tech drought, and they went on to lead by as many as 18 points in the second half.
It was a bad outing for the Hokies, but tomorrow they hope to get better against a Delaware team that is completely different from Temple. The Blue Hens are a very bad defensive team, so Tech should be able to score. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:15pm, and the game will not be televised.
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