For the entire season, Malcolm Delaney and A.D. Vassallo have carried the Hokies, with a lot of help from Jeff Allen. Quality production from Tech’s role players has been rare, and that’s one of the things that has held the team back. Thursday’s game was different, as the Hokies got some terrific play from a couple of guys who have been inconsistent all season.

We’ve seen J.T. Thompson have good games. We’ve seen Dorenzo Hudson have decent outings. We’ve also seen Lewis Witcher, Victor Davila, Hank Thorns, Cheick Diakite and Terrell Bell play quality minutes. However, there haven’t been very many games where Tech has gotten good production from more than one of those guys.

Seth Greenberg changed his starting lineup against Miami, inserting Dorenzo Hudson in place of Hank Thorns. He also shortened his bench. J.T. Thompson was the only reserve to play more than nine minutes. Those turned out to be great moves, as Hudson and Thompson had arguably their best games of the season.

Thompson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. He played good defense, threw down a couple of dunks, displayed toughness on the inside, and in general he just came up with the energy plays that everyone expected him to make this season when he came back from his injury.

...