Collegiate Times

It is finally over.

A season marred by heart-wrenching losses and unfulfilled expectations came to a close early Saturday afternoon in Cassell Coliseum as Virginia Tech fell at the hands of the Baylor Bears, 84-66.

But while the Hokies 18-point loss may come as a disappointment to the maroon and orange faithful, the second round defeat in the National Invitational Tournament was truly representative of the Heartbreak Hokies' season.

Mistakes, impossible shots, comeback runs, and an inability to consistently put points on the scoreboard led the Hokies into the consolation, "Not Invited Tournament," and eventually led them out of that prematurely.

From the start, in which guard Malcolm Delaney turned the ball over diving onto the scorer's table to save Cheick Diakite's tip, the Hokies made countless mistakes that led to their demise.

Tech's top shooters struggled from the field. A.D Vassallo had a slow start, missing all of his seven field goal attempts in the first half, while Delaney made just one of his seven attempts.

Combined, they were 4-for-21 shooting the three and 8-for-34 from the field.

As a team, the Hokies started the game missing 17 of their first 18 attempts. They finished the game making just 32.4 percent of their field goal attempts, compared with 61.7 percent for Baylor.

"The biggest thing with us is that we have to contest shots," said Baylor forward Kevin Rogers, who notched a team-high 16 points. "The biggest thing in the zone is contesting shots, especially on a guy like A.D., especially in his own gym."

Vassallo felt that Tech saw good enough looks, but that the shots simply weren't falling.

"It just didn't want to go our way," Vassallo said. "That demoralized the team."

Essentially, poor shooting ruined the Hokies chances at victory. They put up a grand total of 71 shots, 24 more than Baylor, and scored 18 fewer points. Transition points were hard to come by, and the Hokies had little success setting up a half-court offense.

But that's not all. Baylor's 2-3 zone was not the only thing that was too much for Tech to handle. The Bears were physically overpowering, something that Tech has not had much experience with in Atlantic Coast Conference play that typically houses smaller athletes than the Big-12.

"Our inability to make a shot early really affected our ability to defend," said Tech head coach Seth Greenberg.

Even though Baylor's team is larger than Tech's, it's important to not overlook how well the Bears handled their size on the court.

While Tech outrebounded the Bears overall, at times it seemed like they were genuinely lost under the basket of their home floor, with post players jumping over one another to grab rebounds away from their own teammates.

More than a few times, Hokie big men fighting amongst themselves for the ball resulted in turnovers and squandered opportunities.

With the teams' leading scorers struggling, no one was able to step up and fill the void. Baylor's lead grew bigger and bigger until it eventually became insurmountable.

Shooting aside, while Delaney and Vassallo were struggling, the third member of the exclusive big three, Jeff Allen, finished with just nine points on 3-for-8 shooting. Allen only managed to pull down three rebounds, while contributing three fouls in the second half.

All three of Allen's fouls came from laziness. But then again, Allen has essentially followed the same general script all season.

First, he will miss an easy inside shot or get outmuscled under the rim for a rebound. Then, instead of getting back into position and setting up on defense, Allen lazily hacks at the ball or man from behind and gets called for a foul.

Allen has the potential to be great and is a valued player for Tech. But until he can establish consistency and learn to discipline himself, he will never cross the threshold from good to great.

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