The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will look to further shock the Atlantic Coast Conference with a win tonight against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum.
Both the Deacons and Hokies enter Tuesday’s game on four-game winning streaks, sitting second and third, respectively, behind the first-place Duke Blue Devils in the ACC standings.
Wake (18-5, 8-3) has climbed to second, thanks to big wins at the University of Virginia on Feb. 6 and at Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Hokies (20-4, 7-3) sit in third, with one more win than fourth-place Maryland.
But the season and the two teams’ destinies are far from determined.
“We still have to keep playing,” Tech junior guard Malcolm Delaney said. “We’ve got some games left and we have a chance to win the ACC if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”
Fresh off an impressive 75-64 win over Georgia Tech, the Deacons come to Blacksburg tonight. Monday, they became ranked for the first time this season (No. 23 in the Associated Press Poll, No. 25 in ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll).
Meanwhile, the pollsters continue to remain untrustworthy of the Hokies for such honors.
Tech, fresh off a season-sweep of the Virginia Cavaliers, will have to rely on guard Dorenzo Hudson and forward Jeff Allen to maintain its high level of play against the Deacons.
If Allen can play smart defense, he can be effective. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he can be a force.
Against Virginia, the junior forward picked up two quick fouls and sat for nearly 18 minutes of the first half. When he returned in the second half, he played with more aggressiveness than he has all season and played the main role in the Hokies’ comeback
“(Jeff is) playing with confidence,” Hokies’ head coach Seth Greenberg said. “He was hot in the last couple minutes of the game. We kept getting him the ball and he kept delivering for us.”
Greenberg noted Tech’s ability to take advantage of the “hot” man, a common theme in some of the Hokies’ bigger wins against Seton Hall, a game in which Hudson scored 41 points, and at home against Clemson, when Delaney scored 30, en-route to a 70-59 win.
“That’s how our team is: Whoever is the hot man, we keep going to him,” he said.
Hudson will be counted on for a big game scoring against the Deacons.
Ever since his explosive 41-point performance against Seton Hall, Hudson has become a regular name in Hokie Nation and someone the team can seem to rely on in clutch situations.
Alongside junior guard Malcolm Delaney, who leads the conference in scoring but has recently been struggling to find a rhythm, Hudson’s combined ability to shoot long-range and finish drives to the basket makes him just the scoring threat that the Hokies need.
Delaney says that while he has been struggling, he doesn’t care how Tech gets the wins — just as long as it gets them.
“I don’t care. As long as we win,” Delaney said. “We don’t care how we win. We don’t have seven McDonald’s All-Americans. That’s what we’ve been (ugly) since we’ve been in the ACC. Teams don’t like playing us. We’re real scrappy. We get lost balls, dive on the floor. That’s what makes us.”
Luckily for Tech fans (and Delaney’s scoring average), he’s had consistent success getting to the foul stripe and converting on his free throws. Delaney averages just over eight free-throw attempts per game and shoots a stellar 84.9 percent from the line.
As a whole, the Hokies have out-shot their opponents at the line in the past six games, including crucial shots made against North Carolina, Clemson and Virginia in the final minutes of those victories.
If Tech comes away with a victory tonight, expect an advantage at the line.
On the defensive side, the Hokies simply need to do what they have been doing.
The Hokies are ranked second in the ACC in scoring defense and won’t hold anything back in aggressiveness tonight. Containing Wake forward Al-Farouq Aminu, who averages 16.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game and stands at six feet nine inches tall, will undoubtedly be priority No. 1.
Deacons’ guard Ishmael Smith will also be a threat, averaging 13 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game himself.
But as long as the Hokies can stick to the junkyard dog-like mentality they have possessed in recent games, they might just be all right.
“The league’s good,” Greenberg said. “It’s just, next game. We can’t worry about all the other static. We’ve just got to get the next game.”
If you weren’t lucky enough to land a ticket, ESPN2 will be nationally televising the game.
A win tonight gives the Hokies an opportunity to battle Duke for the league’s top position when they head to Durham on Sunday.