Desperately needing a win in its final regular season contest to secure a ticket to the NCAA tournament, the men’s basketball team defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 88-82 in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
After the Hokies maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half, a three-pointer by Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert with 2:09 left in regulation made it a two possession game for the first time since the 15:57 mark.
A minute and a half later, a Derrick Favors layup cut the lead to three, but the Hokies prevented any further home-team heroics from taking place, converting five of six free throw attempts off late-game intentional fouls by the Jackets.
A three-pointer taken by Jackets guard D’Andre Bell with 26 seconds remaining fell short and bounced off the rim into the hands of Hokies guard Terrell Bell to seal the victory for the visiting team.
The win solidified a first round bye in next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament for the Hokies, as they finished the regular season with a 23-7 overall record and 10-6 in the ACC, numbers that most feel are strong enough to give the Hokies its first at-large NCAA tournament berth since the 2006-07 season.
“We’ve been in this position for the last few years, and it’s kind of a relief now that we got to 10-6,” forward Jeff Allen said. “Maybe we might be in there this year, maybe cameras are gonna be in our room this year.”
“Last two years, there was always, ‘Well, we gotta go into the tournament and win a certain amount of games,’” guard Malcolm Delaney added. “Now, we get that bye again and we’re freed up.”
The Hokies came out firing on all cylinders, shooting a season-best 80 percent (8-10) from beyond the arc in the first half which allowed Tech to take a six point lead into halftime.
An intentional foul committed by Jackets forward Gani Lawal on freshman Manny Atkins with 13 minutes to go in the second half gave the Hokies a double-digit lead that was held until the 3:31 mark. Then, Georgia Tech went on a 5-1 run that set the table for Shumpert’s shot that set the crowd into a frenzy.
Atkins made the first start of his collegiate career in place of Tech’s second-leading scorer, junior guard Dorenzo Hudson, who sat out the game because of a foot injury. Atkins played his best game of the season, finishing with five points, five assists and seven rebounds.
“Manny can get his shots,” Delaney said of his freshman teammate. “Coach put him in the lineup because he knew Manny was gonna play hard and that (he could) make shots, and that’s what he did.”
Delaney paced the Hokies as he tied his season-high effort of 32 points and nine assists. He was four of five from beyond the arc in the first half and 14-of-17 from the free-throw line.
Juniors Allen and Terrell Bell both produced double-doubles in the contest, with Allen notching 17 points and 10 rebounds while Bell added 14 points and 13 boards.
The much-heralded freshman forward Favors scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.
The loss was just the second of the year at home for the Yellow Jackets, as they finish the regular season with a 19-11 overall record and in the 7-9 ACC.
With the victory, the Hokies finished its season with a single-digit number of losses for only the fourth time in the last 30 years, with the last occasion occurring during the 1995-96 season that saw Tech advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Tech ultimately lost to Kentucky, which went on to win the national championship.
The Hokies will play next on Friday against an opponent that will be determined following the first round of the conference tournament on Thursday.
Just because the Hokies are likely in the NCAA Tournament does not mean they will be taking the conference tournament lightly.
“It’s a relief, but I think coming out we still need to get some more games, just for us, because we’re old-school and got some payback games in the ACC,” Hudson said. “So, I feel like we’re gonna really come out and play hard when the ACC Tournament comes around.”