Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney (#23) puts pressure on a Miami player as he prepares to inbound the ball.
Miami then stretched its lead to three off two made free throws from Grant, and the Hokies again had another chance to tie the game with 27.7 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Delaney drove to the lane and dished a pass to Bell where he missed an attempted 3-pointer.
Greenberg didn't want that particular shot, but he was happy with the decision Delaney made.
"We were trying to get in the lane and attack, and I said, 'If they defend inside-out, then be ready to shoot the ball, but we wanted to try to get to the basket," Greenberg said. "They were smart. They stopped the basketball. Malcolm got to his right hand, he got into the lane, he drew an extra defender. I thought Terrell had a good look at it, and it's a shot he made all night. In that situation, we thought they were going to push up on us a little bit.
"We wanted what we call 'jet,' which is trying to get Malcolm the ball on the run and try to get him in the lane and have someone trail, and if he can get to the basket that's great, Greenberg said. "If he can't get to the basket, then make a play. He made the right decision. It was a good solid decision."
In addition to the struggles shooting in the second half, particularly late in the game, the Hokies were bested on the boards by a margin of 29-46.
"I think the one thing we put on the scouting report the last two days was rebounding," Haith said. "Maybe 500 times we put it on a sheet of paper. ... But that was the key to the ball game, we thought ― us being able to rebound and us not turning to the ball over was the key to the ball game."
With the loss, Tech falls to 23-8 overall and 10-7 in the ACC, but Hudson is still optimistic about what remains of the season for the Hokies.
"Give credit to them, they beat us on offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds," Hudson said. "Like I said, we didn't make shots and we needed to make shots down the stretch. This one hurts a little bit, but we've got more basketball to play with the (NCAA) tournament to go to so I feel like we will have a good week of practice."
Continue Reading: « Previous12
Leave a comment 1 Comment Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
They should be lucky if they get invited to the NCAA after that performance. Other than the Boston College game last month, that was the worst performance I've seen. NCAA worthy teams don't give games away like that. I still think their safe for a NCAA bid but they don't deserve it if they are going to play like that.
Even as a Hokie fan, it hurts me to say that I can't see them going past their first game i in the NCAA if they even get invited.
Good luck to them.
Reply to this Top