Collegiate Times

Hokies pressure sparks thrilling comeback
Friday, March 16th 10:56PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The No.5 seed Virginia Tech men’s basketball team took the most out of its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years, defeating the No.12 seed University of Illinois Fighting Illini 54-52 in dramatic fashion.

“I think (the win) really hreflects who we are,” said Tech head coach Seth Greenberg who recorded his first ever NCAA Tournament victory Friday evening. “We don’t shoot the straightest, we make easy things difficult and we just keep on going. We have a resiliency about us.”

That resiliency has yielded some big wins over the past few years, with this one being among them.

“There’s certain points in your career where you’re on the court and you kind of see yourself watching the game from the stands and see yourself taking part in a great game,” said Coleman Collins; the senior center scored 13 points and converted on nine of his 12 free-throw attempts. “Our Duke games have been like that. Definitely the Carolina and the UVA games (have)…You feel like you’re a part of something that’s bigger than yourself and this is one of those games.”

“Last March we were at home, sipping Pina Colada and watching it on TV,” Collins said. “That’s the only experience we’ve had with the tournament in the past. To get our first win like this—it’s a good feeling.”

As uplifting as the win was for the Hokies, it was equally crushing for the Fighting Illini.

“I don’t there’s been a word invented to describe how I feel right now,” said Illinois guard Chester Frazier who finished the game scoreless. “We outplayed them the whole game...(but) they wanted it more down the stretch.”

The Hokies got out to a bit of a slow start against the Illini, but were able to take a three point lead, 14-11, following a 9-0 Virginia Tech run. However, the Hokie lead was not meant to last, with Fighting Illini answering Tech’s run with an 18-5 one of its own, putting Illinois up 29-19.

“It was pretty much us,” said Zabian Dowdell; the senior guard scored 8 points, or 10 less than his season average. “We had turnovers, missed opportunities, missed free-throws…Everyone made mistakes in the first half.”

Virginia Tech had many opportunities to cut into 10 point Illini lead, but shot itself in the foot multiple times. Senior center Markus Sailes missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw attempt, Collins threw a breakaway dunk off the rim and junior forward Deron Washington missed a layup.

“It was frustrating, but it was also a confidence giver,” said Tech redshirt senior Markus Sailes. “We knew that we missed some easy shots…It also let us know that if we come out and play hard that these are they type of shots that we can hit.”

The Hokies took a 29-21 deficit into the halftime intermission, following an all-around sloppy first half. The Hokies shot a mere 29.2-percent from the floor during the period, compared to Illinois’ 48-percent.

The Hokies cut the Illinois lead to four points early in the second half. But when the Fighting Illini looked to get away with a foul on what would have otherwise been a Washington break away dunk, Greenberg got angry and picked up a technical foul that cost the Hokies two points.

“My perspective is I probably overreacted,” Greenberg said. “I thought that it was a fifty-fifty ball and my guy got hit, and he didn’t. I made a bad decision and I paid a price. I’m glad it didn’t cost our team.”

The Illini would once again extend their lead to 10 points after Virginia Tech committed its second foul on a three-point shot attempt, and later to a game-high 13 points, which proved a deficit difficult for the Hokies to overcome.

Virginia Tech would implement its full-court press late in the second half, which breathed a little bit life into the struggling Hokies, in the form of easy baskets in transition.

“I always thought we had a chance to make a run,” Greenberg said. “We had to get more possessions in the game and we had to find a way to get them to play a little bit faster. I’m not sure if we sped them up, but we turned them over, and anyone who knows anything about our team—we have to win turnover margin, and that’s how we win games.

Despite all of Tech’s struggles throughout the game, the Hokies did have more than their fair share of opportunities in the last five minutes of the game to make things interesting, and they did. Tech went on a 12-0 run to end the game.

Coming from behind is always difficult when a team shoots 35.7-percent from the field for the game, but the Hokies found a way.

Making matters tougher for Virginia Tech, was the inability of A.D. Vassallo to get his game going offensively. The sophomore wing shot an uncharacteristic 3-11 from the floor and even managed to airball a three-pointer during the second half.

“I had the looks,” said Vassallo, who scored nine points. “They did a good job finding me, it was just—the ball was just not going in…I was a little out of rhythm and I was just a little frustrated with myself.”

With the win, the Hokies live to play another day—Sunday to be exact. The Hokies will face either Holy Cross or Southern Illinois at 2:40 p.m. in Nationwide Arena.

University of Virginia advances to second round
Friday, March 16th 5:25PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The University of Virginia became the fourth Atlantic Coast Conference team to advance to the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament with a 84-57 victory over the Alban Great Danes.

“We definitely got a good win today,” said Virginia guard Sean Singletary. “We struggled a little bit toward the end of the regular season, but now it is the tournament. It is a whole different season. It was good to start out the way we did today.”

The game was all Virginia from the beginning for two reasons: The difference in levels of play and the difference in levels of talent.

The Cavaliers just flat-out played better than Albany, and it showed. Virginia out-shot Albany from the field, three-point line and free-throw line; the Wahoos out-rebounded the Great Danes as well.

Furthermore, Virginia had better talent than the Great Danes. Head coach Dave Leitao’s team appeared more physical and to be in possession of more finesse.

Second team all-ACC guard played more like a first-teamer in the first round. The Roanoke native scored 23 first-half points and finished with a game-high 28 in addition to his five rebounds.

“We got in the groove of things and got the game going,” said Reynolds. “We played great defense, which makes the offense come easy.”

Reynolds actually managed to outscore the Great Danes for the better part of the first half, and only trailed the entire Albany team two at the halftime intermission, 25-23.

Reynolds’ backcourt mate Singletary also contributed significantly to the Cavalier offense. The first team all-ACC selection scored 21 points and added nine assists.

“He distributes and creates,” said Albany guard John Iati. “He’s the heart and soul of that team. He gets Reynolds shots, he gets the big guys layups. He’s what makes that offense go.”

Attempting to compete with Reynolds and Singletary in terms of offensive production was Albany’s Jamar Wilson. The senior guard scored 25 points of his own, which just weren’t enough for the Great Danes.

The Cavaliers will take on either Tennessee or Long Beach State Sunday afternoon. Tip-off from Nationwide Arena is slated for 12:10 p.m. Sunday.

Tennessee crushes Long Beach 121-86 in 17 year record
Friday, March 16th 5:25PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio—It’s entirely possible that the Tennessee Volunteers’ 121-86 defeat of the Long Beach State 49ers was the polar opposite of what fans can expect to see from the Virginia Tech Hokies and Illinois Fighting Illini later this evening.

“The tempo was very, very fast,” said Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl. “The up-tempo brings out the best in both (teams)…I think that we just, physically, had a little more size.”

It’s entirely possible that Pearl’s Volunteers scored more points in the first half, 57, than either Illinois or Virginia Tech may all game. Better yet, the 121 points Tennessee scored was the most by any team in the NCAA Tournament in 17 years.

“I thought we put the fast back in fast-break,” said Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, the junior guard scored a game-high 25 points. “We’re used to playing like that, and when a team plays like that we get excited, and that’s what we did tonight. It was just a fast-break game.”

It’s not even like the 49ers were offensively challenged, they weren’t—they scored 45 first half points of their own. The 49ers were just unable to keep up with Tennessee’s high-scoring pace.

Tennessee had four players finish the first half with double figures in the points column, and six score 10+ points during the game.

It also didn’t help the 49ers that the Volunteers won the turnover and rebounding battles..

With the win, the Volunteers advance to play t University of Virginia Cavaliers. Tip-off from Nationwide arena is Sunday at 12:10 p.m.