Collegiate Times

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.