Virginia Tech did their best Duke impersonation by scheduling an overmatched team at home and then proceeding to beat the ever living daylights out of them for 40 minutes. University of Maryland, Baltimore County entered the game with just one win on the season and after shooting a porous 16-percent in the first half, you could tell why they only had one win this season. Despite an average shooting night by the Hokies, Tech was still able to dominate UMBC and win in a blowout fashion, 71-34.
The Essentials
The Game
Both teams started this game a combined 1-13 shooting, but finally the Hokies began to heat up and scored 14 points before UMBC finally got a shot to fall after nine minutes of shutout basketball from Tech. Over the next five minutes the Hokies proceeded to go on another run, scoring eight points to increase the lead to 22-2. From that point on, UMBC was able to keep pace as they scored nine points in the final seven minutes. Tech scored 16 points in the same stretch giving them a 38-13 halftime lead.
The 2nd half offered more of the same as Tech came out of the locker room and continue to extend the lead. After the 2nd media timeout, Tech had increased the lead to 32 points thanks in part to Dorenzo Hudson, who scored 9 of the Hokies first 18 points of the second half. UMBC would hang tough and make a few three-pointers down the stretch to keep it respectable but the Hokies freshman scored some late points and wrapped up a 71-34 victory.
What Does It All Mean?
UMBC was 1-9 coming into the game so it was pretty clear that the Hokies should dominate in this one and they did. Despite lackluster efforts from a few of their starters, Tech was able to score points when they needed to and win this one going away. The Retrievers (yes their nickname is the Retrievers) held strong over the last 30 minutes of the game but after falling behind 22-2, the game was all but over.
Stats
Bullet Points
- Malcolm Delaney took advantage of playing against a weaker opponent as he scored 14 of Techs first 26 points in the game. He also hit 4 of 5 three-pointers in the first half before receiving a nice long rest on the bench for first time this season. Delaney only played the first four minutes in the 2nd half then was benched in favor of getting the freshmen some playing time.
- Raines, Boggs, Green, and Atkins all saw significant action in this game and looked good for the most part. You can tell the kids still aren’t comfortable in Seth Greenberg’s offense but that will come with more experience. I’m not sure Greenberg can count on any of them when the Hokies have to play UNC here in a few weeks but they should be able to provide some quality minutes against the lower have of the ACC this year.
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- The Hokies played their best defensive game of the year so far, holding UMBC to just 22-percent from the field. If they didn’t hit a few shots in the last couple of possessions, that number could have been a lot lower.
- The 34 points allowed is the least amount of points scored against a Seth Greenberg coached Virginia Tech team and is also the least amount of points scored since Cassell Coliseum was open in 1961. The Hokies have held teams to under 40 points a couple of times in recent years, most notably against UNC-Greensboro and George Washington back in December of 2007 when the Hokies did it in back-to-back games.
Next Up
Next up for the Hokies is a home date with Longwood University inside Cassell on December 30th. Tech will break for eight days due to the Holidays and play Longwood before flying to Mexico after the game.
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