Dorenzo Hudson was a late enrollee during his freshman season, as he didn’t start in a game until mid-December. But, now in his junior season, Hudson is playing like the player Seth Greenberg thought he would be. Dorenzo scored a career high 41 points in the Hokies road victory over Seton Hall, taking over for a Hokies team that was without the ACC leading scorer Malcolm Delaney.
Despite Hudson’s career high, this was an absolute team victory from the Hokies as every player made their mark on this game in some way. Manny Atkins made two clutch jumpers down the stretch as well as a layup in overtime in which he cherry-picked the Seton Hall defense. Jeff Allen took over this game in the paint in the 2nd half, scoring 23 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in this contest. Erick Green played a career high 32 minutes and played with poise for most of the game, only turning the ball over three times.
Thanks to a fast start by the Hokies who led 24-10 at the ten minute point in the first half, the Hokies were able to whether a Seton Hall run and lead at halftime 37-33. The 2nd half was a battle, one in which the Hokies appeared to have won with 36 seconds left. Tech led by five after two Jeff Allen free throws but the Pirates Robert Mitchell found himself open at the top of the key and drained a big three-pointer with 27 seconds left. On the inbounds, Erick Green broke into the open court but was then fouled by Mitchell sending him to the line. Green missed both free-throws allowing point guard Eugene Harvey to streak down the court and get an easy layup to tie the game and eventually force overtime.
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The extra period was all Virginia Tech as Seton Hall never led in overtime and slowly faltered due to three of their players fouling out. After a Harvey three-point play, Hudson dribbled the ball down the court and found a wide-open Manny Atkins on the left wing. Atkins lined up his shot and drained the biggest three-pointer in his career so far to give the Hokies a five point lead and to all but ice the win for the Hokies. However, after a quick three-pointer on the other end, Atkins cherry-picked the Seton Hall defense and quarterback Jeff Allen hit him right in stride for an easy layup. Tech would hit all six of their remaining free throws to seal the deal, beating the Pirates 103-94 in Cancun Mexico.
The Essentials
What Does It All Mean?
Seton Hall took sixth ranked West Virginia to Overtime and was leading Syracuse until the last few minutes of the game. Needless to say, this Pirates group is a good team and one that could be tournament bound if they can win enough conference games. Combining this win with Iowa and Penn State, the selection committee will be impressed with what the Hokies have done in their out of conference schedule. Tech’s lone loss is to a current top 25 team in Temple, which won't be a bad loss.
The Hokies are now 12-1 on the season and will begin conference play next Saturday down in the Dean Dome against the North Carolina Tar Heels. A tough way to open up conference play but after this performance, the Hokies will be able to come in confident in their abilities. If Malcolm Delaney can play in the game, the Hokies should be able to keep the game close and possibly pull out a shocker but if Delaney can’t go, then the Hokies will struggle as I doubt Hudson can make lightening strike twice in such a short period of time.
Stats
Bullet Points
- Dorenzo Hudson’s career high 41 points is the most scored by a Hokie since Tech joined the ACC. In fact, the last player to score 40 or more pointes for the Hokies was Bimbo Coles who scored 42 against Rutgers on December 27th 1990.
- This was the Hokies first 100 point game since last years two overtime thriller against Duquesne, in which the Hokies won 116-108.
- Jeff Allen is now 10th on the Hokies All-Time Steals list with 155. He needs 28 to tie Carlos Dixon for 9th all-time.
- Dorenzo Hudson was a warrior on Saturday night, playing 44 of the 45 total minutes in the game. Combine that with him being the go-to-guy on offense as well as guarding the Big East’s 2nd leading scorer in Jeremy Hazell for the entire game, hopefully Zo rests well on the flight back to Blacksburg.
Next Up
Tech will have a week to rest up from this game before they have to travel to UNC on January 10th. The game is scheduled for 7:45 pm so check your local listings for what channel the game will be on.
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