After being left out of the NCAA tournament for the third straight season, the Hokies had to regroup and focus on their upcoming NIT slate. The Hokies passed the first test with ease as the Hokies beat Quinnipiac in a fairly easy 81-61 fashion. Tech could have easily tanked and lost this game but thanks to a big donation from Malcolm Delaney, the Hokies rolled easily and will face the UCONN Huskies on Monday night.
This game was never close. Tech opened on a 10-3 run and that’s the closest the Bobcats ever came for the final 36 minutes. Delaney had his best shooting night of the season as he hit nine of his 15 shots including four from behind the arc, giving him a game high 25 points.
The Bobcats had two talented players but it was clear the team was just overmatched, especially as they went to their bench. Justin Rutty and James Johnson both had a good night. Rutty scored a team high 22 points on 10-13 shooting while Johnson chipped in 17 on five of 17 from the floor. However, after those two, nobody else had more than seven points for Quinnipiac.
Although the Hokies won by 20, the Bobcats were lucky this game wasn’t much worse. The Hokies only shot 45-percent from the field and missed 10 free throws thanks to Hudson’s 7-12 mark from the charity stripe.
With the win, the Hokies will move on to the second round on the NIT and face the UCONN Huskies in Blacksburg on Monday at 7 p.m. The Huskies are a big name program that, like UNC, has fallen off this year. Their head coach Jim Calhoun had to leave the team due to health problems during the middle of the year and since then the Huskies have fallen completely off the map.
UCONN has struggled on the road this season going just 2-8 in other teams arena’s and 1-2 on neutral courts. One of those wins was against the Villanova Wildcats so UCONN can play well when they want to.
The Hokies will have a battle on their hands but if they want to prove that the NCAA selection committee did them wrong, they need to take care of UCONN and win this game going away. The Hokies won’t likely play another “name” team for the rest of the tournament so beating UCONN would be a nice card to have on the recruiting trail.
Stats
Notes
Cassell was about half full on Wednesday night as the VTTO reported that over 5000 tickets were either bought or claimed. For a midweek game against an opponent most Tech fans couldn’t pronounce, I guess that wasn’t a bad turnout. If you can make it to the Monday night game against UCONN, please go. Tickets will only be 15 dollars for adults and five dollars for kids and students.
Ben Boggs season is over as he obtained a grade two sprained ankle in practice earlier this week. That’s why he was the only Tech player who didn’t play last night.
It was nice to see Davila have such a strong start in this game. He finished with nine points and seven rebounds after a span of ten games where he was almost a non-factor when he was out on the court. With Chaney waiting in the wings, if Davila doesn’t improve his game this off-season he could start to lose some minutes down the stretch next season.
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed and never miss another! Or sign up to get exclusive VirginiaTechFan.com Sports Analysis delivered straight to your inbox!
