January 13, 2007

Box Score

Virginia Tech 94, North Carolina 88

 

BLACKSBURG - For the second straight Saturday, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team worked up a little magic.

And Hokie Nation will be talking about this latest victory for a long, long time.

Finding some of the magic from 24 years ago - almost to the day - when Tech last beat a No. 1 team, the Hokies got balanced scoring on offense and used solid defense to force 17 turnovers and hold North Carolina to 43.8 percent shooting from the floor en route to a shocking 94-88 ACC victory over the top-ranked Tar Heels in front a frenzied crowd at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

The win - coming off an ACC victory at No. 5 Duke just seven days ago - marked Tech's first over a top-ranked team since Jan. 10^th, 1983, when the Hokies beat then-No. 1 Memphis State 69-56 at Cassell Coliseum. It marked just Tech's second all time over a No. 1 team.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Tech fans stormed the floor and several of the Hokies' players jumped on the press table and waved their arms in elation. Coleman Collins looked up at heaven, remembering his father, who passed away almost year ago. Tech head coach Seth Greenberg hugged his daughters and then hustled off the court before being mobbed in the pandemonium.

"It was just a great team win," Greenberg said. "I thought we had so many people contribute. That's the pleasure of coaching, seeing guys with some self-doubt and yet continue to grind and grind and grind.

"I told the guys that if they competed and believed in each other and believed in what we were trying to do, then they'd have a chance to see 10,000 people rush the court. This is just one of those special moments."

With the win - Tech's ninth in its past 10 games - the Hokies improved to 13-4 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. Tech now has beaten every team in the ACC (it beat BC as a member of the Big East, but not as an ACC member), and the Hokies and Boston College are alone at the top of the ACC standings.

North Carolina, which had just moved to No. 1 in the polls this past week, lost for only the second time this season, falling to 15-2 overall, 2-1 in the ACC. The Tar Heels saw their 12-game winning streak snapped, with 11 of those 12 wins coming by double digits.

Tech led by as many as 23 in the second half and by 19 with 3:36 left in the game - and appeared to be cruising toward a rout. But the Tar Heels put together one of their patented runs.

North Carolina outscored Tech 24-8 over the next 3:20, using three 3-pointers and three traditional three-point plays to get back into it. Ty Lawson's three-point play with 16.9 seconds left cut the Tech lead to 91-88.

The Tar Heels then fouled Zabian Dowdell with 14.8 seconds remaining and Dowdell hit one of two free throws to give Tech a 92-88 lead. On the ensuing possession, UNC's Danny Green missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Jamon Gordon rebounded for the Hokies. After getting fouled, Gordon canned both free throws with 4.5 seconds left to assure the Hokies of the victory.

"They're the No. 1 team in the nation. Blowouts are going to be hard to come by, so we didn't expect that," said Collins, who scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. "And I knew it wasn't over when we got up by 22 or 23 or whatever it was. We knew we were going to have to finish it out."

In the early going, it looked as though the Tar Heels were going to take control of the game. North Carolina jumped out to an early 17-9 lead and the Tar Heels led by seven, 21-13, after two Tyler Hansbrough free throws with 13:07 left in the first half.

After those two free throws, though, it was all Tech until the final three and a half minutes. During that span, the Hokies outscored the Tar Heels 70-43.

After Hansbrough's free throws, Tech embarked on a 17-0 run, hitting 6-of-9 from the floor. The Tar Heels went dry from the floor, going empty on nine straight possessions and missing 10 straight shots. Tech opened a 30-21 lead after the second of Gordon's back-to-back baskets with 7:46 left in the half. The Hokies led by as many as 11 in the first 20 minutes and took a 10-point lead into the locker room.

Much like they did against Duke, Tech's backcourt controlled UNC's backcourt. Dowdell paced five scorers in double figures with a season-high 23 points. The senior hit 5-of-9 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. Gordon scored 17 points and dished out six assists as Tech's backcourt got the better of the UNC freshmen backcourt of Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, who scored 16 and 12, respectively, but combined to hit just 10-of-22 from the floor.

"It's not like we shut those guys down," Greenberg said. "But I'm not trading my guys now. They're competitive, they're tough and they're winning players."

Tech shot 52.6 percent from the floor and 71.1 percent from the free-throw line, and committed just 11 turnovers against a UNC defense allowing opponents to shoot just 40 percent from the floor and forcing 17 turnovers a game. The Hokies scored more points against North Carolina than any team this season.

But the Hokies really won, though, because of their bench. Tech's bench, led by A.D. Vassallo's 17 points and Nigel Munson's 10, surprisingly outscored UNC's bench 36-23. Cheick Diakite added six points, three rebounds and three blocks for Tech.

"I thought we got great minutes from Cheick," Greenberg said. "A.D.'s been giving us good minutes, and we need to play Nigel more. We need to develop our depth and we're starting to. Deron [Washington] getting in foul trouble gave other guys opportunities and they responded."

Hansbrough led the Tar Heels with 19 points and 15 rebounds - his 11^th career double-double. Brandan Wright added 13 points and eight rebounds.

The win over North Carolina marked Tech's fourth over a nationally ranked team since joining the ACC. And it marked Tech fifth win over a nationally ranked team in Greenberg's three-plus years.

"It's [the win over UNC] a great win for Virginia Tech basketball," Greenberg said. "It's a great win for our seniors. But it doesn't mean anything if we don't do what we need to do in the next 13 games. It shows growth in what we're doing and how we're doing it and where we're going. We've got to build on what we're doing and not settle and just say that, 'Well, this has been a great week for Virginia Tech basketball.'"

Tech hits the road for its next game. The Hokies leave Tuesday for an ACC game against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., on Wednesday night. Tip-off for the game is slated for 7 p.m.