The Virginia Tech men's basketball team walked into Winston-Salem on Saturday with the confidence of a group coming off of a win. They left, however, a three point loser, falling 70-73 to Wake Forest.
For the third time in a row, this one came down to a Hokie three ball at the buzzer. This iteration was missed by Justin Bibbs as time expired, marking the seventh conference loss for the Hokies on the season.
Everything about the game felt like it wasn't going to go Tech's way. The three pointers weren't falling in the first half, and the officials established early on that any semblance of contact would be called a foul. The combination of the two isn't usually a recipe for success, and would often be considered a death knell for an undersized squad without much of a bench.
Predictably, the Hokies kept plugging away despite everything working against them. They attacked the paint and found more success inside than they're used to. Devin Wilson kept Wake's defense on their heels all day as he probed and prodded with purpose, making plays for both himself and his teammates.
Buzz's bunch had many opportunities to take charge, but a few untimely turnovers and multiple Wake second chances (shocker, I know) ultimately kept a win just out of reach.
In a note that will sound incredibly foreign to Tech basketball fans, free throw shooting was the team's biggest advantage throughout the game. The young team, which shot 61% from the line on the year, drained fistfuls of them with confidence. The Hokies ended the day 17-20 from the charity stripe, finally not leaving a regrettable amount of points off the board.
Saturday also marked the return of Bibbs. After missing four consecutive contests with a concussion, the freshman wing played 20 minutes off the bench. Though there were rocky moments in the beginning, Bibbs never looked hesitant on offense. He consistently attacked the Demon Deacons, trying to draw contact and get to the line.
It was nice to see Bibbs get his feet wet again, and especially nice to know that the head injury wasn't going to make him gun shy (especially close to the basket). As the television broadcasters noted, there was definitely a little rust defensively, but you'd expect that from a player who hasn't played in two and a half weeks.
The Hokies will travel to Syracuse to play the Orange on Tuesday, the rematch of another exciting game that went down to the wire in Blacksburg. It will be interesting to see the way this team comes back off of another close loss, but if recent history has told us anything it's that this squad will be ready to go head-to-head with their next opponent.
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