Virginia Tech did what it had to do on the road in Winston-Salem Tuesday night, taking care of business with a 76-62 win over Wake Forest. The win improves Tech to 8-5 in the ACC and sets the stage for a showdown on a national stage with Duke on Saturday.
The Hokies got off to a slow start, leading by just two at 20-18 with six minutes to go in the first, but went on an 18-7 run to finish the half and open up a 13-point advantage at halftime. The spurt was keyed by two three-pointers from Jarell Eddie, playing in his first game since being charged with possession of marijuana last week. He did not play in Saturday's loss at UVA. Tech shot 56 percent in the first half, highlighted by the 6-for-10 performance in the last six minutes. Even more impressive was that the Hokies did all of that despite turning the ball over 11 times in the first 20 minutes.
It was much of the same shooting-wise for the Hokies in the second half, quickly expanding their advantage to 20 points in the first six minutes at 51-31. The lead swelled to 21 at 69-48 with six minutes remaining before Wake Forest hit some shots at the end to close the final margin to 14, the Deacs' second-lowest margin of defeat in ACC play this year.
Eddie had his best game as a Hokie, scoring 17 points to set a new career-high, surpassing his old total of 12 set last month against Wake Forest. The freshman from Charlotte was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.
Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen matched Eddie with 17 points each. Delaney was 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep, rebounding from a couple tough shooting games. Allen saw his double-double streak end at seven as he only gathered eight rebounds on the night.
Tech shot 60 percent (27-of-45) from the field and outrebounded the Deacs 33-19. As a squad, the Hokies were 8-of-12 from deep, a good sign for a team that hadn't been shooting well as of late. Not all things were as encouraging, as Tech turned the ball over 17 times, something they must fix before the Duke game Saturday.
Speaking of that Duke game, it's finally here for the Hokies. The next couple days will be full of distractions with the No. 1 team coming into Cassell with College Gameday in attendance. Some events of note before the actual game at 9 p.m. Saturday: Coach Greenberg will have his typical "Chalk Talk" Friday at noon at D2 previewing the game. On Friday night, there will be a poster creation contest at Cassell from 5-7 p.m. On Saturday morning, doors open at 8:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. broadcast. There will be Carol Lee donuts available outside Cassell at 7:30 a.m. Stay tuned to hokiesports.com for more updates of what is bound to be an exciting weekend for Hokie Hoops.
