Chris Clarke's Energetic Performance Powers Hokies Past VMI 76-52

With three straight games in double figures, and his highest point total of his career Saturday night, it seems Chris Clarke is starting to deliver on some of the tremendous hype that accompanied his commitment to Virginia Tech.

Clarke didn't lead the team in scoring in the team's 76-52 win over VMI — that honor went to Seth Allen with 17 points — yet the freshman's 14 points had head coach Buzz Williams ready and willing to sing his praises after the game.

"He's gonna end up being really good," Williams said of Clarke. "I like those kinda guys."

Specifically, Williams is particularly taken with Clarke's ability to get to the paint and draw fouls. After all, eight of his points came courtesy of his 12 free throw attempts, a figure that was tops on the team by a mile.

It's that just type of player that Williams is hoping to attract to his young program, and he's not shy about making it clear just how important he feels Clarke is to the team he's trying to build in Blacksburg.

"All coaches want to recruit inside-out, and I thought it was a huge statement for our program (that he committed), and it says a lot that the trust that the Clarke family put in us," Williams said.

But it wasn't a commitment that came easy for Williams, requiring Clarke to flip from his pledge to Tennessee, but it's one that there's no doubt he's proud of.

"The first day that you could go recruit at Virginia Tech, the only employees at the basketball office officially were (Isaac) Chew and myself...Chew and I left Blacksburg at 5 a.m. and we worked 21 hours," Williams said. "The first stop was to see Justin Robinson at his high school, and the last stop that night, we were two and a half hours late, was to see Chris Clarke. I saw him play every single AAU game that spring and that summer except once."

"We want to recruit guys that are hard to guard. Guys that are hard to guard are typically versatile, and guys that are versatile have the ability to do multiple things."

Clarke may not be even close to his full potential yet, but his energy certainly made a tremendous difference for the Hokies against a frisky Keydets squad that battled Tech to a tie at the half.

The Keydets certainly kept the game tight early. Although the Hokies were active on the glass to start things off, with Zach LeDay and Shane Henry each notching two boards apiece in the first four minutes of play, VMI drew within one point at 11-10 at the first media timeout.

Just 20 seconds later, VMI guard QJ Peterson drained a three to give the Keydets their first lead of the game at 13-11.

But then the Hokies heated up offensively, kicking off an 11-0 run with a Seth Allen free throw. A pair of Chris Clarke and-1's helped them push things further, ultimately going up 22-13 with 7:10 to play in the half.

But VMI guard Julian Eleby ended the run with a three pointer, and the Keydets settled down.

They even put together an 8-0 run of their own to go up 26-25, before a pair of LeDay free throws put the Hokies back in front with under a minute left in the period.

Eleby came back with yet another triple, but a dunk by Johnny Hamilton as the clock hit zero helped the Hokies tie things up at 29 heading into the locker room.

"It is frustrating, QJ on their team hit a lot of threes early, and played really well, so we focused on shutting him down because he scored pretty much all their points in the first half," Allen said.

The Keydets, long renowned for their prolific shooting, certainly had their fair share of success behind the arc in the half. VMI went 7 of 18 from deep, while the Hokies only managed to go 0 for 3. VMI even held a narrow advantage on the glass at the half, 19 to 18, with nine boards of the offensive variety.

Williams emerged from the locker room in a Frank Beamer long-sleeved shirt to honor the departing Hokies coach, and his players took notice.

"We haven't seen that (before)," Clarke said. "He said it was a one of one. It's an amazing shirt. I wanted one but he said it was one of one."

Whether it was the shirt or a change in gameplan, the Hokies came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. A thunderous fast break dunk by Clarke keyed a 9-0 run to open up the half, and by the time another Eleby three put VMI back on the board, the Hokies were up 40-34 with four minutes gone.

The Keydets hung around a bit, pulling within 44-38, but a smooth Justin Robinson stepback jumper and a Justin Bibbs free throw push the VT lead out to nine at 47-38.

Johnny Hamilton then muscled his way to a tough layup in the paint, and got fouled in the process. He was able to complete the and-1 to put Tech up 50-38 with 11 minutes left.

Allen followed that up with his second three-pointer of the game, staking the Hokies to their largest lead of the night at 53-40. A tip in and free throw by Hamilton kept Tech rolling, pushing the lead to 56-40 with 7:50 left.

Bibbs started to find his shooting stroke as well, hitting a pair of triples back to back to stake the Hokies to a 62-46 lead with a little over five minutes remaining.

"We had their defense in a blender, meaning they didn't know what to guard, it was longer closeouts," Allen said. "We kept touching the paint, forcing rotation, making the closeouts longer so they were trying to help and recover, and it was just too much."

Things got a bit heated a little over a minute later, as Zach LeDay very nearly got into a scuffle with a VMI player following two free throws. Backup Greg Donlon ended up leaving the bench in the commotion, an act that got him booted from the game.

But a Robinson three pointer and LeDay helped the Hokies roll on undeterred, keeping a big lead at 71-50. Eleby recorded two more free throws, but a LeDay jumper and Allen triple helped the Hokies close out the win, 76-52.

"We didn't hang our heads, we got to the free throw line a lot, and we put pressure on their defense by just pushing it down," Allen said.

The Hokies certainly did make their way to the charity stripe with aplomb, attempting 33 over the course of the game, and 18 in the first half alone. By contrast, VMI went to the foul line just six times.

But even with the big win, Williams cautioned there's plenty of room to improve. He specifically pointed to VMI's rebounding advantage in the first half as cause for concern.

"I think defensively tonight in the second half we were better, partly because we didn't give them multiple offensive rebounds," Williams said. "We have to be able to finish a possession with a rebound. I think our guys know that, but knowing it and executing it are two different things."

Finding that type of execution means that Williams believes the Hokies will have to confront more than just the coming weeks' opponents.

"I don't think is the opponent is necessarily who we're competing against, I think the opponent is ourselves," Williams said. "We've got to figure out how, within that group that we have, how we can mature and be like the team in the second half much more often."