Hokies Start Hot and Hold On Late to Defeat Wake Forest 93-91

Fresh off a humbling road loss at Duke following a 2-0 start in the ACC, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team returned to Cassell Coliseum looking to rebound against a dangerous Wake Forest squad. The Hokies opened with one of their most complete halves of basketball under head coach Buzz Williams, and then held on late to escape with a 93-91 win.

Against the Demon Deacons (10-6, 1-3 ACC), Tech (11-6, 3-1 ACC) played like a completely different team than the one that was almost run out of Cameron Indoor before halftime. Zach LeDay came out of the gates firing, he nailed two three pointers en route to a quick nine points. LeDay scored or assisted on the Hokies' first 13 points, but got into foul trouble shortly thereafter and spent the final 11 minutes of the first half on the bench.

In LeDay's absence, Justin Robinson was quick to pick up the slack. The freshman from Manassas did a fantastic job dribbling hard off screens at the top of the key, leading to easy finishes at the rim. When he struggled to find an open look, he was quick to attack the basket and find a way to get to the free throw line. Robinson finished the half with 11 points, matching his career high. He looked extremely assertive with the ball in his hands and gave teammate Justin Bibbs extra time to find his sea legs.

Four days removed from a paltry three points on 1-4 shooting against Duke, Bibbs caught fire in the final five minutes of the first half. Bibbs scored 18 of the Hokies final 22 points in the half, using a deadly inside-outside game that Wake failed to contain. He scored from distance, finished at the rim in transition and looked unstoppable on the catch-and-shoot.

The Hokies cruised into halftime with a 45-38 lead and looked in control thanks to a steady offense and some solid defending.

Tech's opening act was arguably one of the best halves of basketball under Williams, illustrating just how dangerous this baby faced squad can be when everything clicks. They combined largely disciplined defense and positioning with an active and effective high screen game that saw them nail threes and draw fouls at the hoop.

The Hokies struggled early defending screens, choosing not to hedge the ball handler and instead forcing the on-ball defender to fight over the top of the screen. This left open lanes for the ball handler to keep or kick to an open man, which Wake gladly turned into easy three-pointers and lightly contested baseline drives.

Buzz's bunch clamped down, utilizing an extremely active brand of defense that led to turnovers and forced the Demon Deacons to start their offense from 22 feet away. Wake was able to find success at times by splitting double teams and using quick passing to catch the Hokies out of position. When the Hokies were disciplined, they were able to force a lot of uncomfortable shots from the Deacs.

When that discipline fell apart, it led to plenty of wide open looks for Wake. It was the primary force behind the Deacs' 15-6 run to start the second half. Mitchell Wilbekin, Codi Miller-McIntyre and Rondale Watson used some great vision to carve up the Hokies defense and pull Wake back to a brief 53-51 lead with 15:52 to play.

"I think we are very fortunate to win, and that is not coach speak," said Williams. "We could not guard them in the second half. They just kept us in rotation and we couldn't guard the ball."

Two corner threes from LeDay bought the Hokies some breathing room, but Tech struggled to shake a suddenly hot-handed Wake team down the stretch. When Danny Manning's team switched to a 2-3 zone, the Hokies struggled to find the same offensive rhythm that paced them in the first half.

A fantastic burst of energy from center Satchel Pierce helped lift Tech's fledgling offense midway through the second half. Pierce hit a jumper, a layup, and then out-fought two Wake defenders for an offensive rebound and drew a foul that he converted into two made free throws. Six straight points from Pierce helped push the Hokies out front 74-71 with 8 minutes to play.

Wake's shooters continued to stay hot, constantly reeling in any Hokie leads with sharp outside shooting. The Deacs shot 18-27 (66.7%) from the field in the second half, 10-14 (71.4%) from distance. Six Wake players finished in double figures, led by Miller-McIntyre's 22 points on 8-11 shooting.

Ultimately, it was the Justin Bibbs show. Bibbs finished with a career high 32 points, none bigger than a huge corner three with the shot clock winding down that put the Hokies up by four with 1:06 to play. The sophomore finished 12-18 from the floor, including three triples, to go with two assists and three steals.

The Hokies led by five points after Zach LeDay hit one of two free throws with 40 seconds to play, but three pointers from Wilbekin and Miller-McIntyre on back-to-back possessions cut the Tech lead to 91-90. After Wake's press forced Seth Allen to take a timeout, Allen found Kerry Blackshear understandably wide open in the corner, who was quickly fouled and sent to the line for two. A 48% free throw shooter, one could argue Blackshear shouldn't have even been in the game given the circumstances.

Completely unfazed by the moment, the freshman from Orlando nailed both shots from the charity stripe to extend the Tech lead to 3 with 6.3 seconds to play. Game over, right? Not quite.

Miller-McIntyre took the inbounds up-court, pump faked Bibbs out of his shoes and drew three free throws with one second remaining. Suddenly the Hokies' hero was on the verge of turning into their goat.

Thankfully, Miller-McIntyre — a 70% free throw shooter — missed the first attempt. After making the second, he intentionally missed the third but Wake was unable to grab the loose ball, sealing the win for the Hokies.

"I was just praying and hoping he'd miss it," Bibbs said. "That's what he did. After he missed the first one, I was like, 'Thank God.'"

Wake Forest's ACC road woes continue, extending their record to 1-46 in their last 47 conference away games. Coincidentally, their only win came in January, 2014 against the James Johnson-led Hokies.

While it was a fantastic bounce-back win for Tech, it was not all flowers and unicorns for this young team. The Hokies played some solid defense for stretches and were quick to get out in transition and convert 16 Wake turnovers into 24 points. They got tremendous offensive performances from Bibbs, LeDay (20 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds) and Robinson (17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists), and benefitted from great energy plays from guys like Devin Wilson and Satchel Pierce.

At the same time, the Hokies were victimized by Wake's perimeter passing that was quick to find open players. When Tech's weakside defenders sagged too far into the paint, Wake guards punished the Hokies with skip passes that led to wide open corner threes. When Hokie defenders failed to maintain their positioning along the perimeter, Wake used good off-ball movement to create space and took advantage of the open looks.

Maybe it was a hot shooting night for the Deacs, but after watching Duke rain threes early on Saturday, it's hard not to worry a little about Tech's defensive rotations and perimeter defense. Buzz essentially said as much after the win.

"It is hard to beat a team that shoots it the way that they did," Williams said. "You wouldn't think that if you shot 50% from the field, 45% from the three, and 85% from the free throw line it would be a one possession game if you only knew those numbers."

After consecutive 2-16 seasons in ACC play, the Hokies have already won 3 conference games against some solid competition, and their 11 wins match last year's win total. Despite the absence of key players like Chris Clarke and Ahmed Hill, the future is clearly bright, but the present isn't too dim either.

The Hokies will look to maintain the positive momentum on the road Saturday at Georgia Tech. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.