Virginia Tech's six-game conference winning streak came to a screeching halt Thursday evening in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament as a balanced offensive attack from third-seeded Miami powered the Canes to an 88-82 victory over the Hokies.
"We tried a little bit of everything," said Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams. "We ran the gamut of all the different defenses we could...None of it was very effective."
Miami's experienced backcourt trio of Angel Rodriguez, Sheldon McClellan and Davon Reed scored 57 of the Canes' 88 points and were responsible for all eight of Miami's three-pointers. Throw in sixth-man Ja'Quan Newton — absent for each of the prior two matchups between the Hokies and Canes — and Miami had their full compliment of guards to slow down Tech's dangerous dribble-penetration offense.
Miami wasn't completely successful — head coach Jim Larranaga joked his players would be running wind sprints for the litany of fouls they committed — but the Canes' defense presented just enough opposition to force Tech into 14 turnovers.
"A lot of them were live-ball turnovers that turned into transition points," said Virginia Tech guard Seth Allen. "We only lost by 6...You take away 3 (turnovers), that's six points right there."
Allen tallied a game-high 31 points for the Hokies, surpassing his previous career-high of 28. The Maryland transfer was one of the lone bright spots for the Hokies offensively, the only Tech guard who enjoyed success at penetrating into the teeth of the Miami defense.
Zach LeDay and Justin Robinson were both saddled with foul trouble early in the first half, a setback this Hokies team appeared unable to handle against an opponent as talented as Miami. Neither LeDay nor Robinson seemed to ever fully recover from limited first half minutes, each falling short of the remarkably high level of play they've performed at over the season's final few weeks.
It was an eerily quiet Verizon Center for much of the game's first twenty minutes, the "X-factor" from the Hokies' recent winning streak noticeably absent. The Hokies looked sluggish, sloppy and disinterested for the majority of the first half, head-scratching turnover after head-scratching turnover leading directly to Miami buckets. The Canes lead reached double-digits for the first time with four minutes remaining in the first half courtesy of a Sheldon McClellan mid-range jumper, and it seemed as if things were close to getting away from the Hokies. But despite Tech's uncharacteristically lethargic start, the Hokies clamped down on defense over the final four minutes and rattled off an 11-2 run to cut the Miami lead to one heading into the break.
"I thought we were out of sorts for most of the first half," said Williams. "(Justin Robinson) was in foul trouble. Zach was in foul trouble. We played five guards for four to six minutes there to close it."
Defensive mishaps from Tech plagued them early on in the second half as Rodriguez knocked down three triples — two of which came off ball-screen coverage confusion — in a span of under three minutes. Miami kept their foot on the pedal from there with a bevy of buckets highlighted by a deep McClellan three that gave the Canes a 59-44 lead with 12:14 to play. The Canes maintained a comfortable double-digit lead for a seven-minute stretch before center Tonye Jekiri gifted the Hokies with four free throws after being whistled for a technical foul with just over five minutes to play. Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Allen drained all four from the line, cutting the Miami lead to just 8 in the process. The experienced Canes squad never panicked, though, coolly putting the game away with a steady, turnover-free backcourt and solid shooting from the line.
The Hokies' quarterfinal loss officially brings Williams' second year of ACC play to a close, and boy what a year it was. Williams' Hokies tallied a completely unexpected 11 conference wins, none more noteworthy than potential program-defining victories over Virginia and Miami. The Hokies' outside shot at an NCAA Tournament berth has now disappeared, but an NIT bid likely awaits.
"I think what we've done speaks for itself," said Williams. "If that's good enough for the NIT, we'd be thankful for an invite."
And Williams is right, of course — it's tough to argue that any team in the country surpassed expectations more than this Virginia Tech team.
"I think we made a great stride," said Allen. "We were picked 14th in the league and we had the second hardest schedule, and (still) finished sixth. That speaks to what coach Buzz...He knows what he's doing, man. He's the Coach of the Year in my mind"
But despite the warranted optimism surrounding the Hokies' program, it was a somber locker room postgame. The Hokies hadn't danced around the subject in recent weeks — they had their minds set on the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm just not satisfied with the NIT," said Allen. "...If you ask a fan, they're gonna be happy, of course. This program hasn't had much success in history. But if you ask anybody in this locker room, it's a blessing to play in the postseason, don't get me wrong...It's just you want more."
"You know what I'm saying?" Allen asked me, clearly not wanting to appear arrogant or unappreciative.
Yes Seth, I do. We do.
Wanting more is a good thing.
Comments
Effort was there, legs weren't. Really proud of what this team has done, just a wonderful team to watch. We are a freshman-sophomore dominated team who can learn from the process. Next year we need a graduate transfer big man to come in and help up front, this team has the potential to be really great next season. Man, do I love me some Buzz!
Yeah. I'm proud of them and super happy we have Buzz Williams, but I wonder if they didn't have to play both late games how they would have managed. That's really tough, playing late, especially considering the night before they weren't done until after midnight. You could kind of tell early on that they were just tired but they hung in there and they played hard against a Miami team that honestly for any team is going to be hard to beat when they're ahead. They missed what, only two free throws with 4 minutes left, every time Tech made a move they just kept hitting free throws.
Great effort and great improvement as the year moved along.
Looks like they had the seeding about right.
What else can be said. Great effort, we are proud of this team. The vision of what has begun is very exciting.
They need to rest up, hold their heads high and get ready for the NIT. This team will continue to shine.
Miami is so talented. They made NBA play after NBA play. Glad to see most of those guys move on.
They dominated us in Miami, we dominated #7 in Blacksburg, rubber match decided by 6 points and even with the "I've never made a three before but I couldn't miss against VT" boost, they couldn't quite put us away comfortably.
Let's move forward and do great things. Looks like the teams behind us that we beat aren't getting in either (Pitt was a split), unless the committee closes their eyes and picks Syracuse.
Seems like there is always one player from anyone we play
It's a subset of law that QB who hasn't rushed for a single yard is going for 85 yds and a score against VT.
Ugh, don't remind us...
Insult to injury: the ESPN recap on my phone says Miami beat West Virginia 88-82.
At least Miami didn't cover the spread...
I think we're a clear 1 seed ATS.
/s
I puked a little at the ESPN bit.
This team was a spread beater all season. They beat it in almost every game. A few they won when they were given points.
All good things must come to an end, but the boys have played their butts since mid February. They looked a little tired at the beginning of the game , but so did the crowd. Too many wahoos in the building for my liking that were cheering the Canes. Well they got their wish and hope the Canes blow their arrogant asses away. Great season for the HOKIES!!!
This loss would have been so much more tolerable if ESPN hadn't been all over Miami last night. It's ESPN, and they're trash, and they'll always be trash, but that stupid segment where they played Larranaga's pregame speech with stupid highlights showed their true colors. It was disgusting. Then Jay Bilas had the nerve to say VT has ruined the program by firing Greenberg. Wish there was someone to complain to. Oh well.
I didn't hear the Bilas quote, and I don't think firing Seth ruined the program, but it definitely torpedoed it. The timing of Seth's termination was a disaster and put Tech into a massive hole. At best, James Johnson's tenure kept the program buried, and at worse made it a much higher climb out. Buzz gutted almost the entire roster he inherited and implemented a sweeping culture change. Things were so dire when Buzz took over, sniffing the NIT in year three was a reasonable goal. He's a year ahead of schedule, which is remarkable.
I agree, but I also don't recall Bilas giving Buzz credit while they sung Seth's praises. Seth's firing was the culmination of a lot of different things, and there aren't many coaches that could save the program. I think it ruined JJ's career because of the state the program was left in. People outside of Virginia Tech will never understand or know why Weaver handled that the way he did. Was it wrong? Probably, but he did it all intentionally because of how much of an ass Seth Greenberg (supposedly) was. Just wish ESPN would give VT some credit for their progress in two years. But if Seth is still employed, I have a feeling ESPN will always hold it against VT.
Why would ESPN hold the firing of Seth against VT? They got a desk analyst out of the deal, Seth may still hold a grudge but I don't see the mother ship as 'holding it against us'. I was in the stadium so I didn't really hear the commentary but ESPN holding "it" (I'm not even really sure what "it" you are talking about) against us doesn't make sense.
At this point, this seems like crying over spilled milk. I don't need a "good job, good effort" speech from ESPN or anyone else to feel better about the loss or this season. Bilas isn't required to credit Buzz because he praised Seth. For what it's worth, I think Bilas is one of the most objective and intelligent talking heads on the Four-Letter. (And here's an interview with Bilas from 2015. He speaks reasonably about Tech, and is plenty complementary of Buzz.)
It was a cut off your nose to spite your face move.
FWIW, that one year that VT got snubbed on Selection Sunday (I think it was the year that VCU went so far) I watched Jay Bilas go on a TIRADE in the Hokies' defense... how they were so deserving of a bid that year, and just got robbed.
You're right. In the end it doesn't really matter, but the little segment with Larranaga's pregame speech with Miami highlights bothered me way more than it should have so I've just been bitching about that.
Maybe they should release the segment with Larranaga's speech with highlights of Seth Allen making free throws they were going to show if we'd won.
/s
He definitely gave Buzz credit - it's what sparked the discussion of Greenberg in the first place.
I'm paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of "Buzz is doing a tremendous job and they'll soon get back to the place they were when Greenberg was there."
"I think it ruined JJ's career because of the state the program was left in"
JJ looked like he was doing just fine on the Miami bench last night!
JJ is a great coach, but he was in way over his head as head coach in the ACC. He's the kind of guy who, let him get some experience at the mid major level in leading a program, letting him learn the ropes where he'll legitimately have time to grow his craft without getting demolished night in and night out by the legitimate best coaches in the game, and I have no doubts he would be leading a big time program and doing well in no time.
For his sake, I hope his time as Head Hokie didn't torpedo the rest of his head coaching career, because I really do think that he can and will be a great coach one day. He's just not ready, yet.
You are a kind and generous person. Thank you for setting a great example for believing in others.
I'm sure under different circumstances he could be successful. Didn't mean for my comment to sound like I was dissing JJ. Just that despite how bad things ended up here, it seems like he landed on his feet with an asst. coaching gig with a top ranked program and great head coach to learn from.
I wonder if replacing Seth with a solid hire would have changed that thought? James Johnson hire may have been Weaver's worst move.
The whole thing went SNAFU. Always seemed like he hit the panic button instead developing a real plan of action.
I always thought he hired JJ to keep guys like Erick Green. I heard Green was going to transfer if they didn't hire JJ.
I didn't hear "ruin," I heard "set back." Which is entirely true. But part of the set back was that Seth drove us to that place by running a program that no assistants wanted to work for, disrespecting his boss and generally not playing nice with others. Seth's demise was certainly a setback and fault lies on all shoulders.
They could have had a shot from Seth to JJ (sitting on Miami's bench) to Buzz. That would have been interesting.
I didn't even hear Bilas say that firing Greenberg set the program back. I heard him say that the program took a step back after Greenberg was let go. Which, whether you hate Bilas and ESPN or not, no one can argue against that point.
I never got the impression that Bilas was bashing the Hokies. I thought his commentary was pretty solid through both games.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Whatever he said, I didn't take specific notice of it because it was benign and accurate.
You guys are right. I probably just misconstrued it given that the entire broadcast felt like a UM circle jerk. Oh well. Life goes on. We'll make them notice us when we're in the final four the next couple seasons.
He even said that Buzz has the program going in the right direction and mentioned earlier in the game about how young we are.
I think that Dan Shulman got confused late in the game when he was talking about how young we are, but referenced that we had multiple seniors as well, which in reality Henry is the only one.
Glad I watched it on the ACC Network
Here's the thing. Virginia Tech during the Greenberg era was an entirely different organization than it is now. Just about every meaningful position has had turnover. Holding a continued grudge because of Seth's demise is just retarded when the people responsible are retired, fired, or dead.
On little tidbit, as much as ESPN talks up Greenburg, he hasn't found a new coaching job in 5 years now.
If Greenberg wanted a job I'm sure he could find one. He's making a mint being a talking head on ESPN. Hard to fault him for not wanting to give that up to get back into the stressful world of Div 1 NCAA coaching.
I am pretty sure $-wise coaching >>> talking head.
True, but we're paying him to do both.
Seth's buyout was $1.2M spread out over four years. It runs out this April.
Not quite sure what broadcasting pays (I recently read that Barkley makes $1.5M, Berman and Tirico make $3M, Nantz makes $5M). Seth only has to work 5 months a year, so that's probably $200k? Maybe $300k?
Still, we are paying him $300K a year (until April!) and if he doubles that at ESPN, he would still be better off coaching. Maybe he gets back into it this year if he can. The Rutgers job may be a good spot for him.
You also have to take in the quality of life that he enjoys being an analyst versus being a coach. Like you said, right now he only has to work 5 months of the year. Being a head coach at D1 essentially means working an average of 14-16 hours for those 5-6 months and still putting in 10 hour days the rest of the year. Depending on the jobs, how much does he need to make to give up that quality of life? Keep in mind that Ray Lewis landed a seven figure salary from ESPN when he got involved in their NFL presentation. Quite a few personalities making huge money from ESPN.
Yeah, but I think Seth legitimately enjoys being an ESPN host for college basketball. He loved getting in front of the media when he was our coach, he always ended up on ESPN after our season was over, and he is now positioned to be the heir apparent to the Digger Phelps and Dickie V personalities for the sport. That alone would be very tough to give up in order to get back to the year round job of being a college basketball coach.
Seth had the best of both worlds until this year. Tech has now stopped paying Greenberg but until this year he was getting his talking head money and what VT owed him because of the firing. Think this was the last $300K we had to give him as part of the buyout.
When we let him go, we had to keep paying him as long as he wasn't coaching for four years. This is the fourth year. Wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go back to coaching next year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/seth-greenberg-era-ends-at-virginia-tech/2012/04/23/gIQABGQBdT_story.html
I think that Rutgers may be interested in him.
I get what Allen means by wanting more, but I'm very excited for the NIT. A good run in the NIT seems more beneficial and more exciting than the potential for a one loss NCAA stint. I hope they're ready to do work and build on this great season.
They did it. They made me care about the round football again.
Preliminary drawings of the new ball for next season:
Good effort, but sloppy with the ball. Countless "hospital balls", shooting just wasn't there..now how much of that was lack of execution vs. Miami forcing the issue, I don't know, but it definitely seemed that Miami benefited from not playing the day before, and being extra motivated from the game on Saturday.
Regardless, this season far exceeded my expectations. Looking forward to (hopefully) the NIT, and next season!
Our Hokies are incredibly young, and last night they played like it. However, that doesn't take away from the amazing year they put together against all the odds. They will continue to grow and hopefully be where Miami is now, upperclassmen everywhere and top 4 in the ACC.
#InBudWeTrustSorry, habit....
#InBuzzWeTrust
Love this team, might be really special next year.
Also those quotes make me want to give Seth Allen a hug.
Also I just want to hug Seth Allen anyway.
The season may not be done. ..at least we should have the tournament (NIT) to continue to show the country this amazing team!
I agree with Seth Allen's comments at the end of the article, keep striving for more. He seems to have his head on right with the right perspective. Proud to be a Hokie.
Not only a star player but also a leader as well. I think it'll connect with the rest of the team.
The words/phrases these guys use.
The show that Shane Henry gave for his last leave at Cassell.
The phrases Buzz uses in each of his media interviews and on facebook.
The talent we already have for next year that we watched all season.
The talent we already have for next year that couldn't play this year.
Next. Year. Is. Gonna. Be. HUGE!!!
But first, What's Important Now: These guys are hungry, they want to Win the NIT!!
No sour grapes here, NIT is a good fit for us this year, I think. We did seem a little tired, Miami definitely benefited from the extra rest. Turnovers were our bugaboo, but also, all of the points we left at the rim on missed layups were crucial as well. I know, most were contended, but we missed enough of them to win the game had we not. Allen's "quiet" 31 points notwithstanding, we seemed discombobulated enough to lose badly, but we didn't, and it is a testament to Buzz and the team that we played hard to the last second. Good season, Hokies. Hopefully, it ain't over yet.
This was heartbreaking and frustrating to watch. I wonder how many points Robinson left on the front of the rim last night. It felt like 12-14 from the stands.
With Miami's size, this is gonna happen (as compared to our FSU game, for instance). Our guys drive the lane really well and they can move the ball around to avoid these larger guys longer reach. Just the fact that the ball gets up there shows they are pretty successful at that, but those small manipulations have ramifications. These misses show the detail that goes on at the rim. (I agree with you, frustrating - I had my head in my hands each time that ball rolled along the rim and came out).
To me this shows how good our guys ball control really is. They will be even better at it next year - "furthering their craft" so to speak.
Wasn't just number 5, Hudson had a few bad ones, Allen and LeDay too, IIRC
No doubt turnovers and missed layups killed us. There were several crucial moments where we could have really cut their lead and stolen momentum that ended in a missed layup or turnover.
It was chalk all across the bracket, so I think it shows that the rest you get from the bye's is very beneficial due to the long and hard ACC regular season. Next year maybe we can get that extra benefit.
We had a ton of balls rim out last night. The basket was cursed. Who forgot to make the sacrifice to Jobo?
A lot of positives to take away from this season. After getting run out of the gym by St. Joe's and the cousins (along with a couple of the other early season losses), I couldn't imagine more than 2 ACC wins. But the team really grew up, and it was fun to watch.
I'd love to see improvement in two areas next year:
1) Our defensive rotations were back to atrocious last night. During that 6 game win streak, they got better but still were not great. I don't know if it is a mental issue with these guys being young, or simply an energy thing. In any event, the defensive rotations need to improve.
2) We have to figure out something down low. I know we don't have a ton of experience with our post guys, but leaning on LeDay for everything just doesn't work every night (reference last night against Miami). If KBJ can figure things out defensively and generate a bit of offense next year, this team can be really good.
The one are of growth that I'm most impressed with is the emergence of Justin Robinson. The kid can straight ball! When he is on the floor with Allen, they are tough to contain... a BIG reason, IMO, that we had so much success down the stretch.
Great season Hokies!
I thought our rotation D was really good against Miami at Cassell. I thought that was a key part of that win.
We're ahead of schedule by a year and over the last couple weeks the players showed us their potential. For the first time in a long while, I am legitimately excited about both the short term and long term future of Virginia Tech basketball. The experience these kids are going to have while making a run in the NIT (which is unreal to think about considering where we were last year and how this year began) will only make them that much better and more dangerous come tournament season down the line. The big, big difference I see between the Greenberg years and now is that this program is going to continue to get better, and not plateau at this bubble spot.
I agree that the program is getting better but if you look at the players that Seth G had coming in and those that left because of the firing, we could have been very special that year. But we will never get the true story of what was going on behind the scenes. Too many egos, I am sure.
I think the final nail in the coffin for Seth was when he couldn't get a roster of senior players in Allen/Delaney/Thompson/Hudson to the NCAAs. I don't think JW was prepared to make a coaching change at that time, but that is when it should have happened.
One thing that really stood out to me (and I don't really see anyone talking about it, including Bilas last night) was how well Miami defended the 3-point line. We could barely get off a shot behind the arc, and we went 2-9 from deep last night while Miami attempted 18 treys.
Contrast that to a week ago in Blacksburg where we attempted 17 3-pointers - it was blatantly obvious that Miami was taking away the three and daring us to penetrate into the lane where they had rim-protectors waiting. We played right into their gameplan and if not for Seth Allen, that scoreline could have looked very different.
Maybe the guys were tired playing on back-to-back nights, but I saw a lot of offensive possessions where guys were standing still for huge chunks of the shot clock. We didn't move the ball around the perimeter very well for most of the game and we were too reliant on individuals breaking down the defense to create offense. That hasn't been a great formula for us this year, and it eventually bit us.
This team has definitely overachieved though, and there's a really great foundation for next year. Exciting times ahead!
Yeah - this was really obvious especially compared to a week ago. Miami defense was standing on the 3 point line and didn't give much ground last night vs. last week when their outstretched arms were barely across the line.
Whelp, just one more thing the hoos should kiss our asses for...softening up the canes for them.
Question: have there been any tweets/posts from former Tech players (Green, Delaney, etc) lately?
Green tweeted out recently about watching the tourney.
Saw Buzz replied to one from Delaney as well.
Too much pride to roll over last night when it was clear Miami was better, not enough talent to come back when Miami left the door open. Alas. Never defeated, only killed.
The worst is when you wake up to check the score in the middle of the night, groggily read the numbers wrong, do a little happy wiggle that we won, and wake up later to see we lost. Even Fridays are hard sometimes.
I feel bad for you on so many different levels right now.
So I was cleaning off my desk today and I found a slip of paper where I predicted the VT outcomes of every game before we played Duke. I got every game right except vLouisville and @Wake. I had us a 10-8. I must have been feeling pretty good that day.
Great season ending run by the Hokies this TEAM has come together and while we didn't Beat Miami last night this TEAM has vastly improved and BUZZ has created a winning culture. Remember the outrage a season ago about team member(s) missing weight day because of some snow. I think that issue has been resolved and BUZZ has the GUNS to prove it! IN BUZZ I TRUST. Great days ahead for Hokie BBall.
I don't where else to ask this question, shouldn't the decision on Tyrone Outlaw need to be made shortly after season ends? Recruiting period starts April 13th. I hope he is able to come back. Anybody hearing anything?