Hokies Survive NIT Opener With 86-81 Overtime Victory Over Princeton

Zach LeDay went to Kroger early this week, a straight-forward trip to the local pharmacy that would take 5 minutes for just about anyone in Blacksburg not named Frank Beamer. But this trip turned into a near-hour long expedition, an informal photo-op of sorts with fans desperate to meet the Hokies' star big man.

Bad news, Zach: If you keep posting double-doubles every night, your trips to the grocery store are only getting longer.

Leday, for once on the right end of a mismatch inside, asserted himself from the opening tip against an undersized Princeton team, powering the Hokies to an 86-81 overtime victory over the Tigers with a 29 point and 11 rebound performance.

"Once I (saw) the way they were guarding me, I knew I could dominate the game," said LeDay.

The win marks the twentieth of the season for the Hokies, yet another milestone reached for a basketball program quickly approaching relevance on college basketball's national landscape.

"I think it's pretty big," said Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams. "Maybe I shouldn't say that. I think it's a milemarker. 20 wins is the total number of wins that Virginia Tech has had the last two years. We have a chance to exceed that on Friday night."

That chance will come against the Cougars of BYU, a prolific up-tempo offense that resembles the near polar opposite of the Princeton offense put on display Wednesday night in Blacksburg. But for a stretch late in the second half, it seemed as if that chance would never come, a bevy of Princeton three-pointers sending Cassell Coliseum into a state of shock as the Tigers took a late-game lead after trailing for nearly 30 straight minutes. Jalen Hudson had other plans, though, coolly knocking down big shot after big shot to help keep the Hokies' dreams of a semi-final appearance at Madison Square Garden alive.

Hudson finished with 28 points and 8 rebounds, perhaps his finest performance in maroon and orange since he almost single-handedly beat Wake Forest in the Hokies' ACC Tournament opener a year ago.

"Tonight we wouldn't have won without Jalen," Williams said succinctly.

But aside from the standout performance of Hudson, it was a miserable offensive day for the Hokies' backcourt, a surprising turn of events after Seth Allen and Justin Robinson played so brilliantly in Washington, D.C. a week ago. Allen, Robinson, and Justin Bibbs combined to go 3-21 from the field, a historically bad figure that helps explain how Princeton managed to stick around despite shooting under 30% from behind the arc

"Other than Jalen and Zach being superlative...I thought our perimeter offense was collectively as bad as it's been in a while," said Williams. "I didn't think Seth was very good. I didn't think Bibbs was very good. I didn't think five (Robinson) was very good. But I will say that I thought they were mature in trying to fight through it, individually and collectively...Not everything's gonna go perfect all the time."

The notorious Princeton offense — known most for its spacing, backdoor cuts, and three-point shooting — gave the Hokies fits in stretches throughout the night, but Tech's full-court press and ball pressure seemed to speed up the Tigers just enough to force a poor shooting night.

"Playing against that system, I thought our guys handled it really well," said Williams. "But I think the cumulative effect of it is so counter-intuitive to how you play which is why it's the Princeton system. And you're so cognizant of, we call them absolutes, the Princeton absolutes, the things you have to do in order to have a chance to beat them. And then all of a sudden, the way they're beating you is they're just driving it straight to the basket, just straight-line drives."

Princeton jumped on the Hokies early with a 9-0 run to start the game as Tech struggled to adjust to the Tigers' five-out offense. But after a Williams timeout less than three minutes in, the Hokies responded with a 13-3 run of their own to take a 1-point lead into the under 12 media timeout. Tech led for the rest of the half from there on out, once even extending their lead to 28-17 just five minutes before the break. But Princeton showed their chops over the final few minutes, cutting the Tech advantage to just four with 33 seconds to play before a LeDay buzzer-beating dunk sent the Hokies into halftime up six.

The tempo picked up early in the second half as the Hokies and Tigers traded buckets for much of the first ten minutes. But with Tech clinging to a 10-point lead with just over nine minutes to play, Princeton went on their run. A pair of three-pointers from Devin Cannady and Alec Brennan cut the Hokies' lead to four, and minutes later a triple from Alec Bell gave the Tigers a 61-60 lead with 4:13 to play. LeDay answered with two free throws after the under four media break, but yet another three from Cannady put Princeton back on top. Allen made one of two free throws on the Hokies' next trip, and Hudson connected on a deep jumper following a Princeton turnover to put Tech back up by one. The lead would be short-lived, though, as Princeton scored on two straight possessions to take a 68-65 lead with 54 seconds to play. Hudson was fouled on the Hokies' next possession and made one of two from the line, and Princeton proceeded to throw the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds to keep Tech's hopes alive. Allen knocked down two free throws to tie the game with 32 seconds to play after being fouled by Bell, and the Hokies clamped down on Princeton in the final possession of regulation to force overtime.

The extra period belonged to the Hokies, a combination of dominant inside play from LeDay and a raucous Cassell Coliseum crowd willing the Hokies to their first NIT victory since the Seth Greenberg era.

The Hokies' customary celebration ensued, the players and coaches heading to the Washington Street end of Cassell to high-five the front row of the student section. That wouldn't do on this night, though, as Williams instructed security to open up the gate to the stands, the second-year coach determined to celebrate right in the thick of things with the maroon-clad faithful that showed up en masse to support this team.

"I just wanted to mark the moment somehow just a little bit better than waving at them," said Williams. "I'm a picture fanatic and so I wanted to have some pictures to mark it...I thought the crowd was easily the best it's been since I've been here...the students, the season-ticket holders, the community, I thought it was fabulous."