Hokies Lead at the Half

By Adam Kilgore, in Charlotte

Virginia Tech leads Miami, 27-23, at halftime after weathering nearly 14 minutes without forward Deron Washington. The Hokies led, 12-11, when Washington left the game with his second foul at the 13:49 mark. Freshmen Dorenzo Hudson and Terrell Bell took Washington's place checking Miami star point guard Jack McClinton, and he did not score any of his six points after Washington left the game. Kudos to them.

Coach Seth Greenberg emphasized rebounding in the scouting reporting after Miami thrashed the Hokies on the boards in Blacksburg, 35 rebounds to 20. Right now, Virginia Tech has 22 rebounds, and Miami has 13. Eight of the Hokies rebounds are offensive, and Jeff Allen has six rebounds. I guess Greenberg's not coach of the year for nothing.

Miami reeled off a 12-2 run at one point, taking a 23-21 lead with little more than three minutes left. But Tech scored the half's final six points, the last two after feeding Jeff Allen in the paint for his first basket of the game.

More of a defensive game than I expected. Tech shot 37 percent, Miami 33 percent. A.D. Vassallo and his freshly shaved "PR" leads all scorers with 11 points. Malcolm Delaney canned two threes and has eight points.

Miami's down despite two crazy shots. First, McClinton converted a four-point play (which was Washington's first foul). Then James Dews hit a shot from two steps behind the five-second hash, right in front of Greenberg, who I thought was going to have an aneurism when the shot swished. You're supposed to get better when you hold a team to a 40-footer at the end of the shot clock, no?

The atmosphere for these traditional ACC rivals has been better than expected. Tech has a pretty large cheering section -- it's only a two and a half drive from Blacksburg -- and Miami's is more vocal than you'd think.

These next 20 minutes are the most important of Tech's season. Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com says the Hokies may still need to win tomorrow, but because of all the bubble losses yesterday they might be in with only the win today.

Back at you postgame