One detail that I couldn’t get into my game story because I had to file the beast so quickly ...

- Malcolm Delaney was 9-of-9 on free throws in the final 52 seconds—accounting for all of Tech’s points from then until the end of the game. He took his first free throw in that run when The Mount led 54-53. Pretty ridiculous.

Also, if you read to the bottom of Tech coach Seth Greenberg’s quotes, you’ll notice the first reference this season to our pal Kreskin, the famous mentalist who must have been on TV a lot when Greenberg was growing up, but hardly is on the tube at all anymore. However, his name remains in the public record of daily newspapers and blogs predominantly because of Greenberg’s answers to questions asked in postgame press conferences, mainly by Roanoke Times scribe Mark Berman. Greenberg should get some kind of cut of Kreskin’s annual salary for keeping his name out there.

In addition to keeping a Kreskin Count (currently at one) in this space this season, I’m going to lobby, through whatever influence this humble little slice of the Interweb wields, to get Kreskin to attend a Tech basketball game. I wonder if Tech would book him for a halftime performer. This would be nothing short of the funniest thing I have ever seen. I’m going to get right on this, gang. Because I’m here to serve you. And my own twisted sense of humor. But mainly you.

Oh, and I just stumbled upon the booking part of Kreskin’s Web site, which includes this gem ...

MISSING PERSONS CASES NOW BEING ACCEPTED! We may be able to help.

Seminars for law enforcement, investigators, prosecuting attorneys, attorneys, security, and rescue/fire responders.

If you are a law enforcement agency or the family of a missing person interested in discussing your case with The Amazing Kreskin, please contact John Kleiman by email or phone at:

John Kleiman
Phone: 317-890-5126
Email:

Uh, OK. Onward with the postgame quotes ...

JEFF ALLEN

On the critical rebound with 1:40 left, when he gathered Malcolm Delaney’s missed free throw to sustain a possession that ended with A.D. Vassallo’s 3, which gave the Hokies the lead for the first time in the second half—“I got on the inside of my guy. I guess another guy came around and he tipped it. And I held both of them off and got on the other side. Somehow, they both got in front of me. And they both jumped and tipped it. And I tipped it toward the outside and got it.“

On playing with four fouls for the final 3:45 and whether he thought about it when he jumped to tip that ball—“I think I played a little different, but I would say right there, I wasn’t thinking about it.“

A.D. VASSALLO

It was one of those times when you’ve got to make the big play and knock the shot down. I saw the open shot. I didn’t have really an open the look the whole game. An open look for me is [when] there’s time for me to put my foot down and not see nobody around me. That’s quick enough for me. It was just one of those shots that I had to knock down.

On his 3—“Oh yeah, for sure. If I take three steps back, most of the time it’s going to go in. I kind of knew once I let it go that it was going to go in. I was too ready. Before Malcolm even touched the ball, I was already seeing myself knock the shot down.“

On going home to Puerto Rico for the first time since the summer—“I’ll hopefully talk to coach. He told me I may have a couple hours to go with my family and kind of hang out, eat with them. I just don’t want get caught up in that. I just want to make sure I can get my mind ready to play. I don’t want to get too much involved with that.“

On this being another chance for him to step out of his father’s shadow (Danny Vassallo is a Puerto Rican basketball legend)—“One step was this summer playing with the national team. Now is going to be another step.“

On whether he is nervous—“Nah, this is going to be fun. I’m just going to take it as a homecoming, just going out there like it’s senior night.“

On potential plans to have the team over for dinner—“I’m thinking about some. Maybe my grandma may cook something. It all depends if we win games and how happy coach is.“

VICTOR DAVILA

- Like Vassallo, he hasn’t lived at home since he was 14.

- Grew up in Canovanas, which is 40 minutes from San Juan.

- “I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I’ve got here. I think it’s going to be a good experience, going over there and playing in front of my people.“

- Since he moved here, he has gone home during the summer and around the holidays in December if he gets a chance.

- On whether he misses being home—“I’m kind of past that. I’m a grown man now. Before, I did when I was over here at 14 years old.“

SETH GREENBERG

On the offensive struggles—“I just think that right now we don’t have very good flow. We’re not running very hard. We’re not getting rebounds so we can get out and run. Quite honestly, we’ve got two positions that aren’t producing the way they need to produce, so therefore people are playing off. For us to be a good team, we need Bell, Thorns and Hudson to play well. And they will. And I believe they well. I have confidence they will. But we need those three guys to play well. And I think you’ll see Victor emerge. I think you’ll see Lewis get better. I think you’ll see Cheick give us good minutes. And then we’ll become a team. Until those three guys emerge, we’re gonna struggle offensively. That’s just the way it is.“

On Vassallo’s 3—“Malcolm and A.D. have a green light. If they have room and rhythm, I want them to shoot the basketball. If you do drills with Malcolm Delaney, he can make 39 3s in two minutes. A.D. does about 37. Malcolm has the record. Thirty-nine is a killer. That’s a lot of shots. That’s a good passer is what it is. They’ve got to make five at each spot, then they work their way back.“

On what went better late opposed to earlier—“I think we played off the double team. I thought we had a little crisper ball movement, made the extra pass, and that’s where we got some shots.“

On what he wants to see from Bell, Thorns and Hudson—“They’ve just got to be more confident and give us more productivity, whether it’s scoring, making an entry pass. Bell is doing some things. He’s defending. He’s flying around a little bit. He’s got to get better with the basketball. I think he’s giving us some things that are positive. And Dorenzo’s practiced so well. That’s problem the hardest thing. That’s why I ran the backdoor play [for him] the first play of the game. I wanted to get him going. That was designed to get him the basketball.“

On why Hudson hasn’t translated practice success to a game—“It’s confidence. He’s got to see it happen in a game.“

On the big men—“I think Cheick did a good job. He only played 11 minutes, but three rebounds in 11 minutes is positive. Cheick and Lewis are going to be fine.“

On turnovers (Tech had 20 tonight)—“That’s a concern. They were just silly turnover. We made silly turnovers. I really believe that Victor, Lewis and Cheick are going to be fine.“

On what he told the student section when he went over there after the game—“I was just telling our students: Hang with us, we’re going to get better. Our teams always get better. We’re going to get better. We’re going to be a good team. Those guys are going to emerge. You watch. I really believe in my heart of hearts that those guys will emerge and be fine.“

Do you even go to bed tonight (4 a.m. departure from campus for Puerto Rico)—“I don’t go to bed any night. I’m nocturnal. I’m gonna see my family. I’m packed. My bags are already here. I’ve already laid out what I’m wearing on the plane. I’m going to probably have this first half edited out so I can look at it and then try to sleep about two, three hours. My deal is tomorrow, get on the plane, do all my preparation for Fairfield so when we get there and do what we have to do, I can get to sleep around 7 o’clock.“

On the early tipoff (11 a.m. Eastern, but 10 a.m. in San Juan)—“It’s the same for both teams.“

So there is nothing you do different? “Wake up earlier. I wake up early anyway. They’ve got to play tomorrow. I don’t know what joker booked this 6:15 [a.m.] flight. I’ve got to reevaluate how we do that. I think what happened is we couldn’t get enough seats on the next flight.“

Any concern about nerves for Vassallo and Davila—“No, because A.D. is going to be doing schoolwork the whole time he’s there anyway. He knows it’s a business trip. We’re going to see his family. His dad is great. His dad is like a legend in Puerto Rico. Danny Vassallo is one of the best players in the history of the Superior League.“

Are you worried that you’re not ready for the type of competition you might face in Puerto Rico? “I’m not Kreskin. We’ll find out. I’m worried if we’re ready to face Fairfield, who’s won nine of their last 10 or whatever it was. I know we’ve got to get better. But working on getting better after coming off a win is all right. We’re gonna be OK. We’re not going to panic. We knew this was going to be tough. Quite honestly, we scheduled this game and Gardner-Webb knowing they were gonna be decent teams. Obviously, we expected J.T. to play. But we’re going to be fine.“

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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