Another deadline cruncher tonight, gang. I thought we had left this behind with the football team.

Ah, well. I’ve decided that, for basketball games, I’m going to post my game stories in this space immediately after the games end. You guys want to read the news as soon as possible—especially when the game isn’t on television, like tonight—so I’ll do my best to deliver it to you quickly.

I’ll have some more, including postgame comments from Tech coach Seth Greenberg, in this space either later tonight or first thing tomorrow. But for now, here’s the game story. It might be a little different than the one that will appear in your friendly neighborhood bird-cage liner tomorrow, because I caught a few typos after I filed the thing. I went back and fixed them, then filed again, but I’m not sure if our desk will have time to get that version in. Anyway, you don’t care about that nonsense. So here’s the clean and final version ...

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

BLACKSBURG—When the final buzzer sounded and Aaron Linn’s game-tying 3-pointer clanked off the front of the rim, Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg crouched in front of his bench, looked down at the court and rubbed his forehead. Then he paced around for a few moments before joining the postgame handshake line.

The Hokies’ 65-62 season-opening win over Gardner-Webb last night proved much more stressful than most imagined. They led by 18 points with 11:37 left in the game, but Gardner-Webb charged back and had three chances at game-tying 3-pointers in the final 12 seconds. Fortunately for the Hokies, the Bulldogs missed all three.

A year older, a few pounds slimmer and shouldering increased expectations, the Hokies still struggled in the opener for the second consecutive season. The sighs of relief from the Cassell Coliseum crowd after last night’s game ended conjured memories of last season’s 69-64 opening-night win over Elon.

“In March, no one’s gonna sweat it if we get better,“ Greenberg said. “If we don’t get better, we’re gonna have a run of nights like this.“

Sophomore power forward Jeff Allen, who lost 12 pounds in the offseason, looked unstoppable in the first half. He made 7 of 8 shots and scored 17 points. He appeared well on his way to eclipsing his career high of 21 points. But he took just one shot and scored two points in the second half, when the Hokies shot 29.6 percent from the floor and 16.7 percent on 3s—compared to 45.7 and 35.7 percent in the first half, after which they led 40-26.

“We didn’t expect it to be that close because of the way we came out,“ Allen said.

He struggled in the second half in part because his side cramped. “I felt kind of weak and kind of dizzy,“ he said. He also was playing out of position in Tech’s zone offense. The Hokies had to use a small lineup to match up against the Bullldogs, which meant Allen had to play in the post, at the “five” position, rather than at his regular “four” spot. “He really struggled with that,“ sophomore point guard Malcolm Delaney said.

Tech’s smaller lineup also meant that junior A.D. Vassallo and sophomore Terrell Bell had to play out of position, with both moving to the “four.“ “That killed our zone offense,“ Greenberg said. He needed to move players around because sophomore forward J.T. Thompson is out four to six weeks. He watched the game in a warmup suit after undergoing surgery yesterday morning to repair a hernia. From his seat on the baseline next to Tech’s bench, he saw the Bulldogs chip away at the Hokies’ lead, cutting it to 11 with 9:09 left, seven with 6:20 left, three with 1:55 left—on an Anton Silver 3.

Because of Thompson’s injury, the Hokies were able to practice with the smaller lineup for just 20 minutes Thursday. Greenberg isn’t sure how much they will have to use the lineup over the next four to six weeks, because future opponents might not be as small as the Bulldogs. Five of their top six minute earners last night were 6-4 or shorter. Junior guard Grayson Flittner led the Bulldogs with 21 points and made 5 of 14 3s, though he missed the first two game-tying 3s on the same possession in the waning moments. The Bulldogs got another chance, this time for the buzzer-beater, after Delaney missed the front end of one-and-one free throws.

The Hokies have precious little time to correct the issues that arose last night, including five turnovers and a 1-of-7 shooting performance from small forward Dorenzo Hudson, who started at Deron Washington’s old spot. They play their first six games in the span of 13 days, including three games next week in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament, an event whose field includes Xavier, Southern California and Memphis, which lost in last season’s national championship game.

“If you’re not ready for that,“ Vassallo said, “there’s a good chance you may lose three.“

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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