[Gary Cope-acabana will be adding his thoughts from the game soon…]

The Hokies played their best game of the season and got their first quality win of the season in a 68-36 woodshed victory over former A-10 rival george washington university. The series is now tied at 36-36. The Hokies won their 18th straight home game against a non-conference foe.

The game was over by the first media timeout of the Second Half as VT used a 15-8 run to start the half and go ahead 45-22.

The key for the Hokies was the defense. VT held gwu’s high scorer, Rob Diggs, scoreless on 0/6 shooting. Their second leading scorer, former Hokie wynton witherspoon, didn’t score until the 10:10 mark of the Second Half and finished with just 7 points, all after the game was decided.

gwu’s only chance against the bigger Hokies was to hit three’s, and they couldn’t. gwu shot just 26% for the game and was just 6/25 on three’s. They literally could not hit the broadside of a barn.

In addition to gwu’s poor shooting, VT dominated the colonials inside. Tech got much easier looks than gwu. This led to Tech shooting close to 50% on 28/59 shooting (48%).

A.D. Vassallo led Tech with 18 points. Even more encouraging is he broke out of his recent shooting slump by hitting 7/12 from the field and 4/7 on three’s. Could it be because he finally got a haircut? Yep, the ‘fro is gone.

Deron Washington had 17, including a breakaway Dominique Wilkins-like windmill dunk.

Virginia Tech used stifling defense and a 13-2 run to close the First Half to jump out to a 30-14 halftime lead over gwu. For the second consecutive game, VT held their opponent to just 14 First Half points. Check out gwu’s total points at each media timeout (every 4 minutes):

• under 16: 2
• under 12: 4
• under 08: 7
• under 04: 12
• Halftime: 14

This team is still a work in progress on offense, but the D is really getting good. Tech did a great job of switching off on screens and making it difficult for the gwu guards to penetrate. It is hard to setup your offense when you are way out on the perimeter. Greenberg’s specialty, great defense, is really showing now. Even more impressive, gwu shot just 19% in the First Half (5/27). Greenberg said after the game, “We are making progression defensively… We are starting to understand being in gaps, closing out with our hands above the basketball, not getting split, helping the helper… A good team defensive effort instead of an individual defensive effort.”

Cheick Diakite really played great in this game. He had three blocks, hustled to either get rebounds or deflect them to other teammates, and picked up his first assist of the season on a beautiful pass to Jeff Allen that led to a dunk. Diakite was getting double-teamed on the play. He did tweak a hamstring in the Second Half. The severity is not known at this time.

[Update from Cope-acabana: At the post game Roundball Club soiree, Diakite was walking around just fine. He said it was a cramp in his right leg, which would explain why I saw him using some type of metal rod to stretch his right quad out on the bench.]

Jeff Allen had his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He wasn’t very involved on the offense end but did a great job on the boards and had a steal. He does a great job of getting in the passing lanes on D, similar to what Jamon Gordon and Zabian Dowdell used to do. VT still needs to find ways to get him the ball.

Tech continues to do a decent job on the boards, outrebounding gwu 41-33 and 10-9 on the offensive glass.

The only positive for gwu was clemson-transfer Cheyenne Moore. He had 13 points and was the only colonial that shot over 50%.

Highlights of the Game:

1. J.T. Thompson’s steal and left-handed dunk in the face of a gwu opponent.
2. Deron Washington’s breakaway windmill dunk.
3. A.D. Vassallo’s block on a break where he pinned the ball against the glass.
4. Benchwarmer Marcus Travis hitting a three in mop-up time.
5. Cheick Diakite’s pass to Jeff Allen for a dunk.

NOTE: The crowd wasn’t saying “Spoooooon”, they were “Boooo”ing the VT transfer, #11 wynton witherspoon. He was 0/1 in the First Half and looked nervous in his return to the Cassell. wynton played his first two seasons at Tech. VT’s last loss at home to a non-conference team was to bowling green on 12/12/05. Tech lost by one on a ball that was tapped in at the buzzer by A.D. Vassallo into his own goal. Later, it was discovered that the refs made the incorrect call and the basket should not have counted since it went in after the ball was tapped by a defending player.