Boxscore

There were only a couple surprises tonight in the Hokies victory against hofstra:

First, DirecTV offers the MSG network in HD.

Second, hofstra’s stud Antoine Aguido, the second leading scorer in the nation and the MVP of last year’s Aeropostale Holiday Festival, did not play tonight due to a left ankle sprain suffered in practice.

The rest of what transpired was expected, making for a very comfortable night in the City.

The Garden looked about 3/4 empty, and Malcolm Delaney got the start instead of Hank Thorns. Delaney didn’t show any jitters, hitting a tough three with a defender in his face and the shot clock running down, to give the Hokies a 5-0 lead. The Hokies got out to a 10-point lead very early in the game, which they stretched to 22 at halftime on 59% shooting from the field. The pride, made up of 10 New Yorkers and 3 Lithuanians, almost had as many air balls (3) as field goals (6) during the first twelve minutes. The Hokies continued their good shooting from the line, starting 7 of 7. Couple that with the wake game, and the Hokies had a 36 of 39 stretch from the charity stripe. That has to be a record (check that Niemo). The key stat of the first half was points off turnovers: The Hokies had 17 and the pride had nil.

The second half was a good opportunity for the subs as the Hokies put it on cruise control. Terrence Vinson came into the game with about 12 minutes to go, probably the earliest entrance of his young career. At the 10 minute mark, Tech had 5 freshman on the floor: Delaney, Allen, Hudson, Bell, and Thompson. The Baby Hokies hung tough, but were outscored 5-4 during that stretch. Dorenzo Hudson continued to impress me. He pitched in 7 points in the first half, coming off the bench. Given our offensive woes this season, he has to be inserted in the starting lineup as we get into the ACC schedule, even though it will force us to go small.

The only lowlight tonight for the Hokies was giving up 21 offensive rebounds. That can be partially attributed to the smaller lineup. Although Diakite started, he played limited minutes. Witcher also only played a handful of minutes due to foul trouble. Still, it’s no excuse. This is hofstra, not the heels.

More Highlights:

• Deron Washington became the 6th player in Hokie history to score 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds, and block 100 shots.
• MSG interviewed Coach Greenberg’s mom during the game.
• Former wvu and duke coach, Bucky Waters, did the color commentating for MSG. Waters, born in 1935, is probably younger than Seth’s mom, but looks like he could be her father.
• Seth broke out the pinstripe suit tonight.
• MSG network likes to remind its viewers countless times that the Garden is the “most famous arena”.
• A.D. Vassallo added to the PR shaved in the back of his head with a star and several horizontal lines on the right side of his head. I’m guessing that’s in honor of the Puerto Rico flag.
• Tom Amalfe, Marcus Travis, and Paul Debnam came in with two minutes to go. Amalfe missed a three from the top of the key.
• hofstra senior Ryan Johnson,scored his first field goal EVER. In fact he had two.

Player of the Game: Jeff Allen

Allen should be 2 for 2 in All-Tournament selections after tonight’s performance (Allen was on the Great Alaska Shootout All-Tourney Team). Allen scored 17 on 6 of 8 shooting, and grabbed 9 boards. It’s the 10th time this season that Allen scored in double figures. The Hokies had another balanced scoring attack, but all of Allen’s points came during the first 27 minutes of the game when it counted. Vasallo and Washington caught up to Allen during garbage time, scoring 17 each.

With the win, the Hokies play in the final of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival tomorrow at 3:30 on MSG.

Niemo’s Nuggets:

• Play of the Game: I guess Wick turned the TV off early and missed Deron’s blocked shot with just under 10 minutes to go. charles jenkins, a 6′3″ guard, thought he had an easy dunk but Deron went up with his left hand and literally stuffed the dunk attempt and pulled the ball away from the hofstra guard, all with his off hand. The hofstra guard crashed to the court while Deron looked at him with amusement, ball palmed in hand.
• In VT’s first 10 games, they hit 106 FTs on 160 attempts (10.6/16.0 per game). In Tech’s last two games, they have hit 53 FTs (half as many as in the first 10) on 69 attempts. That has provided 33% of VT’s 159 points, where as Tech was getting just 16% of their points from the line in the first 10 games. Deron has gotten to the line 22 times in these two games. Thanks should also go to Delaney and Hudson, who are aggressively attacking defenses. J.T. Thompson also does a good job of going hard at the rim.
• Tech’s 45 first-half points is their highest total in any half this year. This marked just the second time Tech had scored 40+ in a half (2nd half versus butler was the other). The 84 total points is also a season-high.
• Tech has surpassed the 70-point mark in regulation the last two games after failing to reach 70 in the first 10 regulation games.
• The Hokies had an amazing 20 assists on 27 field goals for 74%. On the year, Tech was only averaging 13 assists per game, on 52% of made field goals.