Halfway there

Tech looks good in half vs. UNC, but second half shows Hokies still have work to do

Story by Chris Graham
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For a half, Virginia Tech looked and played like a Top 10 team. But you have to play more than a half to win on the road in the ACC.

“In the second half, our defense, our transition, broke down, and I told the guys, a lot of times that’s a byproduct of what you’re doing offensively,” Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg told reporters on his weekly conference call Monday afternoon, about 15 hours after his Hokies lost a tough one on the road at defending national champion North Carolina, 78-64.

Tech (12-2, 0-1 ACC) looked like world-beaters in the opening 20 minutes, with Malcolm Delaney providing a spark in his return to the lineup with 20 first-half points as the Hokies raced to a 38-34 halftime lead. But Carolina put the clamps down on Delaney in the second half, limiting him to one field goal and also making life tough for Dorenzo Hudson, who followed up his 41-point performance in a win over Seton Hall last week with a 7-for-22 night from the field against UNC.

Still, the margin was at five with 7:25 to go before back-to-back-to-back threes pushed the Tar Heels to a 14-point bulge and made the result academic.

“We just weren’t as competitive as we need to be to win in that type of environment against North Carolina. With six minutes to go in the game, we’re on the line down five with a chance to hit a couple of free throws and cut it to a three-point game and really make it a grinder,” Greenberg said.

“We’ve just got to continue to get better. This league is – it’s the cumulative effect that more importantly you’ve got to deal with. It’s 16 separate entities, and you’ve kind of got to play it timeout to timeout and play to play. We’ll just rebound and get to practice this afternoon and try to get a little bit better,” Greenberg said.