Clemson Tigers vs Virginia Tech Hokies Basketball Recap

Clemson 69, Virginia Tech 60

Sure enough, the bubbles are lingering in Blacksburg, Virginia, all the way to the ACC Tournament. It just wouldn’t be March without the Virginia Tech Hokies perched precariously on the fence in the chase for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, Virginia Tech’s romance with suspense and intrigue continues for a fourth straight season. Heading into the upcoming ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Hokies will likely need to win two games to punch a ticket to the Big Dance. That’s because they came up very short on the final Saturday of the ACC regular season.

The Clemson Tigers have their own bubble battles to fight, and while it would seem that the Tigers are in worse shape than the Hokies, they at least kept their bubble hopes alive by throttling Virginia Tech at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina. A relatively crisp and confident effort from the home team ensured that the ACC’s middle tier will remain cluttered and cloudy next weekend, when all 12 league teams gather for the nation’s oldest and most celebrated conference tournament.

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Just how did coach Brad Brownell’s Clemson crew send Virginia Tech to the very middle of the bubble? They defended with a level of intensity you’d expect from a team playing for its basketball life on Senior Day. In a span of more than eight and a half minutes midway through the second half (16:29 to 7:55), Clemson allowed just two points to its visitor from the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Tigers packed the lane, made good rotations on the perimeter, and basically stifled Tech so thoroughly that the Hokies forced up panicky jumpers late in the shot clock on most possessions. Virginia Tech’s offense was flummoxed and frustrated for the first two thirds of the second half, a reality affirmed by the fact that the Hokies posted just seven points in the half’s first 12 minutes. By that point in time, Clemson had turned a 34-30 halftime lead into a 51-37 bulge, and although Tech pulled within seven (51-44) with 6:03 to go, the Tigers quickly regained their footing and did not allow the Hokies to get any closer.

All in all, the stat sheet looked gruesome for Virginia Tech’s offense. The Hokies hit under 31 percent of their field goal attempts and coughed up 18 turnovers. Only one player – Malcolm Delaney – scored more than 10 points for Tech (Delaney collected 19 on the day), and he needed 14 field-goal attempts to attain that level of scoring production. Clemson, on the other hand, delivered the balance that coach Seth Greenberg’s Tech team so manifestly lacked. Jerai Grant totaled 17 points for Clemson, leading four players who scored in double figures on a day when the Tigers hit 49 percent of their shots.

Clemson on the bubble? That’s kind of a surprise given how grim the preseason forecast was in South Carolina. Virginia Tech on the bubble? That’s no surprise at all.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer