Virginia Tech traveled to New York, New York early in the week to spend their Thanksgiving playing in the Pre-season NIT. Coach Seth Greenberg coached a tough game against the fifth-ranked Orange and a top-five coach in Jim Boeheim. They competed well against Syracuse in an atmosphere that was a true road game. Kris Joseph dominated the post, Virginia Tech’s big weakness, by recording a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Hokies were lead by freshman forward Jerell Eddie who had 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. He was the leading scorer and assist man for Greenberg’s Hokies. This loss put them in a third-place game against Oklahoma State who lost to Stanford.
Virginia Tech came out playing confident against the Cowboys and ended up taking a nine-point lead into the half. However in the second half, the Hokies’ shooting went ice cold. For the game, Virginia Tech shot 31.6% from the field and only 63.3% from the free throw line. Virginia Tech was really outplayed in the second half, however held onto the lead in the stretch. Dorain Finney-Smith had a great first half where he had six points and nine rebounds, he would then finish the game with 8 points and 14 rebounds. Erick Green, who was ecstatic to live his dream, playing in the Garden, was the Hokies leading scorer with 18 points. These two teams will meet again in Blacksburg late in December.
Virginia Tech will host St. Bonaventure at 6:00 ET in the Cassel Coliseum on Sunday. This will be a tune-up game before Virginia Tech plays in the Big 10-ACC Challenge at Minnesota on Wednesday, November 30. You can watch Sunday’s game on ESPN3 and the game in Minnesota will be aired on ESPN2.
