Tony Bennett’s Wahoos end a brutal six-game road trip tonight with their annual stop in Blacksburg. Uncle Fester’s motley crew has been picked by many of the prognosticators to finish near the top in the conference, while Bennett’s young guns have been picked to finish near last in the ACC again.
Virginia is coming off their biggest win of the young season as they traveled to Minneapolis and beat the 15th-ranked Tubby Smith-led Golden Gophers 87-79. In that win, Virginia lost one of their finest defensive players and three-point specialists Will Sherrill with a broken fibula. Sherrill will be out 4-6 weeks, and the 6-9 forward from Manhattan had started four straight games for the Hoos while shooting a fantastic 50% from the field.
Assane Sene is the most likely candidate to replace Will in the starting line-up, but he’s a terrible match-up for Tech’s rough and tumble goon forward Jeff Allen. The Hoos have five freshmen in the rotation, and have only one inside scoring threat, Senior Mike Scott. Scott is the Hoos’ leading scorer with 16.6 PPG.
The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net at six p.m, and also is the first ACC contest for each team. Both teams are 4-3 on the season.
As Malcolm Delaney goes, the Hokies go. The talented, streaky Delaney is just off a horrid performance in Cassell Coliseum against Purdue in the ACC/Big-10 Challenge where he shot 2-18 from the field. Still, Delaney is averaging 19.6 PPG, and Virginia must play better perimeter defense if they are to have a chance in this contest.
Virginia Tech is 7-6 against the Hoos since joining the ACC (still makes me violently ill to think of Tech in the ACC), and the Hokies won both games last season.
The Hokies are a veteran-laden squad, and the Hoos are the polar opposite of that! Cassell Coliseum is one of the most hostile arenas in the ACC if not the Country, and Virginia’s young squad could get blown out early if things don’t go well shooting the three-ball.
Virginia’s freshman Joe Harris is shooting 50% from the field so far, and his outside shot will need to fall Sunday night if UVA is to keep this game close.
Prediction? Hoos 60 Tech 73. Sure would be nice to beat our country cousins to the southwest in something… Go Hoos!
