Here's most of what you need to know about Virginia Tech's loss to UNLV in tonight's 76 Classic final:
| FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | |
| Malcolm Delaney | 9-14 (65.3) | 7-9 (77.8) | 5-8 (62.5) |
| Rest of Team | 11-27 (40.7) | 3-7 (42.9) | 4-13 (30.8) |
Malcolm Delaney had an amazing night for the Hokies, recording his sixth career 30-point game. He was red-hot from behind the arc and was the only reason Tech was in the game for as long as it was. However, he didn't have any help. The rest of the story was very similar to what we saw against Kansas State.
The Hokies saw some tough calls go against their best post player, Jeff Allen, that resulted in him fouling out after playing just 28 minutes. However, they certainly didn't help themselves. Tech missed a boatload of free throws, committed 18 turnovers to 11 assists (UNLV had 9 TOs and 19 ASTs) and gave up 10 offensive rebounds.
With Allen in foul trouble, the Hokies had to play a lot of zone and lost guys in the half court that resulted in easy baskets for the Rebels. The turnovers can partially be can partially be blamed on the Hokies, but most of it can be credited to UNLV playing good pressure defense.
The Rebels are a very good team with three quality players in Chace Stanback, Quintrell Thomas and Tre'Von Willis who exposed some of the problems that have plagued the Hokies all year. Right now the Hokies don't have enough depth to play at a fast pace or get in any sort of foul trouble.
Because of this, they have to win ugly. And when you're trying to win ugly, your losses will look just as ugly if not more so. Right now Tech isn't a very good basketball team. They're a very streaky jump shooting team and there's a lot of miscommunication, really on both ends of the court.
There's a lot of time for these problems to be fixed and the Hokies could still wind up being a good team. But right now their brand of basketball is borderline unwatchable, mostly out of necessity.
