JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo (40) gets tangled with Miami's Brian Asbury (32) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. Saturday Feb. 9, 2008.

BLACKSBURG -- The supporting player has become a star.

The sidekick has become a leader.

The shooter has become a complete player.

And the guy that once scored in the wrong basket is now such a cool character that he wrote on a reporter's notepad during a game.

Much like Zabian Dowdell did last season, Virginia Tech off-guard A.D. Vassallo has raised his game to another level this year. The junior was recognized for his efforts this month when he was named to the All-ACC second team.

"It shows that what I did over the summer and what I've been doing the whole year is ... [paying off] in a good way," said Vassallo, whose 20-13 squad will host UAB in the second round of the NIT at 9 tonight.

Vassallo is averaging a team-high 16.9 points. Last year, he ranked fourth with an average of 11.1 points. He is no longer settling for jump shots, said coach Seth Greenberg.

"I'm just trying to be more aggressive," Vassallo said. "Make sure if I got a chance of attacking and creating something, go ahead and do it, not just settle for the easiest shot or just waiting for somebody to make a play for me. I make sure that I make plays for other people too.

"I'm just trying to do everything possible -- stopping people, rebounding, stealing the ball, making plays. It's part of the overall improvement of me being a leader."

Since tying his season low with just eight points in a 92-53 thrashing at North Carolina last month, Vassallo has averaged 20 points in the past eight games. He has shot 49.1 percent from the field in this stretch, helping Tech go 6-2.

"I got on a roll," said Vassallo, a Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, native with 1,140 career points.

He scored 27 points and was 11-of-14 from the field in Wednesday's 94-62 rout of Morgan State in the first round of the NIT. He made his first four shots of the second half -- part of a stretch in which the Hokies made their first 15 shots of the half -- before being pulled with 11:13 to go.

"The guys [were] having their hands in his face and he was still making it," Morgan State forward Boubacar Coly said.

"I'm able to rise over people and sometimes make a difficult shot look easy," Vassallo said.

With the loss of three 1,000-point scorers off last year's team, Vassallo knew he would need to step up his game.

The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Vassallo made an effort to boost his stamina last summer by running and lifting weights. He leads the team with an average of 34.4 minutes, nine minutes more than he averaged as a part-time starter last season.

"I'm feeling a lot better at this time of the year than I did last year," said Vassallo, who has started every game this season. "Last year I was more fatigued at the end of the year. My body was kind of wearing down. This year I feel fine. I'm in great shape."

Vassallo worked out hard last summer, said Greenberg. Vassallo went home to Puerto Rico for a few weeks but spent more time at Tech than he had the previous summer.

"I knew this year was going to be different than the first two years, so I had to make sure I was ready for it and not let my teammates down," he said.

Vassallo, who played small forward the past two seasons, had a team-high 66 3-pointers last winter. He again leads the team in 3-pointers this season (77), but he is now a "very complete basketball player," said Greenberg.

"He can score in a lot of different ways, and he makes other people better," Greenberg said. "He can get to the rim. He's got a middle game. He does a great job of using the shot fake to set up his driving game."

Vassallo knew he would be more of a defensive priority for teams this season, so he worked on his ball-handling last summer so he could be more of a playmaker. He has 66 assists this season, more than he had the previous two years combined.

He ranks third on the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg) and has also become a better defender.

"I talk to him all the time about not just being a shooter but being a player," Greenberg said. "He's ... doing more different things that affect the outcome of the game."

Vassallo also has tried to help mentor the squad's six freshmen. After last month's loss at UNC, he spoke to the team in the locker room that afternoon.

"I wanted to make sure that we win games and not just let the season die on that one game," he said. "I wanted to make sure we got up and we kept on fighting."

Vassallo knows about bouncing back from missteps. In the second game of his freshman season, he tipped in a Bowling Green miss at the buzzer to give the Falcons a stunning win.

"It's part of the growing experience," he said. "That's something the young guys got to learn. Some of them, they make mistakes and they kind of get really mad. ... It's just part of the game."

Vassallo is playing pretty loose these days. When he was called for a foul late in the first half of an ACC Tournament semifinal loss to UNC, Vassallo didn't want to mouth off to the official. So he wrote, "A.D. not foul" on a reporter's notepad.

"That's what happens when you get on the big stage," he said. "Once you get used to it, it's so easy for you to just relax. At the beginning of the year, I was a little more nervous and I tried not to mess up as much. Now I just go out there and play ball."