Monday, January 05, 2009
Tech loses its touch after Duke timeout
Jeff Gilbert
Gilbert is the sports editor for The Roanoke Times
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DURHAM, N.C. -- Seth Greenberg said Duke was tougher.
He was right.
When it mattered most Sunday night, Virginia Tech looked like the JV team scrimmaging the varsity.
After a poor start, the Hokies finished the first half looking like the Blue Devils' equal. The second half began with Tech scoring the first four points to cut its deficit to four.
When Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski saw that Tech was attacking the basket and saw his team taking OK shots but not the ones he said he was hoping for, he called a timeout.
After the commercial break, it was as if TV viewers had changed the station. The final 17:25 of the game was nothing like the beginning of the show.
The Blue Devils followed the timeout with an 11-2 run, and all of their points came as a result of attacking the basket. Then, Greg Paulus hit a 3-pointer and Tech was done.
Duke's defense made sure of that.
"We didn't respond coming out of that timeout for a long time," Greenberg said.
With a final score of 69-44 and only 13 second-half points, it's obvious that the Hokies never responded.
Duke's toughness wasn't a physical advantage, because Virginia Tech has plenty of muscle. The toughness Duke showed is made out of players knowing they are part of an elite program and not being afraid to do what is expected of them. And it's made out of players being mentally strong enough to respond to an opponent's best punch.
"It was just the mindset we brought to the game," Duke forward Kyle Singler said. "We knew we had to play good defense."
Guard Jon Scheyer led Duke's defensive effort with the primary responsibility of guarding Tech scoring leader A.D. Vassallo. Scheyer fought through screens when he could and made well-timed switches to keep Vassallo from touching the ball as much as Tech needed him to. Vassallo's seven points and only nine shot attempts had to be better than Duke could have planned.
"We weren't talking on D and we got lazy," Scheyer said of the start of the second half. "With any team in the ACC, especially this one because they have a lot of guys who can get hot, we need to do a good job of talking."
What's next for Tech is learning not to relax. The last half of the first half and the first three minutes of the second half are not enough to win at Duke or anyplace else in the ACC.
"The game was over after his timeout," Greenberg said. "Their guys responded. Our guys didn't."
This is league play, and all across the country games will become more physical because more is at stake. The successful teams learn to dish it out. The others keep taking it and keep losing.
But it's way too soon to think this Tech team will not respond. This game was a reminder that mental strength is of utmost importance in conference play. And, as Greenberg said, a lot of teams will lose at Duke this year.
How Tech does at home and on other road trips will depend on how it responds to this loss. It will have to be with a lot more mental toughness than what they had after Coach K's timeout.
