Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Victor Davila (14) gets pressure from the Wisconsin defense on Monday. Davila scored 13 points for the Hokies.

BLACKSBURG -- For the second time this season, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was done in by a last-second shot.

And for the second time this season, the Hokies failed to pick up a quality win.

Trevon Hughes drove down the court and sank a jumper from the free-throw line with nine-tenths of a second left to give Wisconsin a 74-72 win over the deflated Hokies in the opening game of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Monday.

"It's tough when we lose like that," said Victor Davila, who had 13 points. "That last play just kills."

It was the Hokies' second try at a marquee win this season. Two weeks ago in Puerto Rico, Tech wasted a 10-point second-half lead and lost to Xavier when Dante Jackson made a desperation heave from halfcourt at the buzzer in overtime.

"At least [Hughes] hit a shot from the free-throw line. That kind of hurt me a little less," said A.D. Vassallo, who had a career-high 30 points. "Every time we tie the game or we're up with a couple seconds left, it feels like we break down and somebody gets a good look.

"We didn't want to foul since the game was tied, so we kind of laid off a little. ... The guy just hit a tough shot. ... It hurts a lot."

Vassallo, who was 6-of-7 from 3-point range in the second half, buried a 3-pointer with 7.0 seconds left to tie the score at 72. It was the first tie since the score was 8-8. Vassallo grinned and stuck out his tongue after making the shot.

Wisconsin was out of timeouts. Hughes (12 points) took the inbounds pass and dribbled down the court. He got past Hank Thorns, who fell down, and put up the winning jumper at the free-throw line.

"My big guy was running down the court, trying to get into his position, and I just rubbed off of him, and [Thorns] didn't see it," Hughes said. "It was kind of like a pick, but it wasn't. It gave me a good open look."

The Hokies (4-3) weren't happy with their defense on the play.

"The guy drove it right down our throats," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "We've got to stop the ball."

"He just got by one of our guys," Davila said. "We didn't help and he got the shot."

Thorns, Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney refused to comment after the game.

The defending Big Ten champion Badgers (6-1) fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday but are ranked No. 22 in the USA Today coaches poll. Tech was seeking to beat a ranked nonconference foe for the first time since defeating West Virginia in December 1995.

Tech didn't pick up a quality win until the ACC Tournament last season, and had to settle for a trip to the NIT. This year's team will now have to wait until conference play for another shot at putting an attention-grabbing win on its resume.

"It's a disappointing loss, but no one gets eliminated Dec. 1st," Greenberg said.

Is Tech, which never led Monday, capable of beating a quality team?

"I guess we earned that label right now: Virginia Tech is good enough, but not to beat a good team," Vassallo said. "We just haven't had that one play that you need to turn around everything.

"Coach talked about it a lot last year: ... That one play, that one rebound, that one stop and that one shot. And that's something that we need."

Wisconsin effectively ran its half-court "swing" offense, which featured plenty of passes and screens as the Badgers patiently waited for a good shot.

"We didn't do a very good job guarding the basketball," Greenberg said.

The Badgers entered the game making an average of 6.5 3-pointers but were 12-of-18 from 3-point range Monday. Forward Marcus Landry (18 points) was 4-of-4 from 3-point territory.

Wisconsin shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half.

"They get you tired, running all over the place," Vassallo said. "Then when they get that last dribble-drive and everybody sinks in, they do a good job kicking it out for a shot."

Tech trailed 59-49 at 7:03, but then got 13 points and three 3-pointers from Vassallo the rest of the way.

Allen had foul trouble and had two points in 15 minutes.

Wisconsin MP FG FT R A F PT

Landry 36 6-7 2-2 1 4 3 18

Nankivil 18 0-2 0-0 3 0 0 0

Hughes 27 5-11 0-0 1 3 2 12

Bohannon 29 3-6 2-2 0 0 0 11

Krabbenhoft 29 2-6 5-6 2 4 2 9

Taylor 13 1-4 0-0 1 1 1 2

Jarmusz 16 0-0 0-0 3 1 1 0

Leuer 21 6-11 3-3 6 0 2 17

Wilson 11 1-1 2-6 1 1 2 5

Totals 200 24-48 14-19 22 14 13 74

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Allen 15 0-2 2-2 3 1 5 2

Vassallo 38 12-17 0-0 5 4 1 30

Diakite 15 0-3 0-0 3 0 1 0

Hudson 26 3-6 0-0 1 2 1 8

Delaney 34 3-9 4-5 3 6 3 12

Bell 9 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0

Thorns 15 1-2 0-0 1 4 2 3

Davila 25 5-7 3-3 3 1 3 13

Vinson 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0

Witcher 19 2-5 0-2 1 0 2 4

Totals 200 26-52 9-12 26 18 19 72

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Wisconsin 38 36 -- 74

Virginia Tech 30 42 -- 72

Three point goals: Wisconsin 12-18 (Landry 4-4, Bohannon 3-6, Leuer 2-2, Hughes 2-3, Wilson 1-1, Taylor 0-2), Virginia Tech 11-16 (Vassallo 6-9, Delaney 2-2, Hudson 2-3, Thorns 1-2)

Turnovers: Wisconsin 6 (Wilson 2), Virginia Tech 7 (allen 2, Vassallo 2).

Blocked shots: Wisconsin 5 (Landry 2, Leuer 2), Virginia Tech 7 (Vassallo 2, Diakite 2).

Steals: Wisconsin 5 (Landry, Nankivil, Hughes, Krabbenhoft, Wilson), Virginia Tech 1 (Delaney).

Officials: Hess, Cahill, Donato.

Attendance: 9,847.