With the 75-71 win over Missouri on Thursday the Xavier Musketeers advance to play Virginia Tech in the Semifinals of the O'Rielly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Season Tipoff. The Hokies return a solid core of players from a squad that barely missed an NCAA berth in March. Here is a look at the Hokies by Doug Bowman of HokieHaven.com:
VT loves to get into the open court, but will also pull back and go into a half court offense. In that half court, they like to work the ball around and get 2 of Vassallo/Delaney and Allen on one side where they can isolate either Allen in the post while giving Vassallo/Delaney the oppurtunity to drive.
A.D. Vassallo is the best player, although Delaney and Allen are definitely not far behind. Seth Greenberg calls them "a poor mans big three" in referring to the Celtics big three. Vassallo is a deadly shooter, but is also very effective driving. Delaney is a smooth shooter, also the best free throw shooter on the team, and one of the leaders. Jeff Allen has dropped a lot of weight and is the go to guy in the post, but can also step out and knock down a 3 ball. He does have a tendency to fail to recognize a double team coming from his backside and will turn right into it.
The Hokies have done a fantastic job of finishing games this year. Last year, these two close games against Gardner Webb and Mt. Saint Mary's would have resulted in heartbreaking losses. This year, they handle the pressure of the final minutes much better.
VT has struggled to keep the intensity up for a full 40 minutes. They had a huge lead against Gardner Webb before having it wittled to 3 and had to struggled with Mt. Saint Mary's before coming back in the closing minutes.
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