Men's Basketball: Hokies Crush NCCU (Video Included)

The Hokies looked to rebound against North Carolina Central on Monday night following this weekend's close loss to Florida State in Tallahassee.  The Hokies succeeded, crushing the Eagles 72-30.

"We had a chance to get a lot of guys in the game," Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said in regards to his team's last out-of-conference match-up of the season.

"It was a great win and now it's on [to ACC play]."

Until last night's performance, holding the UMBC Retrievers to only 34 points earlier this season was the fewest number of points the Hokies had ever allowed in any game at Cassell Coliseum.

Tech's offense started slow, but because of the stellar defense, the Hokies jumped out to a 30-8 halftime lead.

"We were longer, we did a good job switching the ball screens, we did a good job on the handoffs, and we did a good job contesting shots," Greenberg said.

The second half didn't get much better for the Eagles, who were only able to muster 22 more points.

Amidst a flurry of electrifying dunks, the Hokies poured it on with a 42-point second half effort.

On the game, the Eagles shot just 27 percent from the field, up from 15 percent in the first half.

The Hokies posted a 47 percent shooting percentage for the game.

Freshman point guard Erick Green stole the show with a game-high 11 points, including a late second-half dunk over the Eagles' Dijon Manns that caused the Tech bench to erupt in excitement.

"I've dunked on a couple people in high school, but never anything like that," Green said with a smile.  "I'm glad it came out tonight."

Delaney expressed his encouragement in his freshman teammate's steady play.

"He didn't realize his potential coming in, but he's starting to," Delaney said.  "We knew--we've seen it...[this game] probably helps him out too, because now he knows he can go up and do stuff like that."

Green wasn't alone in his impressive play against the Eagles.  The Hokies had 11 different players score in the game, seven of which registered at least five points.

Among those was junior Terrell Bell. 

Bell tied his career high of 13 points in the Hokies last home game against Miami.  On Monday he balanced the stat sheet with eight points and nine rebounds, while adding three assists, a block, and a steal. 

With the win, Virginia Tech also finished a grueling stretch of four games in eight days.  The Hokies get a little break before hosting Boston College on Saturday.

For the remaining 13 games, the Hokies will play only conference games. 

"We're fine," Delnaney said about the Hokies outlook on the ACC marathon ahead.  "We just have to stay tough and stay consistent...we have to put the whole game together and total package together."

"We've been fighting, and that's what I like about this team," Delaney said.

Tipoff for Saturday's game is scheduled for 1:30.