ATLANTA – Though it wasn't how they drew it up with season lows, Ahmed Hill and the No. 9/7 Virginia Tech men's basketball came away with a 52-49 win over Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion on Wednesday night.
The Hokies (14-1, 3-0 ACC), who tied the school record for best start with the 1982-83 team, shot 29.8 percent from the field and were held to 52 points, but found a way to start ACC play 3-0 for the first time since 2007.
Hill (15 points) and redshirt junior Kerry Blackshear Jr. (14) scored in double figures to pace Virginia Tech, while Jose Alvarado led the Yellow Jackets (9-6, 1-1 ACC) with a game-high 20 points.
Behind senior Justin Robinson's six points in the early going, the Hokies got out to an 11-2 lead. However, the Yellow Jackets clawed back behind Alvarado's 10 points to trim it to a one-point game, 15-14, with eight minutes to play in the first half.
Things would seesaw the next few minutes until Blackshear made an off-balanced, 180 layup and Robinson swiped a steal, passed to Hill and watched the graduate student make a crafty layup as time expired to give Virginia Tech a five-point cushion at the break, 29-24.
Hill took that slick play and carried its momentum with him into the second half, as the graduate student scored the first eight points for the Hokies after intermission, giving them their first double-digit lead of the game at 17:02.
But Georgia Tech once again cut into the deficit after an alley-oop from Robinson to Hill with six minutes to go, getting it to a tie ball game at 4:07 after a triple. The Yellow Jackets would get a go-ahead bucket with 3:25, but Robinson had other plans, hitting a banked 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Hokies, who would not let Georgia Tech score the final three minutes of the game to win it.
QUOTING HEAD COACH BUZZ WILLIAMS
On how the team did defensively:
"I thought we did okay," Williams said. "I thought we were much better in the second half with continuing to have a priority the best that we can on not giving up second opportunities. I think we are continuing to take the steps that we need to take."
On winning on the defensive end instead of offensively, like most of the season:
"As demented as it sounds, I think what transpired tonight was very good for us," Williams said. "We were in a similar position 43 days ago at Penn State and didn't handle it as well. I thought our guys hung in there, even though it wasn't as pretty as we want it to be offensively. They trusted Cover 2 better than they did at Penn State. Obviously, we are excited about the result, but there are many lessons that will end up being good lessons for us down the road."
NOTES
- Blackshear was a force on the block, getting to the charity stripe 12 times. The Florida native made eight free throws, tying a season high, and grabbed 10 rebounds, marking his second double-double of the season.
- For the 10th time this season, the Hokies out-rebounded their opponent to improve to 10-0 in those games when they win the glass. They out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 35-32.
- With holding Georgia Tech to 49 points, it marked the Hokies' fifth time not allowing their opponent to score more than 50 points in a game. Virginia Tech is 5-0 in those games.
- Robinson had a balanced game, recording 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal. The guard has scored in double figures and owned at least five boards for the second straight game.
STAT OF THE GAME
- Virginia Tech forced turnovers and capitalized, outscoring Georgia Tech 19-14 off of miscues and forcing 18 turnovers compared to its own nine.
TWEET OF THE GAME
🤔What ... just ... happened ... @HokiesMBB?🤔pic.twitter.com/rNgmj3mmig
— FOX Sports South (@FOXSportsSouth) January 10, 2019
WHAT IS NEXT
- The Hokies will continue their road swing in conference play, heading to Charlottesville, Virginia on Tuesday, Jan. 15 to take on in-state rival No. 4/1 Virginia (13-0, 1-0 ACC) in the Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529. The contest will tip off at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on Raycom Sports.