Hokies Try On a New Look

Virginia Tech Confidently Dispatches Jackets, Takes ACC Lead: Virginia Tech 73, Georgia Tech 65

Coleman Collins hangs on the rim after putting in two of his 13 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds for the Hokies. (John Bazemore - AP)

ATLANTA, Jan. 28 -- As each game passes, Virginia Tech is shedding its old reputation and brandishing a new one, but it's been tough getting used to. The Hokies' seniors have always been underdogs, whether they were fledgling members of the ACC or stuck at the bottom of the league standings.

"We've been playing from behind our whole career," senior forward Coleman Collins said.

Which made Sunday's win significant not in spite of its blandness, but because of it. The No. 24 Hokies grabbed an early lead, oppressed Georgia Tech each time it tried to come back, then salted away a 73-65 victory at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. There were no electrifying runs, no nail-biting on the Hokies' bench, only an efficient, workmanlike conference victory.

Virginia Tech's second straight ACC road win, coupled with Boston College's loss to Duke, gave the Hokies (16-5, 6-1) sole residence atop the ACC standings, a position few observers, if any, pegged them to be in once the end of January arrived. But there the Hokies are, a team that won four conference games last season looking down on the entire league.

"I've been telling everybody all year, we're a good team," Collins said. "We won a few games, everybody says we work hard. When we won more games, they said we're a scrappy team. Things that you say when a team isn't that good, they just find a way to win, you know? It's not that we're finding a way to win. We're winning games."

Sunday proved Collins's point nicely. Virginia Tech trailed for 12 seconds, and its lead fluctuated between three and 10 for the final 37 minutes. The Yellow Jackets (13-7, 2-5) cut their deficit to 49-45 with 10 minutes 16 seconds left, but never came closer.

The convincing road victory will sparkle once the NCAA tournament committee considers the Hokies, who crept closer to their first tournament berth since 1996.

"It's something we see as a light at the end of the tunnel," Zabian Dowdell said. "We can see it, but we don't want to focus on it. Today, we took a few steps toward the light."

Dowdell continued his hot shooting and mixed in slick passing. He had a game-high 23 points to go with a personal season-high eight assists, consistently finding Collins, who finished with 13 points, for dunks. Dowdell has scored at least 17 points in 10 straight games and is averaging 21.7 points in ACC games.

"This is Zabian Dowdell's year," Collins said. "This is his legacy year."

Dowdell knew playing with high energy would be paramount in a second straight road game. He told the Hokies before the game, "you win the game in the first five minutes." They stormed to a 15-7 lead and never looked back.

Of course, gaining leads has not been the problem for the Hokies; it's been holding them. Take their three previous wins: a 20-point lead nearly evaporated against North Carolina, then they blew a late eight-point lead and needed overtime against Maryland, then eked out a win at Miami after holding a 21-point advantage.

"Instead of hanging around and trying to cut [the deficit] to four by halftime, we've got to figure out how to play with a lead," Collins said. "I think we did a better job today. We took a step toward that, in that we kept the distance for the whole game."

The Hokies did so by negating Georgia Tech's height advantage with 59.5 percent shooting and by making 19 of 25 free throws. The Yellow Jackets grabbed more rebounds off their own misses (18) than Virginia Tech (five) and took 71 shots compared with 42 by the Hokies.

A.D. Vassallo started in place of Deron Washington because Washington, a junior who had started every game this season, missed a class this week. The Hokies missed nothing, as Vassallo scored 19 points and snared a team-high 10 rebounds in 34 minutes.

"He's never seen a shot he didn't like," Coach Seth Greenberg said. "And he makes a lot of them."

Now, the Hokies find themselves in another new position. They once again must learn how to hold a lead, not in one game, but in a conference race. The feeling tempered the mood in the locker room.

"Heavy lies the crown," Collins said.

He spoke without experience, but with the eagerness to find out just how heavy it really is.