Hokies Hoops, Vol. 6 (Commonwealth Clunker edition) ...

Another night, another UGLY win for the Hokies. I’m beginning to think the like it that way. Love it, even.

With a 61-55 win over Virginia, Virginia Tech improved to 20-4 overall, 7-3 in the ACC. The fastest team to 20 wins in school history will try to take sole possession of second place in the league Tuesday when the Hokies host Wake Forest (18-5, 8-3). Win that one, and a Sunday trip to Duke (21-4, 9-2) awaits ... with a chance to seize the ACC lead. Crazy, huh?

Tech still has that chance because it survived another slugfest with its rival. The Hokies and Hoos combined to shoot 18 of 58 from the field in the first half. Tech took a 13-7 lead after Virginia started the game 2 of 15. But the Cavaliers took a halftime lead after the Hokies closed the half 3 of 11.

Mike Scott, a forward from my neck of the woods (Deep Creek High in Chesapeake) scored six points in the final 50 seconds of the half. He had a monster game, going for 20 points and 13 rebounds.

But his Tech counterpart was the story. Jeff Allen picked up his second foul in the third minute of the game and sat on the bench for the rest of the first half. Then ... he went off. He hit a 3-pointer shortly after the break and put up this line in the final 20 minutes: 13 points, four blocks, two rebounds and two steals.

After Scott dunked to give the Cavaliers a 51-48 lead with two minutes to go, Allen converted a 3-point play, sank a 3-pointer and stole a pass to not only give Tech the lead but also essentially seal the victory.

Don’t forget guard Dorenzo Hudson, however, who scored 13 points in the first seven minutes of the second half for Tech. Or forwards J.T. Thompson and Terrell Bell who had 10 and 9 rebounds, respectively.

It was an ugly win, but a team win. And one that inches the Hokies closer to an NCAA tournament bid – if not more.

Now for some locker room reaction ...

COACH SETH GREENBERG

OPENING REMARKS: “That was just a hard-fought basketball game. Both teams mirror each other so much. Obviously both struggle at times to shoot it straight and score. Both teams pride themselves on contesting shots and keeping people out of the lane. But our resiliency is almost mind-boggling to me. The decision-making at the end of the game for our guys – Malcolm’s pass off the ball screen, Dorenzo’s pass off the ball screen, Jeff’s dunk was ridiculous ... For Jeff to have the composure to pick up two fouls in two minutes, then come back in the second half with a great sense of purpose and a great focus just speaks volumes to where he is right now. And a big reason for where our team is. Then you’ve got the unsung heroes. J.T. Thompson with 10 rebounds, Terrell Bell with nine rebounds. And then Dorenzo, his growth – not just scoring points but as a basketball player ... the drive he made in transition, the play he made off the big double ... I couldn’t be more proud of how we’re winning. ... We’re starting to really develop an identity, and it’s fun to watch. Are we complete? No, we’re not complete? Are we tough? Yes, we’re tough. Do we have great trust? Without a doubt. And I think they’re poised. Down the stretch, I couldn’t be more impressed with our poise.”

ON HIM SAYING TECH IS ‘FUN TO WATCH’: “It’s fun for me to watch. It’s fun for me to watch our guys mature as a team.”

ON WHETHER HIS TEAM WHERE’S THE ‘UGLY’ LABEL AS A BADGE OF PRIDE: “We’re not the only ugly team in America. There’s a whole group of us. There’s probably a fraternity. We want to check people; we want to be tough ... we’re kind of a grind-it-out team. That’s who we are. You are who you are. I’m not embarrassed that’s who we are. Everyone can’t be Carolina last year. I look at Michigan State. They’ve been to a lot of Final Fours playing ugly. A lot of teams have won playing the way we’re playing right now. We’re not a great team, but we are resilient, we’re tough and we’re competitive.”

ON WHAT HE SAID AT HALFTIME TO FORWARD JEFF ALLEN, WHO GOT TWO FOULS IN THREE MINUTES AND SAT THE REST OF THE FIRST HALF: “I didn’t talk to him about a lot. I just said, ‘You’re going to be fine.’ I told him, ‘You’ve worked too hard. You’re going to be fine in the second half. Just go out and play.’ We ran a set for him the second play to get him going on that pick-and-pop (he hit a 3-pointer). I thought that was a good way to get him going. He did a great job. But that dunk (all over forward Jerome Meyinsse) was sick. That was just a helluva play.”

ON ALLEN’S BODY LANGUAGE AFTER SITTING FOR SO LONG: “I thought he was ready to play. On the bench, he was cheering his teammates. He wants to contribute. He wants to help us win. His work ethic, the amount of time he’s putting in, coming in getting extra shots ... he was here today at 6, 6:15 (a.m.). He was getting extra shots at 2:15 (p.m.) He’s put too much work in not to be rewarded. That’s why I said to him ... ‘Something good’s going to happen. Just stay with it.’ ”

ON SWEEPING THE CAVS: “They’re a good team. We’re very fortunate to win these two games. I’m proud of how we won them. We won them kind of the way we are. I don’t want to take anything away from their effort. I just think our guys, fortunately for us, went out and won the game. They went after it.”

ON THE BIG WEEK AHEAD, WITH THE ACC’S TOP TWO TEAMS ON TAP: “The league’s good. It’s just: Next game. We can’t worry about all the other static. We’ve just got to get the next game.”

GUARD MALCOLM DELANEY

ON BEING 20-4 AND WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF THE TOP OF THE ACC STANDINGS: “We still have to keep playing. We’ve got some games left and we have a chance to win the ACC if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

ON FORWARD JEFF ALLEN’S BIG FINISH: “He’s playing with confidence. He was hot in the last couple minutes of the game. We kept getting him the ball and he kept delivering for us. That’s how our team is: Whoever is the hot man, we keep going to him.”

ON WHETHER HE COULD SEE IN ALLEN’S EYES THAT HE WAS HUNGRY AFTER SITTING MOST OF THE FIRST HALF: “It’s bad when we can’t have Jeff in the first half. It’s crazy how he never gets to play that many minutes. But he bounced right back as soon as he got in, in the second half. He started attacking. That’s the Jeff we need. He’s starting to play like the old Jeff. He’s real confident right now and we need him to be this confident going into the rest of the games.”

ON WHETHER THIS TEAM LIKES BEING THE ‘UGLY’ TEAM: “I don’t care. As long as we win. We don’t care how we win. We don’t have seven McDonald’s All-Americans. That’s what we’ve been (ugly) since we’ve been in the ACC. Teams don’t like playing us. We’re real scrappy. We get lose balls, dive on the floor. That’s what makes us.”

FORWARD JEFF ALLEN

ON HIS BIG SECOND HALF: “I couldn’t go two games without doing nothing against U.Va. ... The first half wasn’t that good. The second half, I came ready to play. ... It was kind of frustrating sitting there and watching my team play and me not doing anything on the court.”

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