And on paper, the Bulldogs seemed like a likely party, especially after the 34-point thrashing it received from Illinois on Saturday. Except home-standing Georgia never got that memo as it played its most complete game of the season, defeating Tech 67-66 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
As is becoming increasingly common for the Hokies (5-4) this season, the game came down to the final possession. But unlike the buzzer-beater losses to both Xavier and Wisconsin, the Hokies were the team with the possession. Still, the result was the same: Tech simply ran out of time.
"You'd like to win these games, and we're close," said head coach Seth Greenberg. "We're not very far away from being pretty good. We're on the road and had a chance to win."
"But beginning in the second half I didn't think we played with very good poise and we didn't rebound well."
The loss to Georgia (6-3) was Tech's fourth loss of the season where the final margin of victory was four points or less, and a loss Greenberg thought should have been avoided.
"You can look at one play in a game that can make a difference in these types of games," he said.
For Tech, these difference-making plays all occurred in the final 5:14 of play and all went in Georgia's favor. First, Bulldog sophomore forward Jeremy Price grabbed a long offensive rebound and slammed home the equalizing basket to make the score 60-60, prompting Greenberg to call a timeout.
Following the break, the Dogs changed from its man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone and forced the Hokies into a shot clock violation and brought its season-high crowd of 6,779 to its feet in a raucous celebration.
On the ensuing trip down the floor, Georgia took a 62-60 lead after junior forward Albert Jackson rebounded a three-point attempt for sophomore Zac Swansey. Tech quickly answered with a dunk from senior Cheick Diakite to even the score at 62 apiece.
After trading points, Diakite hit two foul shots with 57.1 seconds remaining to give the Hokies a precarious 66-65 lead, only to have the Dogs rip away the win. On their next possession, Jackson took a dish from senior Corey Butler and slam-dunked the eventual game-winning basket with 27.1 seconds to go.
The Hokies couldn't penetrate the Georgia zone, however, as the possession ended on a poor shot from sophomore Hank Thorns (four points) and another key rebound from Jackson, his fifth of the game and first on the defensive end.
"We drew up a play and A.D. (Vassallo) was open and we missed him," Greenberg said of the final possession. "We got a mismatch, they switched and had Jackson on him and we missed him."
Vassallo, who had a monster first half, scoring 14 points of 5-of-7 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range, disappeared in the second half. He only scored nine points and hit his final basket with 8:53 left on the clock. In fact, he did not even attempt another shot the rest of the night.
"Again, I don't think we played with very good poise in the second half," Greenberg said.
The Dogs however, saw the final minute a little bit differently.
"It was really intense" Butler said. "They have guys like (Malcolm) Delaney and Vassallo and he already had 23 points, and he's a heck of a player -- a phenomenal player. I was just trying to gear up and guard him.
"I was hoping my teammates were guarding their guys because we didn't want to give them anything easy. I'm really proud of the defense for just staying in front of the ball and playing for good defense."
Vassallo (23 points) and Delaney (11 points) were the only Hokies to finish in double-digits.
Tech had stretches during the first half where it threatened to run away and hide as it continued to make shots. The Hokies finished the half shooting 53.3 percent and 33.3 percent for 3-point distance, while limiting the Dogs to a 40 percent shooting effort
However, Georgia hung around as the first half ended with the Hokies enjoying a slim 41-38 advantage.
The game was close throughout as no team held a lead larger than five points at any point during a game that featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes.
Tech next takes the floor this weekend when they host the Longwood Lancers on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum.
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