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Virginia Tech lost a close game to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, 73-70. The Deacs were able to hang on against the Hokies behind a solid performance by Miller-McIntyre who contributed 19 points and his teammates Mitoglou and Wilbiken who added 15 points, respectfully. The Hokies were led by Adam Smith with 12 points, but also had Bibbs, Hill, Muller, Wilson and Beyer in double figures.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash">#Hokies</a> nearly came up with it, but fall at Wake Forest, 73-70. Smith leads Tech’s 6 dd scorers with 12 pts.</p>— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) <a href="https://twitter.com/VT_MBBall/status/561634659319422976">January 31, 2015</a></blockquote>
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The balanced attack by Virginia Tech was negated nearly all game by lapses on the defensive end. There were several opportunities for the Hokies to gain the lead or keep it, but were unable to consistently get stops when they needed them. However, overall the Hokies played well in limiting second chance opportunities, but were not able to stop dribble drive plays by Miller-McIntyre or the drive and kick game the Deacs like to play.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Tech's bench continues to produce, scoring 34 of the 70 pts. Wake got 15 pts from its bench.</p>— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) <a href="https://twitter.com/VT_MBBall/status/561639862840086530">January 31, 2015</a></blockquote>
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The encouraging part about losing a close game today was seeing guys play well that had been inconsistent. The bench is still being very productive for VT and the play of guys like Muller, Beyer and Hudson shows that this team is treating every game like they're 0-0 for the season. That mentality is something that VT basketball hasn't had in quite some time and can only be attributed to the players hard work and the culture Buzz Williams is instilling in his program.
Justin Bibbs made his return this afternoon and played well for having missed nearly 3 weeks due to a concussion. He added 10 points to the Hokies cause and had a chance to tie the game with under 10 seconds to go.
Virginia Tech will be back in action Tuesday night as they travel to Syracuse for a 9:00pm tip-off.
Go Hokies!