Cal and Virginia Tech have struggled down the stretch, but certainly one of them will declare a minimum of a second sport within the Atlantic Coast Convention match.
The groups meet within the first spherical Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C.
No. 10 seed Virginia Tech (13-18) has misplaced two in a row and three of its final 4, together with Saturday’s 65-47 setback at then-No. 11 Clemson. Tuesday’s winner meets No. 7 seed Stanford on Wednesday evening.
“Let’s go play properly,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Younger mentioned. “Gained at Cal earlier within the yr.”
No. 15 seed Cal (13-18) has misplaced seven of its final eight video games. The Golden Bears nabbed the final berth into the ACC match of their first season within the convention.
The Golden Bears had been on the unsuitable finish of the historic 112-110 four-overtime matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday. Jeremiah Wilkinson’s 36 factors led Cal in that matchup, and he was certainly one of three gamers on the group to log a minimum of 50 minutes of enjoying time.
Wilkinson may have one other probability to indicate what he can do within the match. The freshman has averaged 20.4 factors since becoming a member of the beginning lineup 13 video games in the past.
“He is an unbelievable level guard,” Cal coach Mark Madsen mentioned. “He is an explosive scorer, but in addition does a extremely good job of on the lookout for his teammates. He is rising into one of many high level guards within the nation.”
Turnover troubles have haunted the Hokies and so they’re working out of time to repair them.
“That has been a sore spot for my group all yr,” Younger mentioned. “We do not deal with the ball price a rattling.”
Virginia Tech received the regular-season assembly 71-68 on Jan. 11 at Cal regardless of guard Andrej Stojakovic’s 24 factors. He hasn’t scored that many factors in a sport since.
Guard Jaydon Younger had a team-high 14 factors for the Hokies in that victory, which featured a 42-23 halftime lead.
Tobi Lawal leads Virginia Tech in scoring (12.2 factors per sport) and rebounding (6.8 per sport). Lawal (lower-body damage) missed final week’s residence finale towards North Carolina, however returned to attain 5 factors in 24 minutes within the Clemson sport.
–Discipline Stage Media
