EXCELLENT GAME PLAN HELPS HOKIES FOSTER HOPES OF UPSET

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 16, 1992                   TAG: 9202160123
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium
EXCELLENT GAME PLAN HELPS HOKIES FOSTER HOPES OF UPSET
It was worst against first in the Metro Conference basketball standings Saturday, and Virginia Tech figured to have no shot against 14th-ranked Tulane.
After all, the Hokies usually can't shoot.
A lot has changed about Dr. James Naismith's invention in its 100 years. But - knock on hardwood - if a team can shoot and play defense, it usually has a chance.
With its heralded backup five, "The Posse," Tulane has rounded up weary foes all season. However, Tech proved that basketball is still a five-man game. The Hokies had little choice.
In a stunning 89-73 triumph, Tech put some life back into what has been Cassell Mausoleum all season. The Hokies won by doing what they hadn't in a five-game losing skid.
They shot better than 50 percent for only the third time in 21 games; they had a 12-rebound advantage; they attacked pressure and beat it; they made free throws; and they did it with less depth than some of the rivers in the Cassell parking lot.
However, if you're counting the ways in which Tech (8-13) handed the Green Wave its first Metro loss, start with the place where the Hokies' go-to guy, John Rivers, spent the afternoon.
Tech's most impressive game was turned in by its first-year coaching staff. After being drummed 80-60 at Tulane and committing 29 turnovers a month ago, the Hokies received a lot of Foster care in recording their most stunning win of the season.
In the battle of New Orleans, Tech tried to attack Tulane's trapping pressure by sending point man Jay Purcell into the crest of the Green Wave, then reversing the ball to the weak side.
"It was the right thing to do, from a basic strategy standpoint, but not for this team," coach Bill Foster said. "Our guys had to think too much in the heat of battle."
Foster didn't say that in a denigrating fashion. This may be in his first season as Tech's bench boss, but he has seen a few traps in 25 years as a head coach. With a fragile team in a new system, he knew the east-west approach against the Wave really wasn't an attack that inspired confidence.
The Tech coaches thought about a straight 1-3-1 invasion of Tulane's defense - then were convinced that was the way to go after watching Wake Forest 1-3-1 its way to victory over Tulane 12 days earlier.
Tech put the ball in Purcell's hands and stretched Corey Jackson, Thomas Elliott and Steve Hall from wing-to-wing, with 7-foot Erik Wilson down low. They skip-passed their way over the Wave defense. When the Hokies weren't getting layups, they had wide-open baseline jumpers.
"We thought we could get those kinds of shots," Tech assistant coach Chris Ferguson said. "But you have to make them."
For the first time this season, the Hokies put five scorers in double figures. Maybe a reason for that was Rivers' position on the bench. Without Tech's top rebounder and No. 2 scorer down on the block as either a big-play man or a safety valve, the Hokies' iron five seemed to play less to spots and more to offensive opportunities.
At the other end of the floor, Tech played the type of zone that hasn't been seen in Cassell since the 1979 Hokies were playing their way toward the school's only Metro Tournament championship.
Foster went from switching defenses to a zone that pushed Tulane's offense into 3-point land. The 2-3 zone also aided a bench-shy team that may not have had the legs to chase in a man-to-man.
"We started packing it in more, because we worried about them beating us inside like they did at their place," Ferguson said. "Then when they were 2-for-10 at halftime [on 3-point tries], we extended more."
Tech also forced Tulane, ranked 13th nationally with 87 points per game, to set up and turn over its offense. The Hokies can do that when they don't turn the ball over.
Foster believes that, despite a shortage of depth, the Hokies can put themselves in position to win if they can play zone, use their size and shoot decently. The numbers back him. Tech is 7-0 when it has scored 70 or more points this season, 1-13 otherwise.
You can be sure that Tech's zone will keep showing up. If the Hokies are to produce the sort of hoop-la they did Saturday, their offense will have to stay in the comfort zone they haven't found often.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB