Syracuse presents huge challenge to Hokies

For a handful of Virginia Tech’s men’s basketball players, tonight’s NIT Preseason Tip-Off semifinal game against No. 5 Syracuse at Madison Square Garden will be their first experience on the big stage.

For all but two of the Hokies (3-0), it’ll be their first time in one of basketball’s most hallowed arenas.

Getting past the excitement of playing at the Garden will be one thing for Tech’s young basketball team. The task of playing the Orange is a different challenge altogether.

“I’m more worried about Syracuse than the bright lights,” Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said.

Tonight’s game is scheduled to tip off at 9:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2. The winner will advance to Friday’s championship game against the winner of the other semifinal between Oklahoma State and Stanford.

The talented and deep Orange (4-0) will provide a major challenge for a Tech team that is still trying to establish an identity after three games this season.

Syracuse returned five of its top six scorers from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, and it added a banner freshman class that includes standout forward Rakeem Christmas, a top 100 prospect who is already being projected as a future NBA lottery pick.

One of the biggest challenges of playing the Orange is trying to get around its vaunted 2-3 zone defense.

Syracuse has allowed only 57.5 points per game this season, and it leads the Big East’s early-season rankings in steals per game (12.5) and turnover margin (plus-10).

Tech point guard Erick Green says the key to beating the Orange’s zone is to keep the ball moving.

“You can’t hold the ball against the zone,” Green said. “You’ve got to keep swinging it, getting it in the high post, different things like that.

“And we’ve got to hit our open shots. That’s the key is hitting a lot of open shots. We’ve got to make sure our shooters are on. I think if we can beat them down the court and get them out of it, I think that will be a huge success.”

Green used an eight-day layoff between games to rest his strained Achilles and is expected to start tonight. He is one of the several players on Tech’s roster who have never played a game at Madison Square Garden.

“I think it’ll be a hostile environment. I know it’s going to be all Syracuse fans down there, but I think that’s what we live for, to play in a big arena like Madison Square Garden, and just to get to play in front of everybody and to play in this environment is going to be huge,” Green said.

Senior guard Dorenzo Hudson is one of only two Hokies who have played at the Garden. He and senior center Victor Davila were on the team that won the Holiday Festival at MSG back in 2008.

“It’s the Garden. Everybody wants to go in there and see the banners hanging up and stuff like that, so it’s very big for a lot of people,” Hudson said.

For Greenberg, a Plainview, N.Y., native, this week is an opportunity to go back home and visit family and return to a basketball arena he’s revered since his childhood.

“New York City during the holidays is a magical place. It just is. Rockefeller Center and the Thanksgiving Day parade, just the city, there’s something about New York during the holidays that’s different than anywhere else in the world. But I’m biased as a New Yorker,” Greenberg said.

“And there’s something about that arena and the history of that arena. If you think about those who passed before you, I think that’s pretty exciting.”