By R.L. Bynum

WASHINGTON — As Tyler Nickel walked from the postgame press conference to the Virginia Tech locker room, he greeted some Carolina friends.

It was a brief and jovial exchange in the hallway at Capital One Arena with assistant coach Marcus Paige and director of operations Eric Hoots. Nickel hoped to spend much more time with them and his other UNC friends on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

His Virginia Tech team (18–14) would have taken on the No. 4 Tar Heels if it could have knocked off Florida State in a second-round game on Wednesday, but the Seminoles advanced with an 86–76 victory.

“Of course, when you see the bracket, you know your road, and what the next round is,” said Nickel, who scored 18 points and three 3-pointers. He had seven rebounds to lead the Hokies in that category for the first time this season. “Of course, I would love to play Carolina, but it didn’t shake out.”

Of the six players who transferred away from UNC after last season, Arizona’s Caleb Love’s decision obviously has worked out best. He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year on Tuesday.

But Nickel is happy with his decision.

“I think it’s definitely still the fit that I imagined it would be, it’s just frustrating what happened,” Nickel said of going out in the Hokies’ first ACC tournament game. “However things are for me individually, it’s hard to talk about now just because of how we just went out.”

It’s still possible that Virginia Tech plays in the NIT if its NET ranking is one of the top two among the ACC teams that don’t make the NCAA tournament field.

“I love the team here,” said Nickel, who has averaged 15.3 points in the last three games. “I love the coaches. I love the atmosphere. I love the school. I love everything about it. Unfortunatel how things went down, but we’re gonna be back.”

Nickel said that he stays in touch with his former teammates, including the ones who decided to transfer — Love, Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles, Puff Johnson and D’Marco Dunn at Penn State and Will Shaver at UAB.

“Yeah, I talk to ’em,” Nickel said. “Anytime you play on a team with somebody, you’re all close. Just keeping up with them, wishing them well.”

Since graduate forward Mekhi Long went down with a knee injury in late January, the 6–7 Nickel has been playing more at the four spot. When graduate forward Robbie Beran got into foul trouble Thursday, that meant more time at that spot against the taller Seminoles.

Against guard-heavy opponents, Nickel’s matchups were easier than they were on Thursday. He still led the team in rebounds. His put back for a three-point play with 2:17 cut the Hokies’ deficit to seven but he could come no closer.

“Me playing at the four was just us going small,” Nickel said. “It was what we had to do. I was in that role and tried to make the most of it as I could.”

He has two more seasons to make his mark at Virginia Tech.

ACC tournament

Capital One Arena, Washington
Tuesday’s first-round results
No. 12 seed Notre Dame 84, No. 13 seed Georgia Tech 80
No. 10 seed N.C. State 94, No. 15 seed Louisville 85
No. 11 seed Boston College 81, No. 14 seed Miami 65
Wednesday’s second-round results
No. 9 seed Florida State 86, No. 8 seed Virginia Tech 76
No. 5 seed Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
N.C. State 83, No. 7 seed Syracuse 65
Boston College 76, No. 6 seed Clemson 55
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 seed North Carolina 92, Florida State 67
No. 4 seed Pittsburgh 81, Wake Forest 69
N.C. State 74, No. 2 seed Duke 69
No. 3 seed Virginia 66, Boston College 60, OT
Friday’s semifinals
North Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65
N.C. State 72, Virginia 65, OT
Saturday’s championship
N.C. State 84, North Carolina 76