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.
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“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
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70
Photo courtesy of the ACC
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