Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 3 | January 2018

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men’s basketball spotlight devin wilson
DEVIN WILSON’S TOP PERFORMANCES
Jan. 19, 2014 –Wilson scored 20 points and handed out seven assists in Tech’s 70-63 loss at
Notre Dame. He hit 7 of 10 from the floor, including a 3-pointer and grabbed four rebounds in
the effort.
Jan. 22, 2014 –Wilson scored 25 of his career-high 26 points in the second half of Tech’s 83-77
loss to Wake Forest. He hit 6 of 10 from the floor, including three 3-pointers, as Tech sliced a
19-point deficit to single digits before succumbing to the Demon Deacons.
Feb. 15, 2014 –Wilson hit 3 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 34 seconds to carry the
Hokies to a 52-45 upset Miami. He scored 12 points and dished out nine assists in the win.
Jan. 27, 2015–Wilson scored five points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out seven assists
in the Hokies’ 70-67 overtime upset of Pittsburgh. He played a season-high 41 minutes in the
game.
Feb. 25, 2015–Wilson scored 10 points and dished out a career-high 11 assists in the Hokies’
91-86 defeat at home against then-No. 4 Duke. He missed tying the school record by an assist,
but still holds the program record for assists in an ACC game.
Occasionally, hard-working, selfless administrative assistants across
Virginia Tech’s campus find that the candy sitting in the jars on their
desks mysteriously goes missing in large quantities, leaving them to
wonder as to the identity of the mischievous thief.
A campus-wide search of backpacks might lead to the culprit, but to
narrow the scope of possibilities, investigators would do well to start
in the Hahn Hurst Basketball Practice Center. Rumors keep floating
around that a worthy suspect spends a lot of his time there.
Actually, Devin Wilson plans some day to go to law school,
but the future counselor is willing to save everyone a lot of time
in this particular case.
In other words, guilty as charged.
“I love to eat candy,” he once revealed in a “5 Things
You Didn’t Know About Me” video. “I eat it for breakfast,
lunch and dinner.”
Wilson’s candy of choice is the Sour Patch soft and
chewy variety, preferably watermelon flavored, but he
rarely discriminates.
Yet Virginia Tech fans hardly seemwilling to hold
this minor vice against their hard-working backup
point guard/shooting guard/forward and one of
a trio of seniors on the men’s basketball team.
After all, how does one serve as judge and
jury and throw the book at this fine young
man when he has played two sports at this
university during his career and plans on
graduating with two degrees, and most
importantly, possesses a future filled
with possibilities?
One really can’t, especially after
the sacrifices made by the “glue” guy
on Tech’s squad and a former wide
receiver on the Hokies’ football
squad. Most know his story, or at
least are familiar with it, and many
categorize it as a rollercoaster
ride, but Wilson refuses to use
that term.
In his mind, the word
“rollercoaster” insinuates ups
and downs—and there haven’t
been any downs.
“It’s been a great ride,” he said shortly before the Hokies departed
for a recent road trip. “So I wouldn’t say it was a rollercoaster. It’s just
been a lot of different turns that I didn’t expect to happen coming into
college, that’s for sure.”
Like most at the prep level, Wilson dominated—in two sports—and
as a senior, he expected to play basketball at a mid-major school. But
his life took its first drastic turn when James Johnson offered him a
scholarship in the spring of 2013. The Virginia Tech men’s basketball
coach at the time, Johnson needed another guard after the university
declined to admit Donte Clark, who wound up at UMass. Wilson, who
starred at Montour High in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, represented
an intriguing option.
As a senior at Montour, Wilson received interest from football
coaches, too, which probably hindered his basketball recruitment, as
many wondered which sport he really wanted to play at the collegiate
level. He said he probably would have signed with George Mason to
play basketball, but Tech’s offer—his lone Power 5 offer—forced him
to reconsider.
“When I came to visit, I loved it,” he said. “I loved the campus. I
loved the people. I even saw a couple of people that I knew from back
home. The guys, I met a couple of guys. Jarell Eddie was here. Adam
[Smith] was here. They just took me all over the campus, and I ended
up falling in love with all of it.”
Johnson expected to redshirt Wilson, but injuries forced his
hand, and Wilson surprisingly burst on the scene as a freshman,
starting all 31 games and making the ACC’s All-Freshman Team after
averaging 9.2 points and 4.8 assists per game. The Hokies, though,
struggled badly, going 9-22 and winning just two conference games.
They finished in last place in the ACC, which precipitated a coaching
change, as then-new AD Whit Babcock brought in Buzz Williams to
run the program. Numerous players left, and Wilson himself gave it
some thought.
It only made sense, too. Johnson gave Wilson his big opportunity,
and now he was leaving. Would Williams give him the same fair shot?
Williams brands his roster as “OKG’s”—“Our Kind of Guys.” Could
Wilson be one of those?
He met with Williams and decided that he wanted to find out.
“I always knew I was his [Williams’] type of guy,” Wilson said.
“The way I grew up, the way I played, it kind of matches his style, like
diving on the floor, not really worrying about if someone is yelling at
me, playing hard at all times … I kind of played like that my freshman
year, too.
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