A match made in heaven: hokies to square off with no. 3 villanova

Chris Hirons

November 27, 2020

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — If you had told anyone a year ago that pickup basketball would be played at the highest level in college hoops, no one would have believed you.

But, that’s exactly what’s going to take place between Virginia Tech (1-0, 0-0) and No. 3 Villanova (2-0, 0-0) on Saturday night, per a tweet from Virginia Tech Athletics. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander first reported the news at 1:45 a.m.

Fresh off beating Radford on Wednesday afternoon, the Hokies turned their attention to Temple as they boarded Wednesday’s flight to college basketball’s ‘Bubbleville’ at Mohegan Sun Arena.

VT arrived in Connecticut and hopped off the plane onto the tarmac on Wednesday evening. Around 1:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Temple announced that it would not be boarding a flight, or a bus, to Bubbleville after a positive covid test shut down the men’s basketball program for two weeks.

Virginia Tech, who would have made the trip up to Uncasville only to play South Florida, had a hole to fill in its schedule following Temple’s announcement.

Enter Villanova.

Head coach Jay Wright and his team knocked off No. 18 Arizona State on Thursday night to win the 2K Empire Classic tournament. Wright, knowing that VU’s upcoming Dec. 3 matchup against Temple was going to be scratched, chose to keep his team in Bubbleville to find a non-conference opponent that the Wildcats could play before heading home.

A match made in Heaven.

In the wee hours of Black Friday, Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young and Wright agreed to play in the Hokies’ original time slot on Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPNews.

The Hokies will play a Villanova team that took down Boston College and ASU on back-to-back nights.

Forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who announced that he would return for his sophomore season in April, led the in scoring in both games with 18 against the Eagles and 28 against the Sun Devils. The Kansas native also totaled a double-double against Boston College with 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal, and reminded everyone why he’s a future NBA Draft pick.

Knocking off one of the best teams in the country will be a tall task for Virginia Tech.

After opening its season against Radford, VT will have one of the toughest turnarounds as Young dug deep into his bench on Wednesday trying to craft the perfect lineup. Both offenses are high powered as Tech will certainly have its hands full. And if the Hokies start slow like they did against Radford, well, it could be a long night.

The quick pivot is just a preview of what the 2020-2021 season will have in store. For the next four months, games will be postponed to a later date, or even outright cancelled. Teams will scramble to find nearby opponents that have an open date and an open court just to play ball.

The madness of pickup basketball who’s-got-next atmosphere will engulf the college game. Schools are being forced to take each day hour-by-hour, so, going with the flow might just be the key to success in completing this year’s college basketball season.