hokie homecoming soured by wake forest

By Sam Alves

Staff Writer

December 4, 2021

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech found itself in the first half in a position it’s been in for the better part of its last four games: down single digits, trying to scrap together a comeback.

But in their ACC opener in front of a sellout Cassell Coliseum crowd, the Hokies (6-3, 0-1 ACC) couldn’t find any traction in the second half as Wake Forest (8-1, 1-0 ACC) landed blow after blow inside, handing the Hokies their most lopsided loss of their young season, 80-61.

“I thought we were playing catch up all night,” head coach Mike Young said. “Not catch up in terms of scoring; catching up in terms of guarding them. … On the opening possession, we got strung out and [Davien] Williamson hit a three right over opposite our bench. This Virginia Tech team has been very, very good on that end all year with a possible exception of one [game] in New York.”

The Demon Deacons bullied the Hokies inside, outscoring the hosts 48-28 in the paint. Defensively, Wake tightened up in the second half, limiting Tech to 10 of 29 (34.5%) shooting and forcing nine turnovers.

Williamson, Wake’s leading scorer (19 points), bookended the scoring for Wake with corner threes, and the Hokies trailed the whole game.

Keve Aluma led the game in scoring with 23 points thanks to a 4-for-5 start from three-point land over the first 24 minutes. He and forward Justyn Mutts (15 points) combined on four plays for wide open buckets at the rim in the first half, but that was the extent of the bright spots offensively.

No other Hokie scored more than seven.

“Nahiem [Alleyne] had a tough day,” Young said. “Hunter Cattoor had a tough day. Storm [Murphy] has got to come on for us. They will. Those guys are too good of players. I don’t think it was anything definitively that Wake Forest was doing.

But I continuously go back to the defensive end. An atypical Hokie performance on that end of the floor.”

It was an atypical day at Cassell, certainly much different than when Tech crushed Wake 84-46, the last time the two schools battled in Blacksburg back in late March.

Of the Hokies who played Saturday, only three (Alleyne, Cattoor and John Ojiako) had experienced a full Cassell crowd in ACC play. Four (David N’Guessan, Darius Maddox, Aluma and Mutts) played a modified ACC schedule with limited fans last year. That left two, guards Murphy and Storm Pedulla, playing their first ACC home game with a standard crowd.

“[The crowd] was awesome,” Murphy said. “It was an incredible experience for me to start off and to come into a game at tip to see such a crowd there. Pretty cool experience and definitely a positive note for us.”

Added Aluma: “Maybe next time we’ll try to get the win for them. It was great to get the energy with everybody there.”

The Cassell Guard was decked in orange with splashes of orange spread throughout the rest of the arena. Buzzing from the start, the crowd crescendoed to a peak when Virginia Tech’s new defensive-minded head football coach, Brent Pry, addressed the crowd at the under-16 media timeout.

But the Hokies ultimately failed to come up with the stops necessary to spark a rally.

“Not being able to go on a big run, not being able to make that comeback is all part of our defense and not being able to get three stops in a row, something we harp on,” Murphy said. “Those stops are super important for us, and that’s why I think we weren’t able to go on our run.”