Hokies Continue To Find Their Footing With 81-66 Win Over Georgia Tech

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

February 3, 2022

BLACKSBURG — Needing a victory to continue to keep its postseason aspirations alive and well, Virginia Tech got just that using impressive sharpshooting, relentless rebounding and clambering defense throughout a large portion of the evening.

Through versatille scoring, physical paint play and charity stripe-stroking, the Hokies (12-10, 4-7 ACC) find themselves in the win column once more, using an overall stellar night to rout Georgia Tech (9-12, 2-8 ACC), 81-66, in front of a passionate crowd inside Cassell Coliseum.

“That was a really, really fun game,” said guard Storm Murphy, who tied his season-high with 18 points. “For it to be Wednesday night and see Cassell so packed like that, it’s just so lively, it really helped juice us up and get us going.”

Keve Aluma certainly seemed to feed off of that energy, leading the way for the maroon and orange with 24 points and seven boards. He, once again, provided a dominant post presence for a team that — at times — has lacked severe physicality during portions of the season.

“We were able to get behind their 1-3-1 zone,” head coach Mike Young said regarding Aluma’s success. “They’re so loaded up top with that zone, they do a nice job with it, we were able to get behind it with some things and we had a favorable matchup. [Georgia Tech head] coach [Josh] Pastner wanted to play a smaller lineup a couple of times…and we were able to find that matchup.

He’s [Aluma] got great hands and can really score the ball around the basket. I thought he had a really good night for us.”

Murphy’s performance certainly was a welcomed sight as well. The Wofford grad transfer started his evening 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, and finished his night shooting 60% from all over the floor.

“He was good,” Young said when talking about his fifth-year guard. “We were able to find some cavities [in Georgia Tech’s zone], and he does a really nice job of sliding into those cavities. He can really, really shoot the ball. Really unselfish play from everyone on the floor.”

Murphy certainly backed that up.

“I think the rim just felt big tonight for me,” the 6-foot, 185-pounder said. “My shot felt good in prep. It’s just a testament to how unselfish this team is, and how the chemistry and culture we have where we’re all rooting for each other is huge.”

Spreading the wealth. A solid phrase used to describe this Virginia Tech team throughout this season. Both in the continually mentioned “unselfish” play, and at who takes a turn at a stellar night for on-the-floor showing.

Take for example the win in Tallahassee over the weekend against Florida State. 47 combined points from Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla certainly did the trick. Though tonight, it was the Aluma-Murphy combination that got the job done for the orange and maroon.

A good sign to mix it up? Young certainly thinks so.

“I think that we’re seeing this team continue to evolve,” he said. “We’re 22 games into this thing, and we’re here in February continuing to get different guys stepping forward and giving us quality play. We’re coming on here, we’re coming on.”

Murphy warns the mixing and matching makes the Hokies “even more dangerous.” And he grinned ear-to-ear when discussing his teammates’ accomplishments over the past four days.

“I was just excited [to contribute to the team]. We had Hunter and Sean step up at Florida State, and oh my gosh, how fun was that to celebrate and be a part of,” Murphy said. “Then we have a night like this and the next man’s hot. I think it’s just really cool and really fun; it feels good when the basket feels big and shots are going in.”

It was the second-straight complete performance for the Hokies, and after struggling early on in their conference campaign, the talent level still doesn’t go unnoticed if you ask a multitude of counterparts.

“I think Virginia Tech is really good, they’re better than their record,” Pastner said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they win a bunch [of their games] the rest of the season. I hope when they play us at our spot we beat them, but I can see them getting a lot of wins for the remainder of the year.”

Swallowing his pride, and honestly assessing, Pastner addressed what turned the tables on his team that just so happened to win the ACC a season ago.

“They hit a couple of threes,” admitted the sixth-year head coach. “They stretched us a little bit. We did a good job on Cattoor, but what really hurt us was Aluma. Obviously, Storm Murphy hit some shots and some threes, but the bottom line is, Aluma and [Justyn] Mutts got us in the paint. They got us down the stretch a little bit.”

Speaking of the dynamic duo of Aluma and Mutts, both individuals amassed 1,000 career points on Wednesday evening, much to the delight of Murphy and a slew of Tech teammates.

“It goes to show the type of men they are,” Murphy said. “Just the work ethic they have and the love for the game since they’ve been kids with dreams of playing Division I college basketball. It’s really, really cool to see them get that and to celebrate people on this team.”

All in all, Virginia Tech shot 52.8% from the field, 40% from three, went 17-for-22 from the charity stripe and outrebounded the Yellow Jackets by a sizable 36-26 margin.

Sure, maybe it’s not the 72% from downtown that it was in the Florida Panhandle, but it’s fair to say Young and company will flirt with those types of numbers any day of the week.

So after staring down a losing record just less than a week ago, and now back-to-back conference victories for just the second time this season, is it fair to say the Hokies have turned it around?

“Oh god I hope so, that was a long January,” Young said with a chuckle.

“We’re working really, really hard, we understand there’s been some setbacks. But that’s the game. That’s college athletics. Hang in there, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow. You’ve got to continue to fight and plug and pull for one another…another good win for us tonight. Two-in-a-row [now] and Pittsburgh here we come.”