Hokies Dominate Clemson on Senior Night

Evan McNally

March 5, 2020

BLACKSBURG, VA - The Hokies (16-14, 7-12 ACC) defeated Clemson (15-14, 9-10 ACC) 70-58 in their final game of the season at Cassell Coliseum.

After Clemson took the lead 42-41 with 13 minutes left in the second half, the Hokies exploded for a 14-0 run and held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

“I rank Clemson up there with the top two in our league for half-court defense,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said. “When that thing goes in the basket the game is a heck of a lot easier.”

P.J. Horne led the Hokies in scoring with 17 points, adding five steals on defense. Horne was 4-7 from beyond the arc.

“When P.J. Horne has the ability to step out and make multiple threes, that makes us tricky to guard,” Young said.

Tyrece Radford was driving aggressively to the hoop all night, finishing 7-8 from the field with 16 points, including a pair of acrobatic and-ones.

Tevin Mack was the leading scorer for the Tigers, turning in 12 points on 5-12 shooting.

After draining five threes in the first ten minutes, Clemson turned ice cold from beyond the arc and finished the game 9-35. The Tigers’ best scorer heading into Wednesday, Aamir Simms, was silenced by Horne’s defense. He finished with just five points on four shots, including four turnovers.

“I thought we played soft on both ends,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “They punched us in the mouth, and we just took it and didn’t compete tonight.”

The Hokies brought out the best version of themselves, looking much more like the team that beat Clemson to start the season, rather than the team that lost nine out of their last ten.

“Last home game had a big part of it, we give it to our fans,” Tyrece Radford said. “They’ve got high hopes in us and that focus on this game was big.”

The Hokies’ lead down the stretch was comfortable enough to get senior forward Branden Johnson two minutes of playing time and a booming ovation from the Hokie crowd on senior night.

The Hokies will head to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish in the final game of the regular season on Saturday.