Hokies Lose Another Close One, Fall 68-65 To Clemson

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

January 4, 2023

Virginia Tech shot just 27.9% from inside the arc in a 68-65 loss to Clemson. (Virginia Tech Athletics)

BLACKSBURG — As the clock submerged under eight minutes to play between Clemson and Virginia Tech inside the confines of Cassell Coliseum, the Hokies were in dire need of a spark.

Trailing the Tigers 57-49 following an efficient 13-1 Clemson run, the maroon and orange were desperate for someone to make a play. With a depleted backcourt with no Hunter Cattoor and still no sign of promising true freshman Rodney Rice, something had to give for a Tech team that’s still searching for a spark without two of its flashier players on the outside.

Alas, for quite some time, Wednesday night appeared to be the night where the course would redirect in the right direction, especially with a late-game binge.

Thanks to a 9-0 run over the next 3:06, the Hokies clung to a one-point advantage with just under six minutes to play. But after finally relinquishing it on a PJ Hall turnaround jumper with 3:56 remaining, Tech (11-4, 1-3 ACC) never got it back, dropping its third-straight contest decided by at least two possessions, and falling at the hands of the surging Tigers (12-3, 4-0 ACC) by a final score of 68-65 on the Hokies’ home floor.

The setback marked the first time since January of 2022 that Tech’s lost three in a row, with the skid starting following an overtime loss to Boston College just days before Christmas, and for Virginia Tech’s sake, hopefully ending with Wednesday’s night’s loss that dropped the Hokies to 1-3 in ACC play.

“I’m really battling the thing,” said Tech fourth-year head coach Mike Young. “BC, Wake Forest and Clemson tonight have the ability to play a bigger lineup and I have a hard time matching up with that. I’m counteracting that with a big lineup of our own. Our spacing, our ball movement, our shot selection, at times, is not where it has to be.

“Each of those teams played a little bit better than we did, and that’s just the bottom line.”

The Hokies shot a measly 27.9% from inside the arc in the three-point loss, marking the worst two-point field goal percentage since Young took over in Blacksburg prior to the 2019-20 campaign.

Tech, as a whole, knocked down just 31.3% of its shots throughout the duration of the contest, going 27.3% in the second half and failing to score from the field on more than one of the team’s final six offensive possessions in the final two minutes of play.

“I didn’t think [anyone] could ever limit us to [31.3%] from the field,” Young admitted. “Holy cow.”

Indeed, it had been quite the dropoff from even prior performances against both the Eagles and the Demon Deacons, in which the Hokies shot a combined 43.4% in both road ACC losses.

Ironically enough, the three-point shooting was turned a notch up, with Young’s team upping their percentage to 37.5% from the combined 26.8% that had uglified the prior two contests.

Of course, the readdition of the aforementioned Cattoor, who suffered an elbow bruise in the 70-65 loss against Boston College, surely should slow down the Hokies’ shooting woes, but when that could take place remains an uncertainty, with the senior out of Orlando, Florida suffering a setback prior to Wednesday’s matchup.

“It helps that Hunter Cattoor’s not playing,” said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. “He’s an outstanding player that stretches the defense, and so it becomes a big body game. [Justyn] Mutts is terrific…[Grant] Basile can shoot the heck out of the ball. We obviously recruited [Clemson transfer] Lynn Kidd, and we think Lynn’s a really good player.

“It’s just physical. There’s not as much space, there’s big bodies on top of you. You’ve got to play really good one-on-one good interior defense. I thought we did that.”

Tech, however, was better in the turnover category than the past two times taking the floor. The Hokies coughed it up only 11 times in the loss to the Tigers, compared to 15 in Chestnut Hill, and a sloppy 13 in Winston-Salem had been a punishing blow in the past two defeats.

Tech also surrendered just two offensive rebounds late Wednesday night, a much-improved effort after giving up 31 combined offensive boards the last two times out.

At the end of the day, though, it was all for naught.

Despite a game-high 17 points from Basile, a 4-of-9 three-point shooting spree by Sean Pedulla and a more decloaked form of Darius Maddox, the Hokies couldn’t hold off Clemson on their home floor.

Not a single member of the Tigers managed to produce more than 13 points, but with the absence of Cattoor and with Rice nowhere to be found, the opposition can sustain such heavy hits.

Virginia Tech needs to get healthy. And quickly, too, following another close call.

“Hate it,” Young said. “Feel like a dog. But we’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out.”