hokies use second half surge to down saint francis, 85-55

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

November 19, 2021

BLACKSBURG — For the second straight game, Virginia Tech put together a poor shooting, poorly executed, and just sloppy first half.

For the second straight game, the Hokies (4-0) also put together a dominant, physical, and smooth second half, using that to route non-conference foe Saint Francis (Pa.) (1-2), 85-55 on Thursday night inside Cassell Coliseum.

Despite a lack of rhythm, lack of execution, and a lack of an offensive identity in the first period of play, Tech still put up a whopping 85 points, getting a push from two key players that have started to find their stroke as of late.

“We were getting great looks, just not knocking them down,” junior guard Nahiem Alleyne said when talking about the Hokies’ first half struggles. The Buford, Ga. native tied for a team-high 18 points, with Keve Aluma matching Alleyne’s total in the box score.

“We can’t keep having slow starts,” he continued. “I really felt like we had good shots today, just weren’t knocking them down.”

“We just were kind of stuck in gear for a little bit,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said. “There was not one shot in the first half that I questioned. I want us to take the same shots, rhythm shots after an extra pass, and if you turn one down I’ll take you out of the game.

Let it fly. We did a much better job in the second half.”

Let it fly they did. The Hokies then turned it on with a 51-point second half, only turning the ball over three times in the final 20 minutes of play, and shot 52% from the floor after shooting just 38% in the first half.

“We definitely got the ball in the post,” Aluma said about what changed in the second half. “That helped us.”

The numbers would back that up. Young’s team had 40 total points in the paint, with 24 of those coming in the second half.

As far as turnovers go, it’s fair to say that the third-year head coach was much more pleased with Thursday night’s performance.

Tech was coming off an outing in which it surrendered 15 turnovers against Radford earlier this week. Improving that number was a must to abide by Virginia Tech’s philosophy.

“(It) was embarrassing,” Young admitted. “Much better tonight, much better. I thought we had a sequence with Murphy, to Aluma, an extra pass to Maddox to end the half and get that thing up to 12, it looked like Virginia Tech basketball. Or what I hope it’s supposed to look like.”

While the offense has tended to cool down in certain spurts, the Tech defense has continued to be outstanding, which has to be a welcome sight to everyone in the program.

Is that something the Hokies are taking pride in early in the season?

“Yeah, I know they are,” Young said. “What’s it going to look like going forward? I think we got a chance, they’re responsible, they’re conscientious, and they’re going to take what you give them and carry it to the floor. I’ve been quite impressed. They do a nice job.”

Tech held the Red Flash to shooting just 33% from the field, including 26% from three. In fact, the Hokies have kept their opponent shooting under 40% all year long, with Navy’s 39% the most it has allowed all year.

So what’s the secret sauce?

“They really close down the driving lines,” said Saint Francis (Pa.) head coach Rob Krimmel. “They do a great job of contesting shooters, there’s not a lot of space on the floor. They could push us off the block, they’re really good.

It’s a disciplined team, they did a really good job tonight of taking what we do well away from us. That’s (Virginia Tech) a really well-oiled machine. They made the pace and space offensively really challenging for us.”

Eleven total Hokies tallied points into the box score on Thursday evening. And while Alleyne and Aluma will get the recognition, a lot of attention shouldn’t be directed away from sophomore Darius Maddox, who added 11 points of his own.

The former Oak Hill Academy star and highly-touted recruit has continued to shine early on in the 2021-22 campaign, and he’ll look to continue to be a valuable bench piece for the Hokies this season.

It was just another tune-up game for Virginia Tech, that’s all it was.

But the Hokies continue to take care of business. And they’ll get one more glorified get right on Sunday against Merrimack before heading up north for the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Young has got to be pleased, and he is four games in.

“We limited them to 33%, we outrebounded them by a significant margin, our turnovers were down, so we’ll take it.”