Lights-out day for Longhorns sends Hokies home in Round of 64

By Wyatt Krueger

Staff Writer

March 18, 2022

MILWAUKEE, Wis. –– Sometimes in March, the basketball gods are just not on your side, but a mysterious “basketball god” in the sky wasn’t the reason for Virginia Tech’s 81-73 first-round loss to Texas Friday.

The Longhorns simply out-hustled, out-coached and out-played the Hokies.

No. 6-seeded Texas shot the highest percentage it has shot from deep since its season opener, held Virginia Tech to a season-low four 3-pointers and scored 81 points, fourth-most the Longhorns have scored this season and the most the Hokies have given up.

Still, the anomalies are worth noting.

“[The] Longhorns outplayed us, needless to say,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “I tip my cap to Coach Beard, his staff and his players. They were better than we were this afternoon.”

Both teams jumped out to slow starts offensively, shooting a combined 0-for-8 from the field in the first two minutes and 49 seconds of the game.

Forward Keve Aluma broke the seal for Virginia Tech, scoring the Hokies’ first six points.

For the Longhorns, it was senior guard Andrew Jones who did a bulk of the work. Jones scored 17 first-half points, shooting 5-for-6 from 3-point range.

“I just took open shots that they gave me, and my preparation finally showed,” Jones said. “My guys were hitting me in my spots.”

The first half was a back-and-forth dog fight. Tech took a six point lead early, but the Longhorns took it back with 10:58 remaining and didn’t give it back.

A monumental momentum swing came at the end of the first 20 minutes.

Storm Murphy made a savvy play to draw a foul on Longhorn forward Timmy Allen with two seconds remaining. Murphy hit both free throws for a one-point Tech lead.

It looked like the Hokies had all of the momentum despite Hunter Cattoor and Aluma picking up their second fouls and sitting with seven and six and a half minutes left, respectively.

Longhorns’ guard Marcus Carr caught the inbound, took two dribbles and launched a half-court shot from the March Madness logo. Just like Miami guard Charlie Moore’s buzzer-beater in Cassell Coliseum back in February, it banked in.

“Kid made a three-quarter court shot, give me a break,” Young said. “That is a momentum play. They had the ball to start the second half, I think they got something down there. Those can swing some things.”

“Most days I don't leave the gym until I hit a half court shot,” Carr said. “Sometimes it takes me one rep, sometimes it takes me eleven. The guys were just happy that I hit that shot. We just use it as momentum going into the second half.”

The Longhorns jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes of the second half in large part because of Carr’s shooting. Carr scored 10 points in the second 20 minutes as the Hokies keyed in on Jones, who caught fire in the first.

Texas’ stout defensive effort propelled them in the second half. As Mike Young explained, Chris Beard’s squad made an emphasis on Tech’s three-point shooting.

“They were taking away easy catches on the top of the key,” Cattoor said. “Whenever we came down the screen they were topping it, not letting us come off easily and so it kind of forced us to get to the basket and get two. They were just going to live with that. As long as we shot more twos than threes, that was their game plan, and it worked out pretty well for them.”

“I think you're going to pick your poison, okay?” Young said of Texas' defense in the second half. “You're either going to take care of Mutts and crowd them or you're going to take care of the arc, and he [Beard] chose the latter.

“He would double Mutts and Aluma. I think it's pretty telling [that] we only shot 12. That's well below our average. And we only made four; that also is well below our average.”

Texas grew its lead to 17 with 5:33 to play, but the Hokies weren’t going down without a fight.

Sean Pedulla led a ferocious comeback to cut the deficit to seven with 45 seconds remaining. Pedulla ended up leading the Hokies in scoring with 19 points and 10-10 shooting from the charity stripe.

Sadly for the Hokies, it was too little, too late as the Longhorns broke the press and found a leaking Jones who slammed home a dagger dunk to put the game out of reach with 29 seconds remaining.

Despite a disappointing end to the season, the Hokies have a lot to be proud of. After starting 0-4 and 2-7 in ACC play, Tech won 13 of its last 15 games including a magical ACC tournament run to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.

“Great character, and those guys hung in there and continued to come to practice and they didn't separate,” Young said. “They hung in there as a unit, started playing good basketball, started rattling some games off… I think it’s a pretty special season.”