No. 20 Virginia Tech downs No. 8 Virginia 65-51

Chris Hirons

January 31, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — All Mike Young could do was stand with his hands in his pockets and look at Virginia in awe mixed with a little bit of confusion.

The Hokies head coach watched as No. 8 Virginia had drilled seven three-pointers — four of them coming from Jay Huff and Kihei Clark — heading into halftime break with an eight-point lead. It wasn’t like No. 20 Virginia Tech was poor on the defensive end of the floor — it had forced UVa into six turnovers and a few bad shots from beyond the arc as the shot clock expired. Somehow, though, UVa nailed tough buzzer beating shots.

The halftime deficit and miraculous shots silenced the few lucky enough to attend. It left Young and the rest of his team looking for answers at halftime.

Tech looked to be down in the dumps in the first half, even after beating Notre Dame a few days ago. The offense wasn’t able to penetrate into the Cavaliers’ inside defense without its two best slashers (Cartier Diarra and Tyrece Radford). Keve Aluma had scored 16 of Tech’s 21 points in the first half. Outside of Aluma, only two other players had hit a field goal — none from behind the arc.

Out of the thin Blacksburg air, Virginia Tech’s offense lit a spark — which eventually turned the UVa defense into dumpster fire — outscoring the Cavaliers by 22 points in the second half. A 19-to-0 Virginia Tech run, flickered by a Hunter Cattoor three-pointer to tie the game at 47, gave the Hokies the shot in the arm they needed to finish off a come-from-behind upset, 65-51.

“I think there’s something to Cassell, I think something about getting him back home,” Young said about Aluma’s career-high 29-point effort. “We had three straight [on the road], the friendly confines of Cassell Coliseum and he had a nice pop to his step and getting that first three down was a big deal.”

A crowd of 250 scattered onlookers had an ear-splitting scream, one close to mimicking the typical 10,000 Virginia Tech fans in attendance for the Commonwealth clash after Cattoor’s three-pointer found the bottom of the net. The crowd’s deafening silence suddenly roared to life.

“It's a big win for us. Coming in, we had a great scout from our coaches and we executed it,” Cattoor said after dropping 13 points. “We played well as a team. I thought it was a great team win and a great win to keep moving forward in ACC play.”

Virginia Tech (13-3, 7-2 ACC) had to scratch and claw its way back into the game to get to that point, though. For nearly three quarters of the game, the Hokies trailed. When it appeared that they were chipping away at the lead, Virginia (11-3, 7-1 ACC) inched a bit further away.

It wasn’t the easiest route to a win, and it wasn’t an easier week for Virginia Tech. Dropping a game to Syracuse last Saturday wasn’t the worst news for the Hokies. Instead of focusing on the loss to the Orange, most wondered how the Hokies would respond after losing standout guard Tyrece Radford — the team’s best slasher — to a suspension following his arrest.

Tech, to its credit, responded well and downed Notre Dame in dominating fashion on the road in South Bend. Then, as quickly as VT celebrated a win, it turned its attention to beating its in-state rival, a task not completed since Feb. 2018 when Justin Robinson dropped 20 points in a 61-60 overtime win.

On Saturday evening, as halftime drew near, Tech was fading hard. Aluma, who has had his own struggles as of late, made six of VT’s eight baskets, which included both of Tech’s shots from three-point land. The Hokies couldn’t find the bottom of the net for the last five minutes of the half and survived an 8-0 run heading into the intermission.

Virginia’s offense, known for being patient on the offensive end and settling for twos instead of relying on the long-range game, went against its mantra that head coach Tony Bennett had built up for the past decade-or-so. UVa’s big three of Sam Hauser, Huff and Clark combined for 22 of the team’s 29 points in the first half and made more three-pointers (six) than shots from inside the arc (two).

“That team is so deflating,” Young said. “You guard your tail off and Hauser, Kihei [Clark], Jay [Huff], one of those guys are banging a three with three seconds left on the shot clock and they had four of those in the first half.”

It was quite obvious that Virginia Tech missed Radford’s presence on offense. The Hokies had a real issue forcing the ball into the paint, which usually becomes the key to success in defeating Virginia. Nahiem Alleyne, nor any of Tech’s other guards, were able to drive into the paint with the relative ease that Radford shows.

Tech, though, made the much-needed halftime adjustments. While Hauser and Huff made one shot from deep each in the second half, the Hokies held Clark scoreless after he racked up a team-leading 11-points in the first 20 minutes.

After torching the Cavaliers in the first half, Aluma found himself struggling in the double-team up until the halfway point in the second. Neither Aluma nor his teammates sank an open shot until he was sent to the line for free throws, which began a 30-9 run to close out the game.

In just nine games, Virginia Tech matched last season’s conference win total. At the beginning of the season, most saw year No. 2 under Young as another rebuilding year after losing some of the team’s best players from last season's roster to the transfer portal.

The home crowd roared when the final buzzer sounded as Young turned towards the crowd and waved after cementing his case for ACC Coach of the Year with ranked wins over Villanova, Clemson, Duke and now UVa.

The season of dwelling at the bottom of the ACC has come and gone. The Buzz Williams-era of success has returned to snowy and windy mountains of Blacksburg, Virginia. Except with a friendlier twist.

“How about them Hokies?”

‘Them Hokies’ have put the conference — and the rest of the nation — on notice.