Sean Pedulla, Tyler Nickel shine as Virginia Tech upsets No. 21 Clemson, 87-72
Raza Umerani
Staff Writer
January 11, 2024
Sean Pedulla's career-high 32 points helped lead the way in Virginia Tech's 15-point win over No. 21 Clemson. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG – Coming home to Cassell Coliseum after a three-week away period which featured back-to-back stinging conference losses at Wake Forest and Florida State, Virginia Tech desperately needed a big win to avoid spiraling early in ACC play.
Fueled by career nights from guards Sean Pedulla and Tyler Nickel, it got just that.
The Hokies (10-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) started red-hot and finished stingily in an 87-72 victory to notch their first ranked win of the season against No. 21 Clemson (11-4, 1-3) in their most comprehensive performance of the 2023-24 campaign thus far.
“We just played better basketball,” Tech fifth-year head coach Mike Young told reporters after the game. “It helps when the ball goes in the basket. But I thought we shared [the ball]. Tyler Nickel had his best game in a Hokie uniform. You know, just one of those team wins. Everybody played well.”
No Hokies played better than Pedulla and Nickel, who each notched career-highs in scoring. The team needed them to step up in the absence of star guard Hunter Cattoor, who exited the contest late in the first half after taking a hard hit to his face and did not return. Young said the team would know more about Cattoor on Thursday morning.
Pedulla poured in 32 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
“He's built on the right stuff,” Young said. “He wants to win. He wants to play well and help our team win. I thought he was as much a floor general today as he's been in some time. He took a couple [shots] in the first half that would've been head-scratchers had he not made them. But you tip your cap when that thing hits the bottom of the barrel, and he did that with regularity in the first half.”
In addition to his scoring outburst, Pedulla dished out seven assists, grabbed four rebounds and swiped away four steals.
“I just kind of wanted to come into the game letting it come to me,” Pedulla said. “Tried not to force too many shots but to play with a lot of confidence. I'm really big on playing with confidence because, when I'm not playing confident, I feel like I second guess a decision I make and that makes it even worse, so I just want to play confident and play freely and just have fun whenever I play.
“Shots were falling in. That made it a lot easier.”
Off the bench, Nickel hit five threes of his own en route to a 24-point night on 8-of-11 shooting.
“Whenever the first [shot] drops, his confidence just goes through the roof,” Pedulla said. “So, we're definitely gonna need some more of that coming up in the next couple of games, and it was even more important just because Hunter couldn't play the second half. He had some big-time shots and he had a great game.”
Tech shot the lights out of the gym from start to finish, finishing 54.4% from the field and 54.2% from distance with 13 triples in the ballgame.
But perhaps more impressive was its defensive effort, especially in the second half. After allowing 44 first-half points on 55.2% shooting, the Hokies held the Tigers to just 35.3% shooting from the field in the final 20 minutes, inducing six turnovers along the way.
Clemson center PJ Hall – the ACC’s second-leading scorer by points per game – was held to just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting while Tech’s MJ Collins stepped up in lieu of Cattoor’s injury guarding Syracuse transfer Joe Girard, forcing him into a game-high six turnovers while holding him to just 3-of-10 shooting, including 1-of-5 from distance.
“The ball felt us,” Young said. “Their team felt us, and they have to. You can't let people be comfortable. None of them. ... That is a big deal, and we have been on the other end of that [sometimes] when we want to play the right way and we're fouling incessantly. That's problematic. Better job today.”
On both sides of the ball, Tech got a flurry of contributions from almost everyone who saw the floor. Collins racked up a game-high seven assists in addition to his stellar defense, Robbie Beran had a game-high eight rebounds and hit a pair of massive three-pointers, Mylyjael Poteat and Lynn Kidd did a terrific job in the paint and Mekhi Long notched eight points and seven boards in extended action due to Cattoor’s injury.
“We played gritty basketball and aggressive physical basketball,” Pedulla said. “And that's what the coaches were harping on us before the game. If we wanted to win and we wanted to get a big dub in front of Cassell, we've got to be aggressive and we've got to be the more physical team. And I think we did that.”
The Tigers didn’t go down without a fight, however. On five separate occasions, they reduced the Tech lead to four points.
But the Hokies had an answer every single time, culminating in a 17-6 run to close out the game and seal the victory.
“They made several stabs at us in the second half,” Young said. We were trying to find our footing without Cattoor … awfully, awfully proud of our team and their response to that adversity.”
The win brings Tech to an even .500 through four ACC games – a massive step in the right direction with some brutal losses in the rear view mirror and a tough stretch of games ahead.
“We just needed to get our rhythm back and our confidence back,” Pedulla said. “Since we lost two in a row our confidence was a little down. I think the coaches did a great job this past week just getting our confidence back up and telling us that we are a good team when we put it all together, so it just became a matter of putting it all together. I think we did for the most part today.”
Tech will look to keep its winning ways going when Miami (11-4, 2-2) comes to Blacksburg on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network) while the Tigers return to Clemson to take on Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
“The game requires you to do it night in and night out,” Young said. “And we've got another opportunity on Saturday versus the Hurricanes.
“So let's lace 'em up and go.”