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Carter Hill
Editor-in-Chief
February 24, 2024
Hunter Cattoor and Virginia Tech couldn't keep up with Pitt. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Sometimes, it’s just not your night. And in Virginia Tech’s case on Saturday evening in the Steel City, it certainly wasn’t.
Plagued by an obsentent amount of foul trouble, 3-of-20 (15%) shooting from three and a second-half 18-0 run, the Hokies (15-12, 7-9) fell to 1-8 on the road this season in a 79-64 loss to Pitt (18-9, 9-7) inside the Petersen Events Center.
“It’s really hard to win on the road,” Tech junior point guard Sean Pedulla, who scored a game-high 26 points, said postgame. “I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard it is. You’ve got to play a full 40 minutes to beat teams because the atmosphere is going to give them a chance to win any game, especially in the ACC.”
Sure, the atmosphere was going to be a factor, but it didn’t make it any easier that Hunter Cattoor and Robbie Beran each picked up their fourth personal foul with over 13 minutes to go, and Pedulla having spent almost the entirety of the second half with three to his name.
“Brutal,”’ fifth-year head coach Mike Young said. “ …. You’re dealing with fouls. Cattoor, I’m dealing with it all night long. I shouldn’t have to deal with it. [Pitt forward Blake] Hinson shouldn’t, [Panthers head] coach [Jeff] Capel shouldn’t have to deal with that. All right? Your best players should be on the floor. Pedulla?
“Your best players should be on the floor.”
Cattoor fouled out for just the third time in his career with 4:38 to play, but the game turned well before that.
After sitting tied at 36 at the halftime break, Tech got off to a strong start.
Forward Mylyjael Poteat surged into the lane to slam one down that gave the Hokies the 42-40 lead with just under 17 minutes to go, but Pitt then proceeded to score an aforementioned 18 in a row, 22 of the next 24 and 37 of the next 52.
All of a sudden, Tech found itself down 58-42, and it never really was a contest from there.
“You can’t win like that,” Pedulla said. “Especially in their own gym, it makes it pretty hard because the energy builds up and you’re just playing two steps further back than you originally were.
“It just makes it really hard on us to come out with a win, especially on the road.”
The 3-of-20 shooting from three certainly didn’t help either, with the Hokies only knocking in a single trey until just over eight minutes to play.
“I thought we had great shots,” Young said. “You’ve got to make open shots in basketball. Got to make open shots. And when you’re running action and something comes, you’re not going to make them all, but we didn’t do that tonight.
“They do a good job of running you off of that and keeping a body on a body, so I take nothing away from the Panthers and their effort, but we had some cracks that not only we typically get down, but we needed to get down.”
Poteat (10) was the only other member of the maroon and orange to enter double figures in the 15-point loss, while MJ Collins (9), Lynn Kidd (8), Cattoor (7) and Beran (4) all helped round out the scoring.
Tyler Nickel saw 31 minutes, but did not score.
All in all, it’s another tough pill to swallow for Virginia Tech.
Life is tough on the road, but another challenge awaits away from Blacksburg on Tuesday when Tech heads to upstate New York to take on Syracuse.
It’s essentially a must-win if the Hokies want to avoid playing on Tuesday at the upcoming ACC Tournament, and after the way things shook out on Saturday night, it’ll be one they’ll be anxious to get after.
“They were better than we were today, needless to say,” Young said.
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