Hokies Fall Short Once Again, Can't Hit From Outside In 82-72 Loss To Syracuse

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

January 11, 2023

Joe Girard scored 24 points for Syracuse in the 82-72 win. (Syracuse Athletics)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Searching, reeling and hoping for any sign of positive momentum with just over six minutes to play and trailing Syracuse by 13, Virginia Tech turned to its always-potent shooting from the outside with desperation mode looming shortly on the horizon.

Newly-debuted Rodney Rice first tried a straightaway three in hopes of making it a 10-point ballgame. Clank, off the back iron.

Then, Sean Pedulla had an opportunity from the left corner after pulling down the team’s 12th offensive rebound. Nope, that clipped the front of the rim.

How about third time's a charm? Quickly after a defensive stop, Justyn Mutts sprinted up the floor for the maroon and orange. The sixth-year senior moved urgently across the timeline, kicked it out to a wide-open MJ Collins, and saw the shot rim in and out before falling in the hands of the Orange with 5:15 to go.

Though a short stretch of this nature serves as just a small sample size in the grand schematics of a 40-minute contest, it openly epitomizes all that went wrong on Wednesday evening for Virginia Tech (11-6, 1-5 ACC) inside the JMA Wireless Dome. Tech never quite found its rhythm from beyond the arc, going just a measly 3-of-19 (15.8%) from deep that doomed the Hokies in an 82-72 loss to Syracuse (11-6, 4-2 ACC) on the Orange’s home floor.

The setback marked the first time since the 2019-20 season that Tech’s lost five in a row, with the skid starting following an overtime loss to Boston College just days before Christmas, and for Virginia Tech’s sake, hopefully ending with yesterday’s loss that dropped the Hokies to 1-5 in ACC play.

“They [Syracuse] played as well as I’ve seen them play, and we weren’t as good as we needed to be,” said Tech fourth-year head coach Mike Young.

To pile on to a dismal shooting night for the Hokies on the outside, Tech went the first 19:57 of the second half without capitalizing on a three-point make, going just a lowly 1-for-10 (10%) in the final period of play.

“You’ve got to ring the bell. You’ve got to make shots. That’s just the bottom line,” Young said. “I thought we had great shots. I thought we had rhythm shots.”

The three-point percentage tied a season-low with a mid-November victory over Penn State at the Charleston Classic, with the maroon and orange failing to capitalize on multiple opportunities to hit a big-time shot down the stretch to sway the momentum back in their favor.

To contradict the Hokies on the offensive end, the Orange went a notable 10-for-20 (50%) from downtown, using a team-high 24 points from Joe Girard to spearhead Syracuse’s eighth victory in 10 tries.

“We weren’t good enough [defensively],” Young said. “Ball-screen coverage wasn’t good enough. We’ve seen it a majority of this season. That will be addressed, I can guarantee you that.”

Trailing just 43-37 at the halftime intermission, Tech had an opportunity to quickly strike and shift the contest’s momentum. But a 20-4 Orange run out of the gate gave Syracuse a 63-41 with 12:30 remaining, and the Hokies never could pull the game back within single digits after falling behind a season-high 22 points.

“Obviously when you’re in a rough stretch like we’ve been on, and to come out in the second half and not play very well, it’s tough,” said Tech forward Grant Basile, who scored a game-high 26 points in the loss.

“They hit some shots. We just weren’t connected as we needed to be defensively.”

Basile played a huge role offensively in the Hokies’ 46 points in the paint. As did the aforementioned Justyn Mutts, who put up 21 points himself in the 10-point defeat.

Pedulla and Lynn Kidd each added 10 points for the maroon and orange, but with five members of Syracuse scoring in double figures, and the Orange shooting 50.8% (30-of-59) from the field, the Hokies just couldn’t overcome an off-night from the outside in a building that Tech’s still just won in once in program history.

“You look at our team to start the year, the winning streak we were on and how well we were playing; we have to get back to that,” said Basile. “We’ll continue to work hard and get better. We’ll have to stay connected.

“We have a lot of good players, a lot of good guys. We’ll right the ship.”

So what do the Hokies have to do to right the ship?

“Play better, win games. That’s what it’s all about,” Young said. “It’s a tall task, but we’re going to play better basketball around here.”