Vintage Virginia defense stifles Virginia Tech in Commonwealth Clash

Raza Umerani

Staff Writer

January 17, 2024

Sean Pedulla's game-high 18 points weren't enough to lead Virginia Tech to a road win over Virginia. (Virginia Tech Athletics)

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The 157th edition of the Commonwealth Clash on the hardwood was a tailor-made Virginia basketball game that Virginia Tech couldn’t quite claw back into.

The Cavaliers (12-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) suffocated the Hokies (10-7, 2-4) with their patented defense and kept them at arm's length with their efficient offense from start to finish in a 65-57 slugfest on Wednesday night inside John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia’s victory gives them a 98-59 all-time series lead over Tech in men’s basketball and marks its 20th straight home victory: the second longest streak in the nation. It’s Tech’s fourth consecutive loss in its rival’s building, and its 10th in its last 11 visits, dropping the team to 0-4 on the road in 2023-24. 

The Wahoos’ defensive effort made things difficult all night for the Hokies, who committed 15 turnovers – including 10 in the first half – and shot a measly 38.9% from the field for 0.85 points per possession. 

“To come in here and put so much into it and turn the ball over 10 times makes it really hard,” Tech fifth-year head coach Mike Young said. “[We] certainly put ourselves behind the eight ball.

“They were able to keep a body on a body, and they are really good defensively. It's nothing new, it's nothing tricky, [it’s] right at you. And they're good at it, and I applaud them.”

For the most part, Virginia’s offense was excellent. It shot 46.3% from the field – including a scintillating 62.5% effort in the second half – with 1.02 points per possession. The Wahoos seemingly moved the ball at will, dishing out 18 assists on 25 made field goals with just seven turnovers on the night. 

No Cavalier was bigger on both ends of the floor than fifth-year senior Jordan Minor. The Merrimack transfer tallied a team-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting – going 6-of-8 from the charity stripe while Tech attempted just four free throws as a team – and snatched five rebounds while absolutely locking down the Hokies’ bigs defensively. He and star guard Reece Beekman executed pick and rolls to perfection all night long, opening up plenty of easy scoring opportunities.

“The action, [the] sides, he's run it for years,” Young said. “If you show just a click too much, that thing goes down underneath. It wasn't as though he was catching the ball on the block and scoring that way. They were able to throw the thing underneath on at least four occasions to Minor who caught it and scored the ball. 

“And then, he's not a great foul shooter, [but] made six-of-eight foul shots. So he had a nice game. Hats off to him.”

Lynn Kidd, Tech’s second-leading scorer, was just 1-of-3 from the field. Thanks to Minor’s efforts, he played just 16 minutes while Mylyjael Poteat – a better physical matchup for Tech – played 20. But, like Kidd, Poteat made just one field goal on three attempts.

“I thought Mylyjael played well overall,” Young said. “Just much more physical than Lynn was on this particular night.”

On the night, the ‘Hoos outscored the Hokies 36 to 20 in the paint, asserting themselves down low on both sides of the ball.

That forced Tech to play much of the game from outside the arc, shooting a whopping 30 threes in the game and making just 11. 

Getting Hunter Cattoor back from a head injury certainly helped in that regard. The veteran, who had missed Saturday’s loss to Miami with a head injury, showed no rust, notching 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in a game-high 38 minutes of action. 

Cattoor’s backcourt mate Sean Pedulla led the team with 18 points and shot the three ball well, going 4-of-9 from distance, while tallying six rebounds and five assists, but was doomed by seven turnovers – including two which were completely unforced with Pedulla simply losing the handle – which is as many as Virginia had as a team.

Despite bookending the opening 20 minutes with three-pointers, Tech shot a drab 6-of-22 (27.3%) to the tune of 18 points in the first half and went through a nearly six-minute scoring drought. Still, it found itself only down by seven.

But a seven-point deficit against UVa and its pack line defense can feel insurmountable. And for the large majority of the game, it was. 

After taking the lead with a Jacob Groves three-pointer with 11:19 left in the first half, the ‘Hoos didn’t look back. In the second half, they never trailed by less than two possessions.

Although they led by as much as 13, the Cavalier lead was cut to five on four separate occasions in the second half.

But for every Tech punch, UVa had an answer. Whether it was a timely turnover or a golden offensive possession leading to an open bucket, the Cavaliers did all of the little things the right way in order to keep the Hokies at bay.

Tech will seek its first road victory of the season in a noon showdown in Raleigh against NC State on Saturday (The CW).

“It's not easy to win out here, but you've got to do it,” Young said. “And to do it, there's got to be a connection throughout the group. You've got to get contributions throughout the unit. You cannot turn the ball over on the road or at home. And you've got to step to the plate and make a shot when that thing swings around there and you got a good crack at it. And we didn't do that at times tonight.

“And we'll need to on Saturday against the Wolfpack, who's obviously playing pretty good basketball.”