Virginia Tech Can’t Hang With Florida State, Falls 86-76 In ACC Tournament

Raza Umerani

Staff Writer

March 13, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Florida State’s athleticism took over in the second half against Virginia Tech, propelling it to an 86-76 victory in the second round of the 2024 ACC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

A 50-point second-half surge from the ninth-seeded Seminoles (17-15, 10-10 ACC), a stretch in which they shot 52% from the field and forced eight turnovers, helped keep the eighth-seeded Hokies (18-14, 10-10) at arm’s length — a position that they couldn’t recover from.

“I say this with great admiration: I don't know that anybody would sign up to play Florida State,” Tech fifth-year head coach Mike Young told reporters postgame. “No matter what year. Because of their style [and] because of their players.”

That style was the difference-maker down the stretch. Despite a red-hot start and a slim lead with seven minutes to play, the Hokies were overwhelmed on both sides of the floor by Florida State’s length and sheer athleticism, getting out-hustled and simply dominated in several aspects.

FSU ended the game with several massive advantages over Tech, including points in the paint (48-32), points off turnovers (25-9) and rebounds (34-25), which was a point of emphasis for the Hokies after struggling in that department in their regular-season loss to the Seminoles in Tallahassee on Jan. 6.

“These [numbers] don't lie,” Young said. “It's a pretty easy game. So help me goodness … bring me the final stats, and I could tell you the outcome. Don't show me the score, and I could.”

And no player made a bigger difference than sophomore forward Jamir Watkins, who led all players with 34 points and 11 rebounds. The VCU transfer recorded 20 points and eight boards in the second half en route to perhaps the best performance of the tournament thus far.

“He's a good player,” Young said. “He is going to drive the ball with his right hand, and he wants to get to the middle of the floor, and he wants to use his power and his length and athleticism to get over the top of you and score that, and we allowed him to do that a little bit. … I don't know that we've had anybody clip us for 34 points this year. He was very good.”

On the other side, Tech was ice-cold in the final 20 minutes, shooting a mere 36% from the floor. It had a much better clip in the first half, going 64% from the field, which contributed to its one-point halftime lead. The Hokies led by as much as eight in the opening half, once shooting as well as 11-of-15.

But its shots simply wouldn’t fall in the second half — something that wasn’t the case in the first.

“I think we did get a lot of good shots,” Tech guard Tyler Nickel said. “We got a lot of good shots from guys that can shoot the ball really well, but sometimes they just don't drop.”

Standout junior guard Sean Pedulla led the way with a team-high 24 points and five assists in addition to bringing down three rebounds. Nickel had an 18-point effort himself with a game-high three makes from beyond the arc and was a tremendous complement to Pedulla. 

But contributions were missing from many other usual suspects, including Hunter Cattoor, who had just eight points and one made field goal, and Robbie Beran, who played fewer than eight minutes with foul trouble and didn’t score.

Beran’s foul trouble certainly didn’t help Tech’s defensive effort, especially down low, where Watkins and the Noles were able to do the majority of their damage.

“It's tough to lose a key defender in Robbie,” Cattoor said. “But that was our game plan. We kind of knew they wanted to get downhill, shooting the paint. They don't shoot a lot of threes. So we just didn't execute the game plan well enough.”

Still, the Hokies didn’t go down quietly. Despite trailing by as much as eight early in the second half, a 16-7 run gave them a one-point advantage — their lone lead of the period. But the Seminoles responded with a 9-0 run of their own, a stretch which included back-to-back Tech turnovers leading to easy buckets in transition. 

“[They’re] very ratty on the ball, slapping at the ball in your hand, and you've got to be really strong with it, especially when you get into the paint,” Pedulla said. “They live off of those turnovers and getting out in transition. It's hard to do, but you've got to do it if you want to win.”

Florida State’s smallest lead for the remainder of the game was five, when consecutive turnovers on inbounds gave the Hokies a golden opportunity to get back within striking distance. But after the second of those miscues, Pedulla missed a short jumper that would have cut the lead to three with 47 seconds remaining, all but sealing Tech’s fate.

The Seminoles will take on top-seeded North Carolina (25-6, 17-3) in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday at noon ET on ESPN.

Meanwhile, the Hokies await a potential bid in the NIT, where they lost in the first round to Cincinnati in 2023. Despite not earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament, Tech isn’t shying away from the possibility of playing any postseason basketball.

“[A chance] to play in the postseason? Sign me up,” Young said about whether or not he’d welcome an NIT invite. “We all want to play in the big one, but to coach these guys again and make a run at that thing, you're doggone right. I'm never going to be too big for my pants that I won't take the opportunity to play in the postseason. 

“I don't care what anybody says. It’s not what all of us want to do, but it is still a great tournament, and I'd like to do that.”