Virginia Tech escapes Upset, Beats Miami 80-76

Chris Hirons

February 7, 2021

MIAMI, Fla. — Hunter Cattoor vowed that he wouldn’t miss another opportunity to save Virginia Tech if he had the ball in his hands with the clock winding down.

The Hokies’ guard clanked a potential game-winning three-pointer off of the right rim after sprinting down the floor time expired in a two-point loss to Louisville back on Jan. 6. After the game, he told reporters that he would love to get another opportunity with the ball in his hands at the buzzer.

Exactly one month later, No. 16 Virginia Tech received a gut punch with just seconds left when Miami’s Isaiah Wong knocked down a trey over a jumping Keve Aluma on the left wing to put the Hurricanes up by three.

Cattoor had the chance to play hero once again. On Saturday afternoon, he didn’t miss.

After a Joe Bamisile pass — that was deflected by a Miami defender — went out of bounds at midcourt, Mike Young and the rest of the Hokies held their breath at a second chance at life.

During the deadball review, Tech’s head coach replaced his freshman guard with arguably the team’s best passer, Wabissa Bede, and drew up a play that gave VT’s most efficient three-point scorer (46.6%), Cattoor, a chance to find an open shot with two seconds left on the clock.

As the referee handed the ball to Bede, he pumped faked over six-foot-11 forward Deng Gek — Miami’s tallest player — once, twice and a third time before Cattoor freed himself from Anthony Walker’s presence thanks to a screen from Aluma.

Cattoor raced to the corner before receiving Bede’s pass in front of the Virginia Tech bench and took a step and a dribble to the wing behind the three-point line. He rose up and nailed the three-pointer and authored Tech’s escape of a Hurricane upset.

“He saved our bacon,” Young said of Cattoor’s three.

Though Miami chipped away at an 11-point Virginia Tech lead in the last eight minutes in the second half, the Hurricanes clearly didn’t have another five minutes of basketball left in them. The ‘Canes scored only two points in the extra period as the Hokies’ escaped an upset with an 80-76 victory.

“Good teams don’t lose two games in a row,” Young said after picking up his 30th win as VT’s head coach. “Good teams find ways to hang in there and continue to keep their shoulders back and get on the practice floor and improve. I think it speaks to their character.”

Even as Miami (7-11, 3-10 ACC) missed three of its players to injuries and suspension, Virginia Tech (14-4, 8-3 ACC) was trapped. The Hokies only led by three points heading into halftime but Justyn Mutts’ near triple double (22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists) and Bamisile’s 11 points off the bench led Virginia Tech out of the escape hatch.

‘Joe Bam’, as Bamisile is more commonly known, found his success almost by accident. He hadn’t seen meaningful minutes or scored a basket since Dec. 21 in a win over Longwood.

“I had an opportunity to go in and help the team when we needed it and I just went in and tried my best to help offensively and defensively and we came away with the win,” Bamisile said.

Virginia Tech’s guard depth took a significant hit after Cartier Dirarra opted-out for Covid reasons and Tyrece Radford’s arrest. As Jalen Cone limped to the bench with an apparent injury, Young had two freshman guards he could turn to: Darrius Maddox or Bamisile — both former four-star recruits.

Young rolled the dice with Bamisile, the former Top-100 recruit, who saw his minutes decrease as a result of a lack of production in Tech’s non-conference games. Entering Saturday, Bamisile was only shooting 32%, including a one-for-eight mark against Radford to open the season.

The six-foot-five guard rewarded his head coach by getting to the rim at will, becoming Tech’s best slasher since Radford last touched the court on Jan. 23. He played his most meaningful minutes of the season (25), and shot five-of-10, including a four-of-six start, and added three assists.

“Great effort by Joe,” Young said. “[He} is going to be a very good player for the Hokies for years to come. ... It was a real tribute to him for staying in the gym and staying a good teammate.”

The Hurricanes were without the team’s second leading scorer Chris Lykes and four-star freshman Earl Timberlake due to injuries and forward Matt Cross left the team due to University Policy.

Virginia Tech took advantage of Miami’s lack of depth early on. Like they did against then-No. 8 Virginia, the Hokies stifled the Hurricanes’ offense in the first half with three steals and four blocks, forcing Miami into a 40.7% clip in the first half.

The Hokies, though, were just as bad shooting the rock, too. Tech was slightly better offensively (42.9%) but it was pretty ugly from behind the arc at a 25% clip.

Part of the reason was Tech’s inability to penetrate the Miami defense with its guards for the fourth consecutive game. Though VT found a way to win against Virginia and Notre Dame by the three-ball and post play with the bigs, it hurt the offense big time in a loss to Pitt on Wednesday.

Early on, it appeared that the Hokies were going to struggle once again. Aluma (16 points) and Mutts had combined for over 61% of Virginia Tech’s points in the first half until Bamisile and Nahiem Alleyne (10 points) started to consistently knock down shots in the next half.

The Hokies made their adjustments and came out firing in the second half as four of their first five baskets found the bottom of the net. Midway through the half and leading 50-48, VT built a 9-0 run, putting Miami in a 11-point deficit that began on a rare Bede three-pointer.

After falling into the 11-point hole, the ‘Canes started on a 10-0 run of their own by knocking down five straight free throws. In the half, Miami’s 17-of-18 free throws helped the offense keep pace with Virginia Tech, who had knocked down 57.1% of its second half field goals.

With the game tied at 68, the last minute-and-a-half was dedicated solely to the charity stripe. Both VT and Miami swapped three free throws until Wong and Cattoor traded clutch, gut-wrenching three-pointers to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, Tech jumped out to an early lead after Mutts knocked down a layup, which was then followed by two free throws, one each from the Hurricanes’ Kam McGusty and Walker. Virginia Tech reclaimed the lead with 25 seconds left in the game on an Alleyne jumper and sealed it after Cattoor drew a charge on the ensuing possession, forcing a Miami turnover.

Before tip-off, Virginia Tech announced that Radford traveled with the team to Florida, opening up speculation that he could return to the team as soon as next week. Radford’s return would do wonders for a team searching for an identity as the ACC tournament approaches in the coming month.

It would provide Radford another chance to prove that he’s more than a guy in a mugshot and it would provide Virginia Tech with the spark it needs offensively to compete deep into the NCAA Tournament.