Virginia tech rolls past south florida 76-58

Chris Hirons

November 30, 2020

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma dribbled between the high and low post as three South Florida defenders quickly closed in.

A wide open Tyrece Radford waved his arms on the opposite side of the arc and aggressively called for the ball.

With both hands clutching the rock, Aluma jumped and threw an overhead pass to Nahiem Alleyne, who was also open on the right wing. Instead of taking the shot after scoring 20 points in an upset win against No. 3 Villanova on Saturday, Alleyne chose to make the extra pass.

To Alleyne’s immediate right, Radford was wide open and seemingly invisible to the defense.

Calling for the ball once more, Radford received Alleyne’s pass as two Bull defenders dashed to contest Radford’s shot. Radford rose up and came down as the ball swished through the net, giving Virginia Tech an 11-8 lead with 14 minutes left in the first half.

For a split-second, he paused to admire his shot.

Then, he ran down the baseline with his shooting arm still in the air as he put Virginia Tech on top. For good.

It was passes like Alleyne’s that led to the Hokies’ 76-58 win over the Bulls Sunday night, and more importantly, VT’s upset against the Wildcats the prior night. Unselfish play, drawing offensive fouls and, of course, making the extra pass all led to the Hokies’ success as they won both of the games they played in college basketball’s first — and hopefully last — ‘Bubbleville’.

“[We have] guys that are serious and guys that understand what is on the line,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said after the game. “[They have] a level of maturity that is fun to see. All of them have an understanding of what it takes and the preparation that goes into it.”

Radford’s shot lit a spark for the Hokies’ offense as it embarked on a 28-to-15 run to close out the first half. After that shot, Radford stayed hot and contributed a fourth of Virginia Tech’s points on that same run.

“Going off of [Saturday’s] game, we had to keep the same intensity we had,” Radford said after adding 21 points, three rebounds and a block. “My team kept me pumped up and we stuck together and fought it out.”

Radford obviously didn’t let last night’s 44-minute effort fatigue him out as he led the way in scoring and converted 75% of his shots on Sunday night. He did receive a break, if you can even call it one, only playing 27 minutes, 17 fewer than he did against Villanova.

Before the season began, Virginia Tech knew that there would be a different guy leading the way on offense every night. Young and his players bought into the fact that whomever was hot, the team would be riding that hand.

On Wednesday, that hot hand happened to be Aluma, who added 14 points in the win against Radford. On Saturday, the Hokies stuck with both Aluma and Alleyne, who recorded 23 and 20 points, respectively. Sunday night, though, Radford emerged as the guy VT leaned on to lead the team with his acrobatic layups, mid-range jumpers, hustle buckets and even a three-pointer.

“We definitely have more pieces and our guys are willing to work together and uplift each other,” Radford said.

The unselfish play and Tech’s willingness to work together on defense gave VT a shot in the arm as the Hokies drew three offensive fouls, forced 14 turnovers, blocked two shots and only allowed the Bulls to convert 37% of their total shots.

“I got a couple things on my mind last night watching South Florida and Rhode Island, but I was just taken aback watching South Florida play,” Young said. “Just how big and rugged they were around the basket, and they gave URI some real difficulties.”

Leading the way on defense was forward Cordell Pemsl. The Iowa transfer product coerced South Florida into bad shots, grabbed six rebounds and forced three USF turnovers — both by drawing charges against the Bulls.

The other turnover? He forced David Collins to the ground, causing the Bulls’ guard to lose control of the ball, which in effect, turned into a Wabissa Bede steal.

“Pemsl has helped,” Young said. “He’s bigger, stronger, and has been around the Big Ten.”

It didn’t appear on the stat sheet, but on the offensive side, Virginia Tech shared the rock as well as it has since Young arrived in Blacksburg in 2019.

Racking up 11 total assists, led by Cartier Diarra and Bede with three of their own, Tech wasn’t afraid to make the extra pass needed to find the open man — even if it didn’t amount to the assist total on the statsheet.

On the boards, Young and his staff were worried that Tech would have been outrebounded with the height advantage South Florida brings to the table. To VT’s credit, though, both teams finished with 28 rebounds and Virginia Tech won the defensive rebound battle 22-to-18.

“That’s a team that could chip you up for 14, 15, 16 offensive rebounds and they shoot 34 foul shots,” Young said. “They can get you. Coming off that thing last night and everything that went into it – the regulation and that botched play, getting to overtime and having to go again – [I was] certainly concerned about coming back and dialing it up again, and playing South Florida.”

Luckily, for Virginia Tech, it didn’t come down to a last shot, or even a controversial foul call. From the beginning, it was clear that the Hokies were the more dominant team on Sunday night.

After beating Villanova and dominating an up-and-coming South Florida team, it’s clear that the Hokies are making some noise across the basketball landscape. It’s still up for debate on whether or not Young and his team will take a leap this season, though the speculation remains among the Virginia Tech fan base as it awaits for the next step on the staircase to appear.

The next step, though, could be as early as Monday. The Hokies could be ranked for the first time in the Mike Young-era.

“I’d be happy about that, but goodness gracious, with everything going on and three games in – don’t get too fat and happy,” Young said. “You’ll get a baseball bat across the knee caps, you know that. Not in this business. Keep your head down and keep chopping wood. That’s what we intend to do.”

On Thursday, Tech will take on VMI with its best shooter, Jalen Cone, on the floor. Ranked or not, the Hokies have certainly made some rumblings across the country after their improbable weekend.