Photo Credit: ACC Media/Virginia Tech Athletics (Matt Gentry of the Roanoke Times)
#16 Virginia Tech has been really good coming off losses this season with a 4-0 record looking to add a fifth win after a loss to Georgia Tech in their return from a 2+ week layoff. While some wondered if some of the rust that showed against Georgia Tech would continue today, the Hokies showed that they are back in form with their most dominant ACC win in a long time.
The #16 Hokies blew out Wake Forest 84-46 to improve to 15-5 on the season including 9-4 in ACC play while Wake Forest fell to 6-13 overall including 3-13 in the ACC. The 38-point margin is the largest ACC win for the Hokies in program history topping the previous record of 29 against Wake Forest in January of 2011.
Virginia Tech was dominant in every aspect starting with an offensive performance that saw the Hokies shoot almost 68% from the field including 6-11 from three-point range during the first half. Combine that with holding Wake Forest under 30% from the field plus a 19-0 run that spanned the end of the first half and start of the second half to make it a 32-point game, and the dominant rout was on.
Tech finished the game with eight Hokies scoring while shooting 53.4% from the field including 13-24 from three-point range. Tech was also dominant in the paint with a 34-8 scoring advantage there plus a 26-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Hokies only had 9 turnovers total while Wake Forest had 18 including 9 that were off of Virginia Tech steals. Tech's defense was dominant whether they forced turnovers or misses with Wake Forest shooting a measly 27.8% from the field.
Keve Aluma led the way with one of his best games of his career as he had 23 points on 9-11 shooting including 5-5 from three-point range plus 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 steal in only 20 minutes.
Tyrece Radford was also efficiently effective with 15 points on 5-7 shooting including 2-2 from three plus 3-5 from the free-throw line. He also added 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.
Nahiem Alleyne was the third Hokie in double figures with 13 points on 4-8 shooting (3-6 from three-point range, 2-2 from the free-throw line) plus 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Justyn Mutts filled the stat sheet with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.
The Hokies also held their Senior Day today recognizing Wabissa Bede and Cordell Pemsl plus three managers. Bede and Pemsl both played well with Bede having 5 points, 5 assists, and 1 rebound while Pemsl had 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 block.
We will have more as this story develops.
