Blacksburg - *Flashback to Virginia Tech’s men’s basketball Media Day on Sept. 23: “This is not a great shooting team,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. “And we have made a lot of hay through the years with kids that could really shoot the ball.”
Well. It seems as if Young may have gotten that one wrong.
Virginia Tech knocked down 13 of its 27 three point attempts on its way to a 96-74 win over Western Carolina (4-6). Neoklis Avdalas scored a game-high 30 points - his first 30-point game since the 33-point outburst against Providence that put him on the map as a potential lottery pick back on Nov. 8.
“We knew they wanted to go under a lot of ball screens and handoffs. We knew they wanted to take the short roll away,” said Hokies forward Amani Hansberry. “So really, just making the right play (and) like I always stress, pass it to the right guy.”
Virginia Tech (9-2), built up a double-digit lead in the early going, before closing the first half with a three point barrage.
After missing his first three shots, Jaden Schutt took a handoff from Hansberry and drilled a triple from the top-of-the-key to give Tech a 40-23 lead with 3:24 remaining in the half.
Two plays later, the sharpshooter popped a dumble-pump three off the same action. Schutt, a 44% long range sniper, is quickly developing chemistry with Hansberry in both screening and handoff sets.
The following possession Schutt curled around another screen and took it to the hoop before kicking it out to Hansberry, who drained a wide open triple. Hansberry, just a 27% three point shooter on the season, hadn’t made a three since the Nov. 28 loss to VCU.
One minute later, he closed the first half with a buzzer beating triple to put the Hokies up 53-34 at the break.
Hansberry finished with 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals on 8-for-12 shooting. It was the second consecutive game he led the team in assists.
“He’s the best connector I’ve had in 24 years as a head coach,” Young said. “If you can just get him the ball in the low post or high post, he’ll connect it…He’s got an eighth sense on how it’s supposed to work.”
After just a six-point first half, Avdalas took over the second half with 24 points in the final 20 minutes.
At times, Avdalas has struggled getting all the way to the hoop, often getting knocked off his spot by stronger defenders and forcing him to rely on difficult jumpshots.
Tonight, he had no such difficulties. Avdalas scored from all three levels, knocking down four triples, finishing through contact at the cup and working in the mid-range including a tough fadeaway in one-on-one coverage.
“They had a hard matchup with him (Avdalas),” Young said. “They aren’t very big.”
Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond also got in double-figures with 13 each. Christian Gurdak came off the bench and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go along with three points.
Despite the comfortable victory, Young wasn’t completely thrilled with the Hokies performance.
“We’ve got to play better,” Young said. “We’ve got to put a bigger emphasis on defense and on the glass.”
Western Carolina, which hasn’t won a single Quad 1, 2 or 3 game this season, managed 74 points - more than it scored against any of its other five Quad 1-3 opponents.
It also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, only losing the overall rebounding battle 36-34. This isn’t a large enough rebounding discrepancy for Young’s liking, given his team’s height advantage.
Virginia Tech needs to clean up some of these shortcomings sooner rather than later as it is only two games away from ACC play beginning. It returns to the floor at Noon on Sunday, Dec. 14 against Maryland Eastern Shore.
