After suffering a frustrating home loss to Stanford on Jan. 7, Virginia Tech knew it had to steal a difficult road game to make it up.
As it turned out, Tech did just that with a 76-74 win over Syracuse on Wednesday, Jan. 21 - its first win in the JMA Wireless Dome since 2020 - behind 24 points and six steals from Ben Hammond and a Tobi Lawal double-double.
Per usual, Virginia Tech (15-5, 4-3) had a shot at winning comfortably, using two Hammond free throws to take a 68-59 lead with 1:02 remaining. However, the Hokies once again decided that would be a far too boring victory for its fans.
Syracuse marched up the floor and found Tyler Betsey for a deep triple to cut the deficit to six points just eight seconds after the Hammond free throws.
Hammond got ahead of the Orange’s press and got back to the line, where he drained two more free throws (he went 12-for-13 on the night).
Once again, Syracuse wasted little time, finding Betsey from behind-the-arc. His shot was off the mark, but was awarded three free throws as Hammond leapt into his landing space. Betsey potted all three to make the score 70-65.
The Hokies got the ball inbounds to Jaden Schutt in the far left corner, where he was essentially quadruple-teamed by two defenders, the baseline and the sideline. Schutt threw it away and Donnie Freeman layup made it suddenly a one-possession game with 38 seconds remaining.
The following possession, Tech broke the press and found Lawal, who narrowly missed the layup but drew a foul with 32 seconds remaining. Lawal, fresh off of a clutch miss in the loss to SMU, calmly nailed the pair.
JJ Starling, who sat much of the first half in foul trouble, quickly cut the deficit back to three as he streaked up the court and got to the hoop for a largely uncontested layup.
The Hokies inbounded the ball back to the dreaded location of the previous turnover, where Neoklis
Avdalas threw it away in an attempt to find Amani Hansberry.
The Orange ran a play for Nate Kingz, who got a clean look from the right wing, but was just off the mark.
Although Neoklis Avdalas went just 2-for-4 from the stripe over the last 13 seconds, Lawal was there to save the day.
Avdalas missed the back-end of a pair of free throws with six seconds left as the Hokies led 74-71. Lawal skied for the offensive rebound before knocking down two game-sealing free throws.
This time, Tech was able to escape some late-game mismanagement. However, it can’t keep putting itself in these positions to blow games.
Some of the issues stem from late-game turnovers. Others from free throw struggles. A large chunk of it is misfortune, as the Hokies opponents seemingly shoot at a historically high-rate to close games.
In this instance, the game getting so close may actually work in the Hokies favor. Since Syracuse only lost by two points, it only dropped one spot to No. 75 in NET rankings. This means - at least at the moment - Virginia Tech (NET No. 49) has added a second Quad 1 win to its resume.
With Texas losing to Kentucky, Joe Lunardi has placed the Hokies back in the field of 68.
When putting the game into context, Virginia Tech has to be thrilled to escape with this win. Syracuse was lights out from long range - 10-for-23 overall and 7-for-12 in the first half. On top of that, the Hokies played long stretches at a time without starting bigs Amani Hansberry and Christian Gurdak, who both found themselves in early foul trouble.
As the only big man out of foul trouble, Lawal put together another excellent performance, registering 16 points and 11 rebounds. He, once again, got to the line at will, making 10 of his 14 attempts, including all four in the clutch.
The player of the game was undoubtedly Hammond, who went for 24 points, four assists and six steals - just two off the single-game program record. This was Hammond’s second-highest scoring performance of his career. Interestingly, the only game that topped it - 30 points vs Virginia on Dec. 31 - was Virginia Tech’s other Quad 1 win. It's safe to say Hammond shows up when the lights are the brightest.
Virginia Tech didn’t get much production from the rest of its guards. For the second game in a row, Schutt was uncharacteristically quiet with just three points on a 1-for-5 night from three point range. Bedford, who had been on a heater over the last few weeks, managed just five points, while Avdalas struggled through a 4-for-15 outing to just 10 points.
Despite winning the game, the Hokies were unable to repeat the beautiful offense that defined their two most recent games.
Tech made up for this with its ability to get to the free throw line. The Hokies went 26-for-36 from the line, including 33 attempts in the second half. Some of that came from intentional fouls in the final minute, but the Hokies tend to reach the bonus early in halves, due to aggressive drives and limited three point attempts. This season, Virginia Tech’s free throw rate is .396, meaning it takes almost four free throws for every ten shot attempts.
With a grueling road schedule, the Hokies have opportunity after opportunity to claim more Quad 1 wins. Next up is a trip to the KFC Yum! Center to face No. 23 Louisville, now at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24.
