After Virginia Tech beat Boston College 77-66, head coach Buzz Williams announced that senior forward Chris Clarke and freshman forward Landers Nolley will not play this season.
The news means that the Hokies will be sticking with an eight-man rotation for the rest of the season. Given this news, Nolley is now expected to redshirt while Clarke also has a redshirt year to use if he chooses to depending on his status.
Both Clarke and Nolley were expected to be significant parts of this team with Nolley being expected to give Virginia Tech another quality outside wing who could play at least 10-15 minutes in ACC play. Meanwhile, Clarke held a Draymond Green-glue guy type role as a versatile wing who could guard multiple positions and was one of VT's top rebounders averaging 6+ rebounds per game during each of his first three seasons with the Hokies.
Nolley's affected status was due to a NCAA inquiry about his ACT score with it being unknown the details on what had transpired since the Roanoke Times broke this news. Buzz Williams was effusive in praise of how Landers Nolley and his family were handling this situation in previous remarks.
The debut of Nolley was highly-anticipated this season as he was by far the Hokies' highest rated signee among their three-man 2018 class. Looking ahead, Nolley should be a key piece of future Virginia Tech teams especially with the Hokies' large senior class and the rising draft stock of Nickeil Alexander-Walker that may cause him to leave early for the NBA Draft.
The situation surrounding Chris Clarke is unknown and appears to be of an internal nature within Virginia Tech after VT suspended him indefinitely before the start of the season.
During the first three seasons of his career, Clarke averaged 9.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals in 25.1 minutes per game. Last season, Clarke was a spark off the bench for the Hokies averaging 8.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 24.6 minutes per game.
Photo Credit: Harley Taylor
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