Virginia Tech's first half looked like a team that has a lot of talent but is still putting all the pieces together given that they only returned four players from last season. The second half showed what this team has the potential to be as these pieces start gelling together, with the Hokies cruising to a dominant opening night victory.
Virginia Tech beat Charleston Southern 98-67 thanks to a 27-3 start to the second half to open their season with a victory. The Hokies will gear up for the first stern test of the season this Saturday when they take on Providence in a neutral site game at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
The Hokies looked like a team fitting a lot of new pieces together during the first half as their defense wasn't the crispest while much of their offense was created via one-on-one plays rather than more pass-oriented offense. Tech's three-point shooting was also cold during the first half as they were only 2-15 from deep while Charleston Southern was 8-15 from behind the arc, helping them hang around in the second half.
Things changed in the second half though as the Hokies found their rhythm on both ends of the floor and started to make some threes, going 7-15 from deep including 5-9 to initially open the closing 20 minutes of the half amidst their 27-3 run.
Tech's shooting wasn't the best as they were 46.1% from the field including 32.1% from three-point range, but they were sharp with their ball movement with only seven turnovers compared to 19 assists. Given VT's issues with turnovers in their exhibition against Duquesne, this was a definite improvement.
Tech's rebounding was also a positive as the Hokies had 18 offensive rebounds and 54 rebounds on the night, though they did allow 15 offensive rebounds to Charleston Southern. Tech was much-better on those second chance opportunities with a 25-8 edge there while also having a 42-22 edge in points in the paint.
Tobi Lawal was the biggest star of the night with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks while going 5-10 from the field and 10-12 from the free-throw line. He and Amani Hansberry should form one of the ACC's best big men duos as the WVU transfer had a strong debut with 19 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 8-16 from the field including 3-9 from three-point range.
Neoklis Avdalas didn't have the shooting debut he hoped for but he was effective as Tech's lead ball handler and on the defensive end. The Greek star finished the night with eight points on 3-13 from the field including 1-6 from three-point range plus 1-3 from the free-throw line while also having nine assists, three rebounds, two blocks, and only one turnover.
UNLV transfer Jailen Bedford looked sharp in his VT debut with 13 points and five rebounds on 5-10 shooting including 1-1 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Tyler Johnson stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds (three offensive), and five assists while Ben Hammond had nine points, three assists, one rebound, and one steal in what were good performances from the duo of returning sophomores.
Christian Gurdak had a strong collegiate debut with eight points and five rebounds in just over 15 minutes. Jaden Schutt added six points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal while Izaiah Pasha had six points in his VT debut. Sin'Cere Jones had one rebound in just under three minutes in his collegiate debut.
It was a tale of two halves for the Hokies with one half showing how much work the Hokies have to mesh all their new pieces together and the other showing how high the ceiling can be for Virginia Tech this season. The goal this week has to be to start finding that higher level of consistency as they an early quality win against Providence.
