Virginia Tech never allowed IN-state rival Virginia to lead in Saturday’s clash for even one second of the 40 minute battle. The Hokies triumphantly took down the sixth-ranked Cavaliers 74-68 to snag the second game and end this year's Commonwealth Clash with a split of the season series. Tech’s offense continues to operate at a high level and are playing far more accustomed to how Mike Young’s offense should look.
The Hokies posted a 111.6 offensive rating against the Hoos. Interestingly, that’s a slightly lower figure than when Tech produced a 113.2 ORTG against UVA in their first meeting. Why the disparity you ask? Well the Hokies defended the Cavaliers far better in Cassell Coliseum tha inside JPJ. Tech allowed UVA to a 102.5 ORTG in Blacksburg versus a season worst 129.9 ORTG on the road in Charlottesville.
Tech was able to keep cracking in on the hard shell that is Tony Bennett’s ultra-stingy defense and it yielded successful results. Leading the charge was Sean Pedulla and Justyn Mutts. Pedulla finished with 22 points, tying his career high, on 6-13 shooting from the floor, 2-6 from three point range and 8-9 from the charity stripe. On the other hand, Mutts totaled 17 points and eight assists on excellent 7-11 efficiency.
While the Hokies got positive contributions from Grant Basile and Hunter Cattoor, Pedulla and Mutts were the primary catalysts in Tech’s slashing of the Cavaliers.
Sean Pedulla’s On & Off Ball Scoring Puts the Hoos' Defense in a Blender
Starting with some sublime cutting, Pedulla makes a highly reactive cut into open space for an easy to in the first few minutes. After Cattoor runs off a simple down screen from Mutts, Pedulla flips it to Mutts. Before the ball even gets into Mutts’ hands, Pedulla instantly cuts towards the hoops, sensing the paint is wide open. His assessment is correct because of the Hokies great spacing with Basile and MJ Collins sitting along the weak side wing and corner.
As the play develops, Pedulla gives a quick side glance toward that side of the floor which is how he knows the paint is open for business by the time he makes the pass. Excellent court vision is cited in the skill of passing but for Pedulla, it’s found with his backdoor cuts as well.
Pedulla operates a lovely two-man game with Lynn Kidd which leads to the three point basket. After running their customary down screen into a dribble handoff, Pedulla gets stuck after shifting his defender and driving baseline. He gets stuck with two defenders draped on him and since Kidd isn’t a shooting threat, UVA plays this drive well defensively.
Pedulla does pitch it to Kidd in a spot he can’t be a threat but what follows is the special sauce. Instantly, Pedulla relocates out to the perimeter and seeing this Kidd gets on the same wavelength and meets him for another dribble handoff. After a quick catch and size up, Pedulla buries the triple.
After a Basile drive that doesn’t yield an advantage for Tech’s offense, Mutts runs an impromptu handoff and ball screen for Pedulla to use. The sophomore point guard slickly takes a single dribble off the screen and rises for an uncontested three.
Pedulla and Mutts were in the same headspace here as they noticed the UVA defender wouldn’t be mobile enough to stretch a hand out to Pedulla coming off a screen. Threes off the catch or one/two dribbles are high value shots for Pedulla that can be created and sustained in the flow of Tech’s offense.
Throughout this season, we’ve seen flashes of Pedulla pulling the rug from under his defenders off isolation post-ups. He’ll often keep his eyes peeled on spread out teammates while backing down a like sized defender. After a few dribbles, Pedulla uses a lightning quick spin move to angle his body towards the baseline.
He’s become adept at finishing around his defender and before an extra help man comes to contest his shot. Here, Pedulla uses great craft and touch to hang in the air and alter his release with a nifty scoop for the finish.
Shot selection has certainly been a streaky area for Pedulla this season. While the sophomore point guard is free to fire from long range, he opts to take the ball inside and gain a more efficient shot. Pedulla has the ability to drain deep threes, but having the ability versus actually hitting those shots at a high enough rate to warrant a moderate volume of them are a different story.
Instead of taking the contested deep three, Pedulla ball fakes and beats his man off the dribble. UVA’s defenders bite a little off their assignments but not enough to force Sean to make a pass. Following two downhill dribbles, Pedulla takes a hop, step, and a jump to the rim and finishes with an underhand layup over a defender with some length. Plays like these are a positive sign for Pedulla’s shot selection development.
Justyn Mutts' Dynamic Dimes, Powerful Post-Ups, & Cunning Cuts
Make no mistake about it, Justyn Mutts is one of the best forward passers in not just the ACC, but the entire country. It’s a wrinkle in Tech’s motion offense that helps bring the Hokies to life when the ball could get stuck otherwise. Mutts has dished out six or more assists in six of his last seven games.
On Saturday afternoon, he dimed his teammates eight times for buckets. Here are some of the most notable ones.
Lots of Mutts’ assists come from the elbow extended area. However, he showcases off his versatile playmaking tool kit here. After Virginia switches the screen with Kidd, Mutts takes a powerful crossover dribble to his left. He bumps his shoulder into his man and throws a pass off a live dribble and across his body to Kidd. The passing window was tight yet Mutts still threaded the needle for a down low dime.
On this play, Mutts considers to throw in an entry pass into Mylyjael Poteat, but opts to drive since the threat of a turnover is too high. Mutts gets stuck after a jab step and a spin but keeps his eyes active for cutters who can bail him out.
Luckily, MJ Collins catches his defenders watching the ball too closely and sprints past him to the hoop. Eying the baseline cut, Mutts lays down a perfect bounce pass for Collins to catch it in perfect stride and elevate for the dunk. Mutts' angle and delivery were picture perfect on that pass.
This time, Mutts orchestrates the choir en route to his final assist of the night. He starts past the top of the key and motions for John Camden to clear out to the weak side of the floor. Mutts then runs a two-man action with Cattoor which UVA defends well.
Basile travels over to try to set a screen for Cattoor. However, once Mutts gets the ball back in the high post, Basile wisely slips past his man on a roll to the basket. Mutts sees the play with his eagle eyes and flicks an over the head pass for Basile to gather with one hand and finish at the basket.
This play started out sloppy as the Hokies' first three passes didn't lead to much. However, once Basile and Cattoor play a game of hot potato, Mutts sees a brilliant chance to finish the play off. Virginia makes the cardinal defensive sin of having two defenders rotate to the same area. Basile attracts a double and Mutts punishes that error by making a straight line cut from the wing into a wide open paint for an electric jam.
Finally, Mutts is known as a proficient player in the post. He delivers excellent passes to teammates when he’s doubled down low. Other times, he scores for himself with a bevy of slick moves and finishes. Where Mutts’ post-game is most effective is when he’s punishing a mismatch off a switch.
Virginia switches a smaller defender onto Mutts off the action with Cattoor. Tech's star forward then receives the ball and promptly goes to work. Mutts backs his man down with a couple of dribbles, a decisive turn to the rim, and a grown man's hook finish over the trees and through contact for the and-one.
As you can see, it wasn't by accident that Tech got a huge win over #6 UVA with Sean Pedulla and Justyn Mutts rising to the occasion in this important victory.
