Virginia Tech's starting point guard Sean Pedulla was a surprise absence Saturday as he missed the Hokies' 71-50 victory over Valparaiso with a foot injury, with freshman Brandon Rechsteiner starting in his place.
After the game, VT head coach Mike Young provided an update
"Pedulla's going to be fine. I feel certain that he'll be back on Saturday. I hope so. He kind of steadies the ship, but I thought Rechsteiner acquitted himself well," Young said.
When asked further about Pedulla's situation, Young shared the following on when his star point guard suffered his injury and the process since then.
"He got hurt on the last play of the Louisville game, the absolute last play. Huntley-Hatfield set a back-screen on him at mid-court. It's twisted a little bit. It's a sprain. It's at the bottom of his foot. We did everything we needed to do to care for him: MRI, x-ray, saw an orthopedic surgeon, saw a family practice physician. He's got a little pain below, no swelling," Young said.
Pedulla has had some struggles of late, but has had a pretty good start to the season overall averaging 13.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.0 steals in 29.3 minutes per game while shooting 38.1% from the field including 34.3% from three-point range, plus 77.5% from the free-throw line on a career-high 4.4 free-throw attempts per game.
In his place today was freshman point guard Brandon Rechsteiner who had some ups and downs on his way to having five points on 1-6 shooting from three-point range plus three assists, one rebound, and one steal in 28 minutes of play.
After the game, Rechsteiner had this to say about how he would grade his first career start.
"If I had to grade it, probably like a B- just because I missed a few shots and had a few lazy turnovers, but I'm glad I got it under my belt. It brings a lot of confidence to me because now I know what to see, and what works and what doesn't work in real full game minutes when I'm tired out there and I'm not just fresh coming off the bench, I'm really going through being tired (while playing)," Rechsteiner said.
