The last time Virginia Tech beat Louisville in 1991; Coach K hadn't won a national title at Duke, Michael Jordan hadn't won an NBA title, and Frank Beamer hadn't reached a bowl game or had more than 6 wins in a single season at Virginia Tech. 31 years and 18 games later, Virginia Tech finally has another victory over the Louisville Cardinals.
Virginia Tech beat Louisville 75-43 in what was a must win for the Hokies to avoid what would have been a devastating loss to their NCAA Tournament at-large bid hopes. With the win, the Hokies improve to 19-11 including 11-8 in ACC play, an improbable turnaround after the Hokies were 10-10 and 2-7 in ACC play back in mid-January.
After the Hokies had entered a slump from three-point range, Tech turned it around somewhat shooting 12-26 from three-point range in what was a much improved performance in that regard. Tech was also much better in the turnover department with only 8 turnovers compared to 18 for Louisville with the Hokies turning that into a 28-2 points off turnovers advantage.
Tech also got off to a strong start in this one making their first four threes in the first half for a 12-0 run to claim an early 12-2 lead over the Cardinals. Tech's offensive rebounding was solid as well with a 12-7 advantage on the offensive glass turning that into a 13-4 second chance points advantage.
Justyn Mutts was the standout of the night for the Hokies with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double with 5-7 shooting and 4-6 from the free-throw line plus 6 assists 2 blocks, and 0 second half turnovers (3 in the first half). Mutts may have had a few bad passes but like a good shooter who keeps shooting, Mutts kept passing and had way more quality passes that turned into easy buckets than turnovers.
Keve Aluma had a productive night with 11 points on 5-9 shooting plus 4 rebounds and 2 blocks while David N'Guessan added 2 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. John Ojiako had a dunk and 2 rebounds for the Hokies in this game.
Tech's backcourt was led by a quality night from Nahiem Alleyne who had 9 points on 3-6 from the field plus 4 steals and 3 rebounds while Darius Maddox had 11 points and 3 rebounds on 4-7 from the field while Hunter Cattoor had 7 points and 4 rebounds. Storm Murphy had 8 early points for Tech while Sean Pedulla had 3 threes including 2 in the first half with 2 fouls finishing with 9 points plus 2 steals.
Lynn Kidd plus walk-ons Ben Varga and Camden Johnson all made appearances at the end of this game with Kidd having a dunk and a rebound and Johnson having a steal.
We will have more as this story develops.
