Virginia Tech survived a pair of cool shooting stretches and leaned on a historic performance from Justyn Mutts to pick up an important victory and extend their hot streak.
The Hokies beat Syracuse 71-59 to improve to 15-10 on the season including 7-7 in ACC play while the Orange fell to 13-12 overall including 7-7 in ACC play.
Tech had a cold shooting stretch in each half, but they fought their way out of both to take a 10-point lead at halftime and then turn a 13-0 run into a 12-point victory.
The latter run was ignited by Justyn Mutts who was the star of the day with the second triple-double in program history and first against a conference opponent with 12 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists dominating the Syracuse zone when operating the Hokies' offense from the free-throw line. Mutts made the right decision again and again in this game on where to pass it and when to shoot it himself and though he was only 5-10 from the field, he was the dominant offensive force in this game.
Tech also did a great job with protecting the basketball with only 4 turnovers while taking advantage of Syracuse's 11 turnovers for a 17-2 points off turnovers advantage. The Hokies also shot 17-21 from the free-throw line which balanced out a tough shooting day as they were only 38.3% from the field including 29.6% (8-27) from three-point range.
Mutts' frontcourt partner also had a strong game as Keve Aluma had a team-high 20 points on 7-13 shooting plus 6-8 from the free-throw line in what was a highly effective scoring night for him. He also added 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in what was a strong night for Aluma alongside Justyn Mutts' career night.
Hunter Cattoor made three-straight threes early in this game, but had a tough shooting night finishing 3-10 from the field while also adding 5-6 from the free-throw line to put up 14 points plus 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Nahiem Alleyne had a very good night with 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist while providing some great defense which helped him have a team-best +21 plus/minus. Alleyne's defense was important in little ways including in a first half transition scramble where his positioning cut off a potential pass to an open shooter in the corner forcing the Orange to reset.
Darius Maddox was the fifth Hokie in double figures with 10 points on 3-5 from three-point range while adding 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. Mike Young also showed lots of confidence in Maddox especially down the stretch going with Maddox, Cattoor, and Alleyne as both Storm Murphy and Sean Pedulla were on the bench.
Sean Pedulla had 3 points on only 1-5 shooting plus 2 assists in 19 minutes usurping the minutes total for Storm Murphy who only played 14 minutes with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 0-4 shooting on a quiet night for him. David N'Guessan only had 1 point but added 5 rebounds in only 6 minutes of action this evening.
Just a few weeks ago, Virginia Tech's season hit a breaking point moment with the Hokies at 10-10 including 2-7 in the ACC with their NCAA Tournament hopes almost gone unless what seemed almost certainly improbable happened. Since then, the Hokies have looked like the team everyone thought they would be winning five-straight including four by double-digits with the only half of weaknesses coming in the second half against Pittsburgh.
The road to an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament is still uphill, but the Hokies are steadily climbing up it with five-straight wins and another important game where they need a victory looming in primetime on ESPN against Virginia in just under 48 hours.
While the odds still remain low for the Hokies to make the Big Dance without winning the ACC Tournament, those odds are slowly starting to increase with every victory.
