With 5:31 to go in the second half, Jaden Schutt (11 points) knocked down a pull up three to cut South Carolina’s lead to just four points; Unfortunately for the Hokies, that was the last time a Virginia Tech player would score for nearly five minutes, with Brandon Rechsteiner (10 points) scoring next with a driving layup with just 54 seconds on the game clock.
While South Carolina consistently held a near double-digit lead for the last 30 minutes of action, the Hokies' cold streak in the last five minutes was the nail in the coffin, as Virginia Tech (3-4) is now losers of four straight, while South Carolina (4-3) picked up their first power conference win of the season with a 70-60 victory over the Hokies..
While the Hokies once again couldn’t finish the job in the second half, they actually showed some encouraging signs unseen in their previous three losses to Penn State, Jacksonville and Michigan.
Virginia Tech, who entered the game as one of the 25 most turnover prone teams in the entire country, actually won the turnover battle, only giving it away nine times on the night. Point guard Brandon Rechsteiner in particular has struggled to take care of the ball, especially against pressure, but he only coughed it up once against the Gamecocks. Rechsteiner didn’t shoot the ball well (4/13), but he was considerably more aggressive in looking for his shot, and also led the team in assists with four.
Another struggle the Hokies corrected was their three-point shooting woes. Tech has also been among the bottom of the country in both three-point makes and percentage. In this game, they knocked down eight of their 18 attempts; good for an quality 44% shooting percentage.
While Rechsteiner and Jaden Schutt both shot poorly from inside the three-point line, they combined for 4/9 from long range. Jaydon Young (team-high 12 points) and Ben Burnham (8 points) joined them with two three-pointers a piece, providing the Hokies with a solid spark off of their bench.
For Young this hardly comes as a surprise as he has been perhaps the Hokies lone aggressive scorer this year. However, it was encouraging to see Ben Burnham willing to take and make a couple threes, as he has passed up quite a few looks this season, despite being one of the better shooters on the roster.
The final, and perhaps most encouraging improvement, is the Hokies performance on the defensive end. While Virginia Tech wasn’t without their defensive lapses, such as a play in the second half where Rechsteiner simply ran away from the ball handler giving him an open layup, they had a lot of very smooth rotations, forcing South Carolina into difficult shots at the end of the shot clock.
Burnham, specifically, made his presence felt on the defensive end. He finished with one block and one steal, but he made it clear he is willing to put his body on the line for this team, going for charges and diving for loose balls. The Gamecocks still had a solid offensive performance, knocking down over 44% of their shots and 34% of their long balls, but the eye test showed a much more connected Hokies unit on the defensive side of the ball.
Of course, not everything went well or else the Hokies would have come away with the win. Mylyjael Poteat had by far his worst game of the season, finishing with just one point on 0/4 shooting in 22 minutes of action. His time was limited due to foul trouble, which was a theme for Virginia Tech. Tobi Lawal and Jaydon Young joined him with four fouls each, and the Hokies sent the Gamecocks to the line for 21 free throw attempts, while only shooting nine of their own.
The most damaging error the Hokies made was the cold stretch in the last five minutes of action. While cold shooting can occasionally plague even the best of teams, such scoring droughts have been dooming Virginia Tech on a game-by-game basis in this losing streak. This seems to be a result of the lack of a number one scoring option, which most teams lean on when the going gets tough. The Hokies have plenty of solid options, but no one who has the skill set to lead a good team on the offensive end. This will be a challenge Virginia Tech must navigate for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately for the reeling Hokies, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Virginia Tech’s first two games in December are both against power conference opponents in Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh. The Vanderbilt game sees the returns of former Hokies Tyler Nickel and MJ Collins to Cassell Coliseum for a 9:15 p.m. ACC/SEC Challenge clash on Wednesday, December 4th. While this game against South Carolina was a step in the right direction for the Hokies, Mike Young’s squad has a long way to go if they don’t want to be 3-6 in about a week’s time.
