Six turnovers in the first 10 minutes likely had Virginia Tech fans inside Cassell Coliseum wondering if the Hokies were poised for another grind of an ACC game against Georgia Tech. Instead, the Hokies found their form with a 15-2 run during the latter half of the first half on their way to a comfortable victory against a struggling Georgia Tech team.
Virginia Tech beat 81-66 Georgia Tech to improve to 12-10 on the season including 4-7 in ACC play while the Yellow Jackets fall to 9-12 including an ACC worst 2-8 in conference play that has to start causing Josh Pastner's seat to warm despite winning the 2021 ACC Tournament.
After the Hokies cleaned up their sloppiness, their shooting started to shine in all aspects as the Hokies shot a very good 52.8% from the field including 8-20 from three while also going 17-22 from the free-throw line. The first half was where Tech dominated most as they shot 60% from the field while going 10-12 from the FT line.
The biggest positive may be the fact that Tech had as many free throw attempts as they did after entering this game averaging the fewest in conference play among all 15 ACC teams.
Tech's defense was pretty solid as well as they held the Yellow Jackets to 40% from the field while containing GT's second-leading scorer Jordan Usher who only had 8 points on a poor 3-12 shooting though leading scorer while fouling out as well. Michael Devoe was the one Yellow Jacket who had a good night with 30 points on 11-19 shooting.
With NBA scouts in attendance, Keve Aluma was efficient and effective as he had 24 points on 8-11 shooting from the field and 8-9 from the free-throw line plus 6 rebounds in only 25 minutes. Aluma was dominant on both ends of the floor giving Georgia Tech C Rodney Howard loads of issues as Howard accumulated 3 fouls and was held to 4 points and 6 rebounds.
Storm Murphy had one of his best games as a Hokie with 18 points on 6-10 from the field including 11 first half points on a perfect 4-4 shooting including 3 threes. He also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists in a game that showed why Murphy still is Tech's top point guard even if Pedulla's role is starting to grow some regardless of Murphy having the hot hand tonight.
Justyn Mutts had 10 points on 4-4 shooting plus 8 rebounds and 4 assists while Hunter Cattoor cooled off with only 8 points on 2-8 shooting but he also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists while also adding a +21 plus/minus. Nahiem Alleyne added 5 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
David N'Guessan was Tech's best player off the bench with 7 points and 7 rebounds while finishing with a +11 plus/minus as N'Guessan continues to raise his game and be a quality third big for Tech. Darius Maddox also had a strong game off the bench with 6 points on 2-4 shooting with Sean Pedulla having 3 points as well. John Ojiako also played 2 minutes in this game.
We will have more as this story develops.
