It had been a month, almost to the day, since Virginia Tech had last won a men’s basketball game.
As all Hokie fans are well aware, Tech crept by Winthrop for a 58-52 nail-biting win on November 11TH, before falling short in six consecutive contests over the next 30 days. In fact, each loss until the recent, somewhat encouraging loss to Pittsburgh came by a double-digit margin.
Finally on December 12th, Virginia Tech (4-6) put an end to their dreadful skid trouncing North Carolina A&T (3-7) 95-67.
While the stadium was basically empty compared to the fair crowds the Hokies traditionally draw, it was clear getting back in the win column changed the vibes around this Tech team.
Mike Young was cracking jokes in the post-game press conference. Redshirt Sophomore Conner Venable, whom Patrick Wessler described as a “glue guy,” recreated Wilt Chamberlain's famous 100 point photograph with his own twist after scoring his first collegiate point. For just one game, everything seemed to be normal.
Up to this point, the story of the season has largely been the Hokies' failure to have multiple players play well on the same night. This trend couldn’t have been further from the truth against the Aggies.
The Hokies got 55 points off their bench, with the unlikely trio of Ben Hammond (17 points), Patrick Wessler (13 points) and Rodney Brown Jr (13 points) leading the way on the offensive end. All three players finished with career highs in scoring.
“They looked like basketball players,” Young simply stated. “Hammond found his groove. He affected the game with speed, quickness and quick hands.”
Besides a career high in scoring, the 5'11'' freshman set career bests in both assists (4) and steals (5).
Due to the loss of Hysier Miller, Hammond has been in Young’s rotation since game one. Brown Jr., on the other hand, has worked through injury and a fairly deep rotation of wings to earn all the play time he can get.
“Rodney has continued to practice well,” Young said. “Consequently his number was called.”
At 6'6'', Brown provides 3&D upside that becomes even more obvious on nights such as this, when he knocks down three of his five long range attempts.
Outside of this unusual “big three,” the team relied on depth and consistency from the rest of the roster to put up a season-high 95 points, in a game where 11 players got in the scoring column.
Virginia Tech displayed complete unselfishness, finishing with a season-high 24 assists on 35 made field goals. 16 of those dimes came in the first half, which the Hokies won 52-32.
While some of this success can be attributed to improved play, some of it just comes down to shots going in. Virginia Tech, who had yet to hit even 10 threes in a game all season, crushed their season high with 14 treys at a 39% clip.
“I could go over to Hahn Hurst and I’m not sure we could make 14 threes in 30 minutes,” Young joked. “Very encouraging and good to see. We had the right guys shooting them.”
While the Hokies had few struggles throughout the game, they did work through an initial struggle beating the Aggies 2-3 zone.
“That (zone) can disrupt you a little bit,” Young said. “Paralysis by analysis; we were making too much of it.”
After Tech stopped overcomplicating their zone beater, they settled in and found the hole of almost any zone: the free throw line area. Once they worked it into the middle of the zone, it became pick your poison for the Aggies who had to choose between collapsing and allowing an open three, or staying out on shooters and giving the two bigs a two on one.
Neither option seemed to be overly effective for NC A&T, who eventually got out of the zone after the Hokies proved they could consistently beat it. This stint in the zone allowed Wessler to feast on the lower block on his way to a career night.
While the Hokies also had to overcome a rough first few minutes of the second half, Young opted to send in his bench unit who “righted the ship” and led Virginia Tech to the finish line.
“Adversity makes you stronger,” Young said of the Hokies recent struggles. “Our team is getting better, but we still have a ways to go. I see us growing up. We’re getting better on both sides of the floor. All in all, really solid effort from our Hokies.”
Mike Young is exactly right. This is a youthful, inexperienced team entering ACC play with almost no expectations. Hammond mentioned how he is just starting to “get more comfortable” and the same can be said for much of the roster.
While 2024-25 Hokies almost certainly won’t be making any sort of postseason noise, Young may be rounding this group into a respectable team capable of beating an ACC squad on any given night, as we saw them nearly do last weekend versus No. 18 Pittsburgh.
Virginia Tech retakes the court at noon on Sunday, December 15, as they host Navy on ACC Network Extra. This will be their second-to-last game before ACC play resumes on New Year's Eve at Duke.
