It's never easy to play on the road in a rivalry game in college basketball regardless of the way either team is playing going into that game. However, tonight was a night where the Hokies were less than stellar around the rim while Virginia found enough of their offensive stride to pick up an important victory.
Virginia Tech lost to UVA 65-57 to fall to 10-7 overall including 2-4 in the ACC while the Cavaliers improved to 12-5 overall including 3-3 in ACC play.
This was a game defined by struggles in two areas for the Hokies: their play in the paint and turnovers.
Virginia Tech was thoroughly dominated in the paint, with UVA outscoring the Hokies 36-20 down there. Jordan Minor was a force for the Cavaliers with 16 points and five rebounds while shooting 5-8 from the field and 6-8 from the free-throw, with Blake Buchanan adding eight points and three rebounds off the bench. What hurt more was that Lynn Kidd was a complete non-factor having his worst game of the season with two points and two rebounds while Mylyjael Poteat was able to match Minor's intensity but was held to only two points and five rebounds.
After the game, Mike Young mentioned the physicality of Minor and Buchanan as being a big factor in Kidd's bad night.
"They were really physical with him," Young said. "Minor and Buchanan were very physical with him. They stoned him, bottom line, he and Mylyjael both in the first half. I thought Mylyjael played well overall, nice job in the second half, a kick out made three I think that cut it to 7, 5 maybe. Just much more physical than Lynn was on this particular night,"
For Kidd, there's a growing trend of inconsistency for him against quality opposition with Tech's starting center disappearing for halves or full games whether that's Florida State, tonight, Clemson, Auburn, or the first half against Miami.
Turnovers were also a big issue for the Hokies in this game as Virginia Tech had 15 on the night including 10 in the first half. While UVA was only able to turn those 15 turnovers into six turnovers on the night, having a few more of those possessions in shot attempts could easily have made this a much different game. As a whole, Tech needs to be better about not trying to do too much at times, especially Sean Pedulla who had seven of the Hokies' 15 turnovers.
Tech's offense struggled mightily in the first half shooting 6-22 (27.3%) from the field including 2-10 from inside the arc in addition to those 10 turnovers. In Mike Young's view, those struggles were rooted in UVA doing what UVA does playing very sound defense.
"They were able to keep a body on body and they're really good defensively. It's nothing new, it's nothing tricky, right at you. They're good at it and I applaud them," Young said.
It also felt like Virginia Tech just couldn't turn 5-0 and 6-0 stretches into game-flipping runs in the second half. Tech brought the lead down to five a few times in the second half, yet the Hokies were never able to get it closer and make UVA feel the pressure, with the Hoos getting critical stops and buckets to prevent that.
Tech was able to create some transition opportunities in this game even off rebounds which helped them hang around, as they outscored UVA 17-4 in fastbreak points.
One encouraging thing tonight was the return of Hunter Cattoor who had 12 points on 5-10 shooting including 2-5 from three-point range plus four rebounds, three assists, and only one turnover. Mike Young shared some insights on Cattoor's return after the game while also having plenty of praise for his play.
"I thought he was good. He's always good," Young said. "He was evaluated on Monday by our medical staff. He was cleared. He went and practice on Monday, no contact. He was full contact on Tuesday. We knew on Monday that if everything went well on Tuesday, he'd play and here he was."
Pedulla led the Hokies tonight with 18 points on 6-16 from the field including 4-9 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line plus six rebounds and five assists though those seven turnovers hurt. Robbie Beran had a decent night with 10 points, six rebounds, and a block while shooting 4-7 from the field including 2-4 from three-point range.
Tyler Nickel had eight points but wasn't the most efficient shooting 2-8 from the field including 2-7 from three-point range plus four rebounds, one assist, and three turnovers. MJ Collins played some solid defense while adding three points, two assists, one rebound, and one steal. Mekhi Long added two points and two rebounds while Brandon Rechsteiner added two rebounds.
Reece Beekman played like a star with 16 points plus four steals, four assists, and four rebounds while Isaac McKneely added eight points and Ryan Dunn had six points and seven rebounds.
Like the loss to Miami, this isn't a singular loss that is at all worth throwing up the red flag of panic regarding the Hokies' NCAA Tournament aspirations. Once we get to the end of this stretch after the NC State game Saturday, which is another Q1 win opportunity, we'll have a better picture of where the Hokies stand relative to the bubble.
However, it's fair to have growing concern as to whether this team has what it takes to make the NCAA Tournament, especially as they start to drift farther and farther away from the bubble line amidst their latest slow start to ACC play. A lack of consistency, both individually and collectively, continues to be a problem for the Hokies with Lynn Kidd being among those tonight to struggle with inconsistency.
Add in the fact that Tech was fortunate in some ways to only lose by eight given the fact that UVA turned 15 turnovers into only six points and yeah, having growing concern about this team's trajectory is reasonable.
Tech also has to be better on the road with an 0-4 start to the season in true road games. To be fair, those do include three losses to NCAA Tournament or NIT at worst teams in Auburn, Wake Forest, and UVA. However, the Hokies have to start beating some decent teams on the road if they want to build on their resume to the level they need to get it do to make their return to March Madness this year.
It's not panic time yet for the Hokies with Saturday's Q1 win opportunity at NC State presenting a chance for the Hokies to reset the narrative again as they did with their win over Clemson. However, they're once again trending more and more towards the NIT bubble and away from the NCAA Tournament bubble.
