A 14-0 first half run and an unexpected 30 points including the game-winning 3 inside the final 30 seconds from Nate Johnson proved to be the difference as #25 Xavier beat Virginia Tech 59-58 in a painful, nailbitting loss for the Hokies where they had a beautiful play but two misses inside 10 feet from Hunter Cattoor and on a putback from Justyn Mutts.
Tech was the better team overall in this game as they only had 8 turnovers to go with 14 assists while Xavier had 14 turnovers with 13 assists. Additionally, the Hokies outscored Xavier 21-10 in points off turnovers and 24-16 in points in the paint while also significantly improving their rebounding with 5 offensive rebounds compared to only 2 for the Musketeers.
However, Tech once again struggled shooting the ball for the first 30 minutes, being under 40% for much of the game before finishing at 40.7% from the field while going a meager 8-23 from three. Meanwhile, Xavier had their best three-point shooting performance of the year as they were 10-22 from three after entering the night shooting just over 27% from deep though Nate Johnson deserves the most credit going 7-11 from deep. The Musketeers also shot 47.8% from the field due mostly to the incredible performance from Johnson who was 10-14 overall.
In the end, it was an insane night from Nate Johnson that was the one area of difference for the Hokies combined with another subpar shooting performance that cost Tech.
Nahiem Alleyne and Hunter Cattoor definitely rose to the ocassion though as Alleyne led VT with 18 points on 7-16 shooting including 3-7 from 3 while adding 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. Meanwhile, Cattoor had 13 points on 5-10 shooting including 3-7 from three with a team high 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal to go with that.
Keve Aluma had a decent night with 12 points on 6-11 shooting plus 5 rebounds and 2 assists though there were a couple moments where Aluma wasn't aggressive enough around the rim which proved costly in the end. Justyn Mutts didn't have his best shooting night with 5 points on 2-6 shooting, but made plenty of other contributions with 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Point guard may be a place of concern now and controversy down the road for Tech as Storm Murphy struggled again, this time with foul trouble that limited him to 18 minutes while shooting 0-5 from the field to be held scoreless without an assist as well. Freshman Sean Pedulla stepped up in the second half with 6 points down the stretch while playing a huge role in getting Tech their biggest second half run that got them into a true back-and-forth game and had Mike Young going with Pedulla until the final in-bounds play.
Darius Maddox had 4 points as he went 4-4 from the free-throw line while adding a rebound while David N'Guessan had a larger role tonight playing 11 minutes while adding 2 assists and a rebound.
With Xavier being without multiple starters due to illness, this felt like a big opportunity for Virginia Tech to get a quality win that the Hokies had to get and came up short in part due to a cold shooting game for the first 30 minutes and a really hot night for Nate Johnson.
The fact is that the Hokies have outplayed their past 2 opponents especially tonight against Xavier yet the Hokies just didn't make enough shots to get the job done once again. However, the play of Storm Murphy is a concern as the Hokies' starting point guard struggled in his two games in Brooklyn with Tech needing Murphy to play better at Maryland or else we may see more Sean Pedulla after his strong second half seemed to be his coming out party at the collegiate level.
Tech has plenty of non-conference opportunities still out there with Maryland, at Dayton, and ranked St Bonaventure in Charlotte, but they can't afford to miss anymore of their non-conference quality win opportunities.
