No one knew what Virginia Tech would look like for a 40-minute game without Hunter Cattoor. The Hokies showed that they could still be more than competent without their star shooter. However, on a night where they went 10-33 (30.3%) from three-point range, the Hokies dearly missed their all-time leader in three-point shots made against a Miami that had a few more big time scoring options available to help them get them across the finish line to victory in this game.
Virginia Tech lost to Miami 75-71 to fall to 10-6 on the season including 2-3 in ACC play while the Hurricanes improved to 12-4 including 3-2 in ACC play.
Tech came out of the game strong claiming as big as a nine-point lead in the first half. However, Miami started to seize some momentum scoring the final eight points of the first half as the opening part of a 20-4 that gave the Hurricanes their first sustained lead of the game. Despite that stretch that put the Hokies down by 7, Tech fought their way back into what became a back and forth game with the margin growing to no bigger than five for most of the final 10 minutes of this game.
However, Virginia Tech just couldn't trade a stop on one end for a bucket on the other and vice versa with Miami being in the control spot of this game throughout. Tech did get a chance late with an open MJ Collins three that some may criticize but honestly, a fairly open three when everything else is more heavily contested is the right shot even if Collins isn't shooting as well as others have been.
The Hurricanes showed why they are a legitimately good team and that the Louisville loss was one of the most bizarre anomalies over the past few years of college basketball. Part of what was due to injuries hurting their prep as Jim Larranaga shared, something that wasn't a factor in prepping for the Hokies.
"Against Louisville, I say this very honestly, we hadn't practice. Nijel had a sprained ankle, Wooga had a sprained ankle, Norchad had a sprained ankle, Matthew Cleveland had a bad bruise on his leg so we had like one day to prepare and we looked rusty. We had a little better situation coming in here. We had a good practice yesterday and in addition to that, we had a very good shootaround today. We were able to get in sync," Larranaga said.
Tech had 15 turnovers compared to 13 for Miami and while the Hurricanes only turned that into a 15-12 scoring advantage, those turnovers were sloppy mistakes by Tech trying to do way too much. Sean Pedulla did a lot of things well in this game, but his six turnovers were the one area of issue with Pedulla trying to do too much at times.
Tech's three-point shooting also wasn't as sharp without Hunter Cattoor tonight as the Hokies were below their season average going 10-33 (30.3%) from three-point range. Tech did have some good looks that simply didn't fall while the Hurricanes are a very good defensive team on the perimeter which showed tonight. However, it's impossible to deny the reality that having Cattoor would have certainly helped their three-point shooting and offense as a whole this evening.
Tech did fairly well on the glass with eight offensive rebounds compared to four for Miami, but the Hurricanes also turned those into 10 second chance points while the Hokies had only 11. Six of those 10 came off of airballs that the Canes snagged and turned into and-1 buckets including Nijel Pack flying in out of nowhere for a circus shot layup putback that would help cut the Hokies' lead to one at halftime.
Sean Pedulla once again had a big game with a career-high 33 points on 13-23 shooting including 5-13 from three-point range plus 2-2 from the free-throw line while adding a career-high 10 rebounds for his second career double-double. Pedulla did try to force things too much at time with his ball movement leading to having six turnovers compared to four assists, but Pedulla was quite good overall tonight making plenty of big shots.
Lynn Kidd was non-existent in the first half of this game, but the Hokies got him much more involved with 14 second half points on his way to finishing with 16 on a perfect 8-8 shooting. Tech could have used a little more from Kidd in the opening 20 minutes, but the Hokies still found a way to make a positive impact on this game.
When the Hokies have been at their best this season, it's been because of the three-headed scoring monster of Pedulla, Kidd, and Cattoor all being effective. Tech has struggled when one of those three has struggled and without Cattoor at all, the Hokies just didn't have enough offensive firepower to match the high-end scoring depth that Miami offers.
Tyler Nickel cooled off from his big game against No. 21 Clemson having six points on 2-10 shooting including 2-8 from three-point range plus four assists while Robbie Beran had eight points on 3-7 shooting including 2-5 from three-point range plus five rebounds. Mylyjael Poteat added two points, three rebounds, and two blocks while Mekhi Long had three rebounds and a block. Jaydon Young and Brandon Rechsteiner both played a few minutes combining for three turnovers in roughly 10 total minutes between the two.
MJ Collins' shooting struggles continued as he had six points on 1-6 shooting including 1-5 from three-point range plus 3-4 from the free-throw line though his one three was a big one late to keep the Hokies right there. However, Collins does deserve praise for the impact he made elsewhere with seven rebounds while playing tough defense on Nijel Pack that made the Miami star point guard work for everything he got, with Pack showing why he's an All-Conference level player for the third-straight year having a hard-earned 19 points on 7-12 shooting including 3-5 on three-point range, many of which were long three-point attempts.
Collins may not be a great scorer, but he's proving himself to be a pretty good defender and rebounder who finds plenty of ways to make positive impacts for the Hokies similar to what Wabissa Bede did a few years ago for Tech. If Collins can at least keep doing that regardless of his scoring, the Hokies will be just fine especially when Cattoor returns.
On the Cattoor front, Mike Young shared after the game that it is a "head injury" and that Cattoor is "day-to-day".
Matthew Cleveland led Miami with 21 points while the aforementioned Pack had 19 plus a team-high eight rebounds and five assists. Norchad Omier added 14 points and five rebounds while Wooga Poplar added 11 points and four assists.
Virginia Tech definitely has some areas to work on, especially on the turnover front after having 15 tonight, some of which were simply trying to do much. However, not having Hunter Cattoor against a Miami team that returned many of their key pieces from last year's team, added FSU's best player in Matthew Cleveland, and brought in a stud freshman from overseas in Kyshawn George shouldn't be understated.
Miami is a legitimately good basketball team that had one of the most freak losses in the past few years against Louisville, skewing the reality that their loss to Louisville was an anomaly, and not something to affect your view of that team. Additionally, Tech was without Cattoor and while there are other areas to fix, that absence had a major impact.
This is also a Q2 loss that has a minimal impact on the Hokies' resume beyond hurting some of the metrics in a minor way. With a long way to go and plenty of opportunities for more Q1 and Q2 wins ahead, that's not a big deal, especially when you don't have Cattoor available.
To freak out like they lost to 2023-24 Louisville or something is absurd. Context matters and sometimes, a legitimately good team goes on the road and beats a team without one of their top three players who also is their best three-point shooter. That happens.
An important week does lie ahead though for the Hokies with a pair of Quad 1 road win opportunities looming at Virginia and NC State. If Tech can at least get one, they'll sufficiently boost their resume while also continuing to tread water in ACC play through one of the most difficult stretches of their conference schedule this season.
The Hokies obviously could use Cattoor for those game, but they showed tonight against Miami that they are more than capable enough to win at least one of those games without him should he be unavailable for them.
