BLACKSBURG, Va. — Some games aren't won in the cleanest of ways.
Some are decided by offensive firepower, others by defensive intensity. Others come down to dominance in one particular area — say, hounding the offensive glass or forcing an array of turnovers.
Virginia Tech's 82-62 victory over Mount St. Mary's checked a little bit of each box Friday night, extending the Hokies' unbeaten start to the 2026-27 season to four games. But more than anything, the win reinforced one thing: Tech (4-0) isn't a team built around one superstar, but rather, it’s a team with plenty of players capable of making a difference.
“It’s a luxury for me as their coach,” said Hokies head coach Mike Young. “…Good balance, and a team that can get you from a number of spots.”
In Young’s own words, the Hokies looked like a team “coming off a big win”; in Tech’s case, that was a 93-88 win over Iowa Nov. 10.
Tech shot just 40.3% from the field, compared with Mount St. Mary's (1-2) 45.8% clip, and converted only 19 of its 29 free-throw attempts. But the Hokies compensated by forcing 23 turnovers, collecting 21 offensive rebounds and attempting 19 more field goals than the Mountaineers.
“I’d like to tell you that we forced 23,” Young said. “They had some that they flat-out dribbled it out of bounds and threw it to us, which is fine with me, I don’t care. We can’t turn the ball over. That is a real no-no around here.”
Tech also held a 26-11 advantage in points off turnovers, turning an otherwise inefficient offensive performance into its third victory by at least 20 points in four games. The Hokies started 8-for-11 from the field but missed their next 10 shots.
However, behind timely turnovers, Tech rattled off an 11-0 run, eventually taking a 42-30 lead into intermission. The 16-point cushion was the byproduct of an 11-0 run that included a thunderous Hansberry poster on Mountaineers reserve Anastasios Rozakeas.
What that by-committee style also means is that the Hokies are well-equipped when one player has an off night. Case in point, guard Jaylen Curry. The Oklahoma State transfer finished with three points and did not make any of his 10 field goal attempts, though Young clarified that the senior had sustained an ankle injury in the waning seconds of regulation against Iowa three days prior.
“Curry hurt his ankle pretty good on Tuesday on Sioux Falls,” Young said. “Late in the game, if you’ll recall, it was a big play. Missed two of three [at the line]. … He went up in the air, and a kid got under him. Foul was called on a 3-point attempt, and he came down on a kid’s foot and turned his ankle.
“He was awfully tender yesterday; he did not practice yesterday. Consequently, timing is not as sharp as it needs to be. He tried to go; he gave us everything he could. He didn’t have his best stuff. We’ll get [two and a half days] before we play again. He’ll be back to 100%, I’m sure, and will be much better on Monday.”
In his stead, numerous options stepped up. Though guard Ben Hammond committed a career-high five turnovers and was 2-of-7 from 3-point range, he also finished with 18 points and eight assists.
Forward Amani Hansberry, meanwhile, turned in arguably the most complete performance of the evening. The junior scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting, knocked down three of his four 3-point attempts and added five assists and five steals without committing a turnover. Through four games, he’s averaging 18.8 points and 5.2 boards.
“Hansberry is the straw that stirs our drink,” Young said. “He has been since he came here. He is just an elite basketball mind. ... He's shooting the fire out of it.”
Guard Isaiah Elohim also reached double figures, contributing a career-high 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while reserve forward Tyler Johnson finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards – six of them on the offensive side of the glass.
Reserve center Musa Sagnia added another five offensive boards in just 13 minutes, giving the duo more than half of Tech's 21 offensive rebounds. Oklahoma transfer Kuol Atak splashed a pair of 3-pointers, while starting center Miles Heide put up five points.
Though Virginia Tech won by 20-plus points for the third time in four games, it wasn't a facile affair by any means.
Mount St. Mary's, however, refused to go away quietly after the Hokies built their 33-17 lead. After trailing 42-30 at halftime, the Mountaineers cut the deficit to seven early in the second half before Virginia Tech regained control. Consecutive 3-pointers from Elohim helped the Hokies stretch their advantage to 55-37 with just over 13 minutes remaining.
But that momentum proved short-lived.
Mount St. Mary's forward Wilguens Junior Exacte scored six points as part of an eight-point run that sliced the deficit to 10 with 10:31 remaining. The Mountaineers continued chipping away, eventually drawing within seven at 62-55 with 6:32 left.
For a team that had led by as many as 18 in the second half, what appeared to be a comfortable victory was suddenly anything but. But the bleeding stopped there.
Hokies reserve center Musa Sagnia tipped in an Elohim miss, and Johnson followed with a dunk and layup to give Virginia Tech a 68-55 advantage. The six unanswered points restored a double-digit cushion and provided the separation Tech needed.
The Hokies kept rolling from there, using a Hammond 3-pointer, a Sagnia layup, an Elohim dunk and a Hansberry triple to push their lead to as many as 21 points. That late surge was emblematic of the Hokies' performance as a whole.
Even without much offensive production from Curry, Tech found contributions throughout its rotation, whether through Hansberry's scoring, Hammond's playmaking or the work of Johnson and Sagnia on the glass. The Hokies outrebounded Mount St. Mary’s 24-11 in the second half, including an 11-3 edge in offensive boards.
“Some foul language at the half had may have had something to do with it,” Young said. “Musa helped in that in that regard. We've got to get better there. We outrebounded them [by] nine for the game, which is a step in the right direction. It needs to be better. We'll get better.”
The final margin suggested a start-to-finish domination, but the path to it was considerably less straightforward. For Virginia Tech, though, its ability to overcome uneven shooting and withstand Mount St. Mary’s second-half challenge offered an indication of the roster's versatility.
Virginia Tech is back in action on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. ET when it hosts Richmond. Coverage for the contest will be available on ACC Network Extra.
