Just about any rational person expect that tonight's Commonwealth Clash between Virginia Tech and Virginia would be a dramatic, close game. Instead, the Hokies put together one of their best performances of the Mike Young era on their way to a stunning rout inside Cassell Coliseum.
Virginia Tech beat UVA to improve to 15-11 on the season including 7-8 in ACC play while UVA falls to 20-7 overall including 11-5 in ACC play. This is the largest margin of victory for Virginia Tech in a victory over UVA since the Hokies beat the Cavaliers 105-70 on February 18th, 1961, with that game being played at War Memorial Gymnasium, just over a year before the opening of Cassell Coliseum.
Early on, this was a competitive, back-and-forth game with the Hokies up 16-14 with 9:45 to go in the first half. From there on, the Hokies would go on one of their most dominant stretches of the Mike Young era going on a 20-0 run while holding UVA for an 8:59 stretch of action. During that stretch, the Hokies were dominant on both ends of the floor as UVA could rarely find quality shots and missed the few they could while even some of the face-up jumpers fell for the Hokies.
"We were on to it. We were beating them to cuts and they're good (at cuts). McKneely is a really good cutter. They are going to put you into that pin down and here he comes into the elbow, and we experimented with a couple different coverages that really helped us. I'm not being critical of my guys Lynn and Mylyjael, I put them at a disadvantage. We stepped up a step too much. They get another one early in the game, Lynn recovers back, walls him up, and he missed the shot. Minor had at least four drop-down for lay-ins in JPJ. We were quick. We were fast to the ball. We were connected," Young said.
This was the beginning of what would be a dominant performance as the Hokies built off a 20-point halftime lead by scoring the first seven points of the second half and slowly widening the margin from there, with UVA never getting the margin inside 22 after that point.
Part of that was due to the fact that the Hokies played about as good of a game as you could imagine offensively against a Tony Bennett defense. Tech shot 50.9% (27-53) from the field including 8-23 (34.8%) from three-point range while only turning the ball over seven times. Add in 17 assists on those 27 made baskets, and it was about as good of an offensive performance as you could dream of against UVA.
"I don't know the answer to that, and I'll go back and watch it tonight. It was a pleasure to watch it and good to see it. Why the heck we play any other way is beyond me. The ball got to multiple sides. The ball got into the post. We offensive rebounded. We stuck it back on the perimeter to Hunter (Cattoor) for a made three," Young said. "We weren't settling. We were driving it. Consequentially, you shoot more foul shots. It was a pleasure to watch. Proud of them."
Robbie Beran also shared that this offensive performance was Virginia Tech basketball at its finest.
"I think Coach Young says it best, playing Virginia Tech basketball. Not trying to take too much of the load by yourself but sharing the ball, passing up good ones to [get] great ones, and just moving. They obviously run the whole clock on defense and that was kind of a point of emphasis. We don't have to panic when the shot [clock's] going down. We can still get a good shot. We can throw it in the post. We can get a ghost action. So there's just different things we can look to and not just have to dig one-on-one, and I think when you share it, the ball finds its way into the hoop," Beran said.
Defensively, Tech was dominant as well holding UVA to 41 points on only 32.7% (17-52) including only 2-12 from three-point range. Tech also forced 12 turnovers against a UVA team not known for having a lot of turnovers, flipping the script on UVA by being the far superior defensive team in this game.
After the game, Robbie Beran shared the key to Virginia Tech's defensive success in this game.
"Just being physical. We knew that they would attack the rim, but just being tough walling up at the rim in there two-side and three-man game. We kind of had to plug some of their short rolls. They killed us at their place on the drop-offs. Just small adjustments [from the first matchup with UVA to tonight] but knowing that at the end of the day, it's going to come down to physicality and toughness," Beran said.
Tech also took advantage of those turnovers putting up 24 turnovers off the 12 UVA turnovers compared to the Cavaliers' four points off seven turnovers. This success happened despite the fact that many were dead ball turnovers, making it more impressive that Tech was able to stack successful defensive and offensive possessions on top of each other to overwhelm UVA. The 41 points that Virginia Tech allowed is the fewest that VT has allowed to UVA since the Hokies beat the Cavaliers 42-25 on January 23rd, 1942 in a game that was played in Roanoke.
One of the major storylines when UVA beat VT 65-57 earlier this season was the surprising dominance of Jordan Minor and Blake Buchanan in the paint against Lynn Kidd and Mylyjael Poteat.
Well, Kidd and Poteat took their medicine and put on a show, especially Kidd who had 14 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field and 4-4 from the free-throw line plus seven rebounds, one block, and six fouls drawn. Meanwhile, Poteat was dominant as well with 11 points on 5-7 shooting plus three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Jordan Minor and Blake Buchanan were non-factors as Minor had five points on 1-4 shooting plus three rebounds while Buchanan was held scoreless on 0-5 shooting with five rebounds and two blocks.
Kidd had this to say about why he was able to be as successful as he was in this game
"Just my mindset going into the game. I remember the last game and how I didn't have a really good game, and I wanted to make a statement with this game especially playing at home," Kidd said.
Tech's frontcourt as a whole was dominant as they outscored UVA 36-26 in the paint. Robbie Beran played an important role in that with 13 points on a perfect 4-4 from the field including 2-2 from three-point range and 3-3 from the free-throw line, while adding four rebounds and three blocks. Tyler Nickel also had a big game with 13 points on 5-9 shooting including 2-5 from three-point range and 1-2 from the free-throw plus a team-high six assists along with four rebounds.
Tech's backcourt didn't have their best shooting day collectively, but they made some big shots and played strong defense. Sean Pedulla had eight points on 2-8 shooting from the field but 4-4 from the free-throw line plus five rebounds, one assist, and no turnovers. Pedulla had one stretch where he forced back-to-back turnovers against UVA in this game, getting it done on both ends of the floor in ways that go beyond the stat sheet.
Meanwhile, Hunter Cattoor had another cold shooting day with six points on 2-6 shooting including 2-4 from three-point range plus two rebounds, one assist, and zero turnovers. MJ Collins only had four points on 2-9 shooting but ran the point well with five assists to three turnovers plus five rebounds.
Jaydon Young got some minutes in the second half prior to Tech's deep dive down the bench and made some things happen with six points on a pair of threes. Brandon Rechsteiner, Patrick Wessler, and John Camden all played from the U4 MTO onward with Rechsteiner having an assist and a rebound, and Wessler having a block. Additionally, walk-ons Michael Ward and Conner Venable got in for the minute and change in this one.
Isaac McKneely led UVA in this game with 11 points while Reece Beekman was never able to find his rhythm with seven points on 3-10 shooting. Dante Harris added six points and Elijah Gertrude had four points.
This was one of the best single-game performances we've seen from Virginia Tech not only in the Mike Young era, but in general in the 21st Century given both the quality of opponent and the dominance of the victory. Lynn Kidd and Mylyjael Poteat deserves tons of praise for setting the tone in the paint, especially after they struggled at UVA while Robbie Beran and Tyler Nickel continue to step their games up as the season progresses.
Tech's NCAA Tournament at-large hopes are slim, but it's probably fair to no longer say that they're dead. This may seem like a stretch, but Tech's weakest part of their resume entering tonight was their metrics (NET, KenPom, BPI, KPI, SOR) with the first return being that VT has jumped 11 spots in KenPom from 64 to 51. Add in the fact that the Hokies have 4 Q1 wins as of now while ranking 31st in strength of schedule and 44th in non-conference strength of schedule, and you can see a path to an at-large bid forming for the Hokies, however slim it may be.
Regardless of that, this was a statement victory from the Hokies where they showed how good they can be at their best. The question now is can the Hokies build off this win and finish ACC play on a tear to avoid playing on Tuesday in Washington D.C. and build some momentum heading into the ACC Tournament? We'll learn the answer to that quickly with a tricky road game at Pittsburgh looming on Saturday.
