Sometimes, you get a competitive game in a matchup you wouldn't expect when the clearly better team is playing okay but not having a great shooting night and the worse team has an insane shooting night where they are making all sorts of shots including plenty of contested ones.
That was the case on the night of Black Friday between Virginia Tech and Charleston Southern just like it was when the Hokies faced Presbyterian in 2017 and VMI in 2020. And just like those nights, the Hokies found a way to win.
Virginia Tech beat Charleston Southern 69-64 to improve to 6-1 on the season with an intriguing four-game stretch next up starting with Minnesota followed by UNC, Dayton, and Oklahoma State.
Part of the story of this game has to be the fact that not only was Charleston Southern shooting above their season averages, but they also were making loads of contested, lower quality shots. That showed in the second half when they shot almost 44% from the field while Tech was just under 36% shooting from the field.
Now some may have thought that Mike Young would be extremely frustrated or angry with his team. However, Young reflected on a game from two years ago against VMI where like this night, the Hokies weren't playing bad but weren't playing great while the Keydets were playing about as well as they possibly could. Tech held on that night two years ago and they held on tonight which had Mike Young crediting Charleston Southern for their performance, but also content with his team getting the victory.
"Two years ago, I had a really good team. We beat Villanova, we're rocking and rolling; and doggone (former VMI head coach) Dan Earl comes in here and we couldn't catch up to them. They played a good ball game, we didn't play very well and we had to hang on. And we had the same thing happen tonight, different situation, we hadn't beat Villanova. Credit to Charleston Southern, those guys played a good ballgame. They got a couple kids who can really score in 12 and 13. 14 is a moose in the post so I don't think it was my team played poorly, we weren't great, we weren't real good on either end, but those guys came in here to fight and fight they did, and they're well coached. Having said all that, we're supposed to win and we did that. No fire and brimstone in that locker room (today) or tomorrow," Young said.
The similarities of that game are plentiful to same the least with that game proving to be an outlier due to how well VMI played in ways that weren't due to Tech playing poorly even if they weren't great that night.
The outlier game seems to apply to this one for the Hokies with CSU making loads of contested shots at a rate that they likely won't match again this year while the Hokies missed some easy shots and open threes at a rate that likely won't happen again this year.
Of course, there is fair reason to be concerned about defensive rebounding as the Hokies allowed 14 offensive rebounds with this being a recurring issue as we saw first in a significant way against Old Dominion last week. However, Tech also got 14 offensive rebounds though losing the second chance points battle 13-8 wasn't ideal.
Two of the main reasons why Tech won this game was turnovers and controlling the paint with Tech only having 7 turnovers compared to 10 for CSU with VT outscoring CSU 14-9 off turnovers. Tech also dominated the paint with a 40-26 scoring advantage around the rim.
Justyn Mutts was the key for that leading the Hokies with 17 points on 6-11 shooting plus 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Most importantly, Mutts was able to take over the game on the offensive end down the stretch and help drive the Hokies to victory.
Meanwhile, Lynn Kidd was a difference maker off the bench for Tech with 11 points on 5-9 shooting plus 8 rebounds while having a game best +13 plus/minus. Kidd continues to show tremendous growth from his first year in Blacksburg proving to be a quality contributor on the interior who played down the stretch and helped Tech close out this game.
Sean Pedulla had a productive night with 15 points on 6-10 shooting to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists while Darius Maddox added 13 points on 5-13 shooting. Hunter Cattoor and Grant Basile had rough shooting days as Cattoor had 8 points on 2-10 shooting but also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists while Basile had 6 points on 2-6 shooting adding 2 blocks and 2 rebounds.
Even very good teams are bound to have a clunker or two in non-conference play. From Presbyterian in 2017 to VMI in 2020, plenty of very good Virginia Tech teams have had not so great non-conference performances against significantly weaker opposition having a great day. Those games were clear outliers in those seasons and this one has all the makings of just that.
Yes, Tech has some concerns with their defensive rebounding while their shooting is in a slump on a team that has the talent to break it soon. However, to change the expectations for a game like this that plenty of very good teams go through in non-conference play against weaker opposition every year should be considered the outlier it rightly is until proven otherwise.
So in summation, don't let an outlier game when one team is making contested shots at an absurd and the better team just can't seem to buy easier buckets at times skew your view of what this team is and can achieve because it's happened before plenty and will happen again.
