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Virginia Tech basketball: Hokies Struggle Against Georgia Tech

By Kayleigh Toney

Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young, center, instructs his team against Louisville during their game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Jan. 6, 2021.Uofl Vatech27 Sam
Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young, center, instructs his team against Louisville during their game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Jan. 6, 2021.Uofl Vatech27 Sam /
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The No. 16 Virginia Tech basketball team fell to 69-53 against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.

Virginia Tech struggled in their first game back on the court in 17 days. It was the Hokies’ fourth loss in conference play and just their second loss in Cassell Coliseum this season. It was also their first ACC home loss on the season.  Tech currently sits at 14-5 and is third in the ACC.

A sloppy game was expected, considering the long break the team had due to COVID protocols.  The game was never going to be an easy win, Georgia Tech has been playing well as the season progressed and we saw that on Tuesday night.

The first half of the game was a defensive battle, the matchup stayed close throughout the half with a 24-24 tie at the break. Georgia Tech came out of the half hot and scored 17 to create a 41-28 lead. For a brief moment, it looked like the Hokies could mount a comeback, cutting the Yellow Jacket lead to six but that wouldn’t last long.

The Yellow Jackets would go on to match just about every Hokie bucket and went on to win 69-53.

Sloppy play

The Hokies committed 16 turnovers, the second-most in the season and the most since the Coppin State game in December. Georgia Tech had 19 points off of Virginia Tech turnovers. It’s difficult to win a game committing that many turnovers and it proved to be the case on Tuesday night.

On the defensive end, the Hokies didn’t have an answer for Georgia Tech’s Moses Wright. Wright led the Yellow Jackets with 26 points, scoring all over the Hokies. Georgia Tech also knocked down eight three-pointers.

Offensively they struggled a bit, they only had seven points from the bench as well. Some help from bench players may have made the game a bit closer. They went 19-46 from the field and only 5-14 from behind the arc.

I expect that in the game against Wake Forest we will see a better all-around performance for the Hokies.

Radford returns

After being suspended in January, Tyrece Radford returned to the starting lineup for the Hokies on Tuesday.

He played a team-leading 36 minutes, had 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, and a block in the loss.

Radford is an important player for this Hokies team and being able to have him back heading into March should be a huge boost.

On Saturday, the Hokies will welcome Wake Forest to Cassell Coliseum for a 4 p.m. tip-off. The game will be on ACC Network.