Virginia Tech Basketball: MJ Collins monster effort in return was huge

One thing was clear Sunday when the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team opened ACC play at home against Louisville, their top two guards, Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla were struggling. Usually, when that happens, the Hokies are in trouble, but not against the Cardinals as MJ Collins stepped up and picked up the slack for his two teammates.

Collins was huge against Louisville in different ways and if he can continue to play like this, what a boost that would be for head coach Mike Young.

MJ Collins had a huge bounce-back game

Collins was injured in the second half against Florida Atlantic in the championship game of the ESPN Events Invitational on Nov. 26 in Orlando. He missed the Hokies 74-57 SEC/ACC Challenge loss to Auburn on Nov. 29, but he returned against the Cardinals, coming off of the bench.

Virginia Tech trailed by one at the half but scored 45 second-half points to win the game. Collins had a career-high 20 points, was 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, and hit two huge ones in the second half. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and on the defensive end, he was very good. He forced a couple of Louisville turnovers and had a key deflection that led to a stop late in the game.

Is this something sustainable on a nightly basis? We’ll find out, but there are going to be games this season where Collins is going to have to step up and turn in a performance like he did against Louisville. If there was one area the Hokies missed him against Auburn, it was on the defensive end and rebounding.

Cattoor and Pedulla are going to struggle and Collins becoming a third option is big for the Hokies and would be big with the contributions that they are already getting from Lynn Kidd in the post.