Five days after handing George Mason their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was looking for their third straight win on Thursday night when they hosted Western Carolina in another non-conference game.
The Hokies scored 53 first-half points and took a 19-point lead into the locker room. In the second half, they didn't shoot as well as they did in the opening 20 minutes, but they were still able to coast to a victory to improve to 9-2 on the season, and the Catamounts fell to 4-6. Here are some observations from the Hokies' ninth win of the season.
Virginia Tech observations from win over Western Carolina
- For the second time this year, freshman Neoklis Avdalas tallied 30 points. He had 24 of his 30 in the second half, and he finished with three rebounds and two assists. If he can score like this, then it'll be much harder to defend the Hokies this season.
- Virginia Tech again played without Tobi Lawal, and once again, in his absence, both Antonio Dorn and Christian Gurdak continue to play very well. The numbers are not going to blow you away, but Dorn had six points and four rebounds while Gurdak had three points and seven rebounds.
- Amani Hansberry continues to be a huge addition for Mike Young. He had 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished 8-for-12 from the field in the game and had four steals.
- Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond each had 13 points, with Hammond grabbing five rebounds. His elbow jumper looks so smooth.
- Jaden Schutt had 10 points off the bench, including a 3-pointer at the end of the first half with no room from his defender. It was an impressive shot.
- Virginia Tech knocked down 13 3-pointers as a team and had 11 turnovers.
The Hokies will return home to Cassell Coliseum on Sunday afternoon at noon to host Maryland Eastern Shore at noon. Megan Duffy and the women will follow with a 4 o'clock game against East Tennessee State.