After the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was eliminated in the second round of the NIT last March, the Hokies went through a mass exodus through the transfer portal. Several players with eligibility remaining left and three of them ended up in the SEC.
MJ Collins and Tyler Nickel landed at Vanderbilt, and point guard Sean Pedulla landed at Ole Miss. Last season for the Hokies, Pedulla carried the load of the season on his shoulders after Rodney Rice left the program before the season started, leaving Pedulla as the primary ball handler.
He battled through the season, but when the dust settled, he entered the portal, landing at Ole Miss and coach Chris Beard. He was named to the All-SEC third team this year and averaged 15.1 points a game for a team that is going to the NCAA Tournament next week. On Thursday afternoon in the second round of the SEC Tournament, the former Hokies standout hit a clutch shot to eliminate Arkansas.
Former Virginia Tech guard Sean Pedulla hit clutch shot to beat Arkansas
With the game tied 80-80 and seven seconds left, Arkansas missed a pair of free throws leaving the door open for the Rebels. The ball ended up in Pedulla's hands and the Edmond, Oklahoma native drove the ball down the court and calmly launched a 3-pointer that hit nothing but net with 1.3 seconds left. Arkansas had a chance to tie the game, but fell short, leaving the Razorbacks to sweat out the NCAA Tournament selections show on Sunday night to see if they did enough to make the 68-team field.
SEAN PEDULLA BEATS THE BUZZER 🙌
— ESPN (@espn) March 13, 2025
Ole Miss takes down Arkansas in an SEC thriller! pic.twitter.com/JuMEh0K4a9
The winning shot sends Ole Miss to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on Friday at o'clock against top-seeded Auburn as they will look to try and get revenge for two regular season losses. It pains Virginia Tech to watch it happen, but it shouldn't be surprising that Pedulla, who missed his first six 3-point attempts, was able to knock down the winner at the end of the game.