Coming into Saturday’s matchup in Blacksburg, Clemson was among the hottest, yet most underrated teams in the country. To stand a chance at securing the upset, Virginia Tech would need to play a flawless game– something it failed to do, despite an admirable effort– resulting in a 72-57 loss.
The Hokies got out to a sluggish start in the first half; a trend that has hampered Virginia Tech in each of its last three losses. The Hokies found their groove offensively and took the lead with just over six and a half minutes left in the half. From then on, however, Virginia Tech was unable to stop Clemson’s offensive attack, both from three point range and in the paint, where the Tigers picked up 22 points before halftime. Conversely, Virginia Tech scored just 4 points in the paint. Clemson went on a 15-0 run to end the half, shooting at a 64% clip at the break. Meanwhile, the Hokies did not make a shot for the final 6:39 of the half, earning them a 29-41 deficit.
After the break, Virginia Tech’s shooting struggles continued: at the 15:45 mark, the Hokies were 4-18 from inside the three point arc, and did not score until there was 16:30 remaining. This seemed to settle the Hokies in and spurred a furious 7-0 run while holding Clemson to 1-11 shooting, cutting its deficit to 4 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game. Virginia Tech seemingly flipped the script from its first half performance during this stretch, outscoring Clemson in the paint 12-6 at the 7:33 mark. Despite this run, Clemson managed to regain its footing on both ends for the remainder of the game, suffocating the Hokies and securing a 15 point victory.
Tobi Lawal once again provided the spark for the Hokies, scoring 14 points on 6-10 shooting. He also created much-needed second chance looks with four offensive rebounds. Lawal was the only Hokie in double figures, with Jaydon Young, Ben Burnham, and Tyler Johnson adding 9, 8, and 7 points, respectively. Saturday’s result was the latest in a series of games in which Virginia Tech was forced to rely on a different scoring option in the absence of a go-to offensive threat.
When asked what his team needs to do to get back its winning ways, Hokies head coach Mike Young addressed their offensive struggles by saying, “We need solid plays on both ends. Shot contestment, rebounding the miss… we need some guys to rise up and make a shot. We need to take care of the basketball. All the winning things that go into winning that we’ve grown accustomed to doing around here.”
This Hokies team will probably continue relying on an offense by committee approach for the remainder of its schedule unless a go-to option appears. As a team, the Hokies managed to shoot nearly 37% from three point range to keep things close at times in both halves, but their lackluster interior and mid-range shooting of just 38% let them down. To compound Virginia Tech’s offensive struggles, it went just 12-21 at the charity stripe. Although these points likely would not have made the difference between a win and a loss, they surely would have contributed to a more complete offensive effort.
Defensively, the Hokies got beat up down low, surrendering just under 30 points in the paint, despite improving its post defense in the second half. After tightening up the perimeter defense after the break, Virginia Tech allowed big shots that deflated any momentum it had created prior to Clemson going on its game-sealing run.
In addressing his team’s three-game skid, Hokies head coach Mike Young said, “We’re getting to the point of all these games… when you gotta bear down in winning time and you gotta continue to play good basketball. They’ve got the right intentions, but not getting the timely shot down, a defensive mistake from one person, seems to bite us in the rear end.” These untimely missteps have characterized much of Virginia Tech’s season as of late, including Saturday’s loss in which the Hokies fought their way back but couldn’t maintain their pace.
These last three losses, while not ideal results, again have demonstrated that Mike Young is an incredible coach and that the Hokies are slowly but steadily developing. At no point in the game was Virginia Tech outclassed entirely, which is a great testament to the job Mike Young has done since the Hokies’ historically poor performance in its non-conference schedule. Similarly to the Wake Forest loss, Virginia Tech’s team from November loses to Clemson by 20+ points. Instead, this roster played hard and fought its way back from 17 at one point to make it a competitive, exciting matchup– essentially a microcosm of the ACC slate so far.
Virginia Tech is back on the court on January 29th at 7:00 PM against Florida State.