After an eventful first two games in ACC play, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team begins a key two-game homestand on Wednesday night when it hosts Stanford at Cassell Coliseum. It'll be the first of two games against the two California teams making their first trips to the Commonwealth to play Virginia Tech and Virginia in four days.
Both teams will enter the contest at 1-1 in ACC play after the Hokies beat No. 23 Virginia in triple overtime on New Year's Eve to begin the conference slate. They dropped their first game in ACC play on Saturday afternoon at Wake Forest by three points. Stanford comes into the game after losing to Notre Dame last week before taking down No. 20 Louisville last Friday night.
How to Watch Stanford at Virginia Tech Men's Basketball
Even though this is just the third conference game for both teams, this is big in terms of the NCAA Tournament. On Tuesday, the Hokies were in the "First Four Out" of Joe Lunardi's field at ESPN, while the Cardinal are looking to find a way into the conversation.
As far as Virginia Tech goes, there is a good chance that head coach Mike Young gets forward Tobi Lawal back in the lineup, which would be huge for the Hokies. He has been out since the semifinals in the Battle 4 Atlantis after he was injured against Colorado State. Virginia Tech has also been missing Tyler Johnson and Antonio Dorn since ACC play began, and the sooner they can get healthy with the ACC schedule cranking up, the better.
Players to Watch
Virginia Tech
- Amani Hansberry (Forward): 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists
- Neoklis Avdalas (Guard): 14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists
- Tobi Lawal (Forward): 12.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists
- Ben Hammond (Guard): 11.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists
- Jaden Schutt (Guard): 10.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.9 assists
Stanford
- Ebuka Okorie (Guard): 22.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists
- Chisom Okpara (Forward): 15.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists
- Benny Gealer (Guard): 10.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists
- AJ Rohosy (Forward): 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.7 assists
- Jeremy Dent-Smith (Guard): 7.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists