3 takeaways from Virginia Tech's dominating rout of Virginia

One month after dropping the first of two meetings with Virginia, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was looking to even the score with the Cavaliers Monday night at Cassell Coliseum. Entering the game, the Hokies had dropped four out of five games, but they certainly didn't look like a team that was struggling.

Virginia Tech used a 20-2 run to close out the first half for a 36-16 halftime lead and kept the foot on the pedal in the second half to even the season series and hand the Cavaliers just their second loss in their last 11 games. Here are three takeaways after the Hokies improved to 15-11 overall and 7-8 in the ACC with the 34-point blowout.

Virginia Tech closed first half strong

After a sluggish first four minutes from both teams, the Hokies turned things on while Virginia struggled. Leading 16-14 with 9:43 left in the first half, Virginia Tech went on a 20-2 run to close out the half and was very efficient at both ends of the floor.

Defensively it was their best stretch of the whole season. In holding Virginia to two points on a Leon Bond basket, while holding the Cavaliers to 1-for-10 shooting and missing all 3-point shots. Virginia Tech held Virginia to one-and-done shots, forced a shot clock violation, and put them in their largest halftime deficit of the season. On the other end of the floor, the Hokies shot 8-for-12 from the field. It was a performance that Mike Young had been looking for all season long.