Virginia Tech Basketball: Mike Young's most important stat after beating Vermont is surprising

After the Virginia Tech men's basketball team rolled to a 73-51 non-conference win over the University of Vermont Saturday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum, Hokies coach Mike Young spoke with the media and the veteran coach was happy with his team's performance.

Why wouldn't he be? They beat one of the toughest mid-major teams in the country at home and a team that has been to the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last eight seasons. The Catamounts are the class of the America East Conference and they usually put a scare into their first-round opponent in March.

They are such an effective team because of the way they run their offense, which sometimes consists of five out, and they are very good at moving the ball and being patient. Another reason why they are so good is the way they shoot from behind the 3-point line. They entered Blacksburg averaging 10 3's a night this season and their season low of makes was seven on Nov. 7 against Merrimack. The Hokies held them to just four Saturday, but Young said it wasn't the number of makes that was important.

Virginia Tech's Mike Young offers the most important stat from the Hokies win over Vermont

After the win, Young's most important stat speaks to how good the Catamounts are shooting the 3-ball and why it was a surprising stat.

"Make no mistake about it,'' said Young. "Limiting them to four makes is quite a good mark. I think the most important statistic is limiting them to 20 attempts. Fifty percent of the shots on goal (at the basket) are from 3. That is significant. That's the best we've played defensively. Their stuff is good and they have good players.''

He's not wrong. Vermont is a very good team that shoots the ball from behind the arc and shoots it very effectively. Holding them to four makes from behind the arc is a very good accomplishment and shows how focused Virginia Tech was on the defensive end to collect a key non-conference victory in December.