If there was as close to a perfect start on the road for a Mike Young-coached team, it was Wednesday night at Florida State. Virginia Tech held the Seminoles to six first-half field goals and played very good defense to limit them to 15 points. On the offensive end, the Hokies put up 35 points and ended the half with Jaydon Young banking in his third 3-pointer at the half at the buzzer.
As we saw two weeks ago in California, not leading for Virginia Tech on the road is safe. Sure, you could say that about college basketball and conference play in general on the road is difficult, but it was less than a full house at FSU. Regardless, the Florida State we were expecting in the first half showed up in the second half and the Virginia Tech we were expecting in the first half showed up in the second half.
Everything that could have gone right did for Mike Young's team in the opening half as Tech jumped out to a 12-2 lead and slowly built it up to 20 points. The Seminoles missed a lot of easy shots, including a dunk, and they just shot five free throws. However, in the second half, FSU started making shots and sped up Virginia Tech and got them out of rhtyhm.
In the opening half, the ball was moving crisply for the Hokies on the offensive end which got them good shots and that was not the case in the second 20 minutes. The ball stopped moving, they turned the ball over and FSU started getting easy baskets and to the foul line. However, Virginia Tech was able to do what they have rarely done this year, they were able to close out a game.
After the Seminoles cut the deficit to 52-43, Jaden Schutt knocked down a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired before Tobi Lawal took over. He hit a 3-pointer, then had a steal on the next FSU possession and converted a 3-point play. Florida State had one last run to cut it to 61-52, Lawal and Schutt hit some free throws and then a Lawal dunk off a missed free throw, and a Mylyjael Poteat dunk off a Lawal pass put the game away at 67-52 for Mike Young's 400th career win.
Tobi takes it to the house 🫡🏠
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 30, 2025
📺 ACCN pic.twitter.com/6WfTqXBE3t
Lawal registered his fourth double-double with 17 points and 123 rebounds and was the best player in the second half for Virginia Tech. Schutt finished with 16 points, Young and Poteat had nine, Brandon Rechsteiner had eight, and freshman Tyler Johnson had six points and six rebounds.
Next up for the Hokies is a trip to Charlottesville on Saturday for a matchup with Virginia in the first Commonwealth Clash of 2024-25.