Virginia Tech Hamstrung Hokie Heroes

Justin Robinson, 2019

Virginia Tech men’s basketball fans will always remember the 2019 season, during which the Hokies made history by reaching the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament for just the second time in program history. This team delivered one memorable moment after another and is decidedly one of Virginia Tech’s greatest basketball squads ever. Though several players contributed to achieve such a lofty goal, point guard Justin Robinson undoubtedly led the way for the Hokies, both on and off the court. 

To the 2019 Hokies team, the left-handed floor general provided what head coach Buzz Williams described as a “peaceful easy feeling,” expertly managing the pace of the game and acting as a player-coach, of sorts. Entering late January of that season, the Hokies were 16-3, with Robinson leading the team in assists in 12 of those games. On January 26th, Robinson became Virginia Tech’s all-time assists leader after recording eight in a 78-56 win over Syracuse in Cassell Coliseum, a game in which he also scored a career-high 35 points. The Hokies were hitting on all cylinders behind their history-making point guard. 

On January 30th, the #12 Hokies made a road trip to Coral Gables for an ACC matchup with Miami. After scoring 17 points in just 19 minutes of action, Robinson was injured on a fast break and sat for the remainder of the game, which the Hokies eventually won 82-70.

Two days later, coach Buzz Williams announced Robinson would be out indefinitely, leaving the Hokies with just eight players in their rotation during a stretch of games that included Virginia, Duke, and Florida State. Prior to his injury, Robinson was averaging 14 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals a game, leaving the Hokies to compensate for his lost production.

During its first game without Robinson, Virginia Tech traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina where it managed to defeat the NC State Wolfpack 47-24 in one of the sloppiest basketball games in recent memory. Suffice to say, the Hokies had work to do.

In total, Robinson missed 12 games during the 2018-19 season. The Hokies went 7-5 without Robinson, including a 77-72 win against Duke in Blacksburg, an impressive feat given the guard’s prolific production that season.

The timing of Robinson’s departure, however, was less than optimal. Without him at the helm, Virginia Tech lost 65-63 in overtime against Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Due to Robinson’s absence, Nickeil Alexander-Walker assumed primary ball-handling duties, turning it over six times and recording four assists. This loss to the Seminoles was a painful reminder of how integral to their success Robinson was.

To this point in the season, Virginia Tech ranked in the upper third of the ACC and looked to make a deep run in the conference tournament. Even without Robinson, Buzz Williams’ team received a 4-seed in the ACC tournament, as each of the Hokies’ five losses while Robinson was injured were by fewer than 10 points; two were decided in overtime. With a healthy Robinson, the Hokies probably would have stood a good chance of winning at least two of these games, if not more. Simply put, a Robinson-led Hokies in the ACC tournament almost certainly would have proven to be an even stiffer challenge in Charlotte.

Robinson returned to the Hokies in time to play in the NCAA Tournament, during which he averaged 12 points with a 46% field goal percentage and shooting 45% from beyond the arc, 3.6 assists, 2.6 rebounds, and 2 steals per game. Although his numbers were slightly below his season averages prior to sustaining his injury, his number of minutes played per game also decreased from 32 to 28.

Understandably, coming off a significant injury would result in less time on the floor, but when the Hokies were down to playing just seven or eight players a game, any drop in Robinson’s playing time was a substantial loss. Despite their all-time great point guard playing fewer minutes, Virginia Tech nearly advanced to the Elite 8 after a perfectly drawn-up in-bounds alley-oop play to Ahmed Hill lipped out as time expired against 1-seed Duke, downing the Hokies 75-73.

If Robinson had been fully healthy and played his average number of minutes per game, the Hokies may have had a better chance of knocking off Duke and advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, further cementing his legacy in Virginia Tech Basketball legend.