What a last seven days for the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team. Last Tuesday, the Hokies headed to Chestnut Hill, Mass., and played one of worst 40 minutes of basketball a Virginia Tech team had played offensively in a long time. A long, long time.
Boston College held the Hokies to 11 first-half points and 36 in total in a 54-36 Eagles victory. Then four nights later, Virginia Tech went down to South Florida and completed a season sweep of former teammate Lynn Kidd and Miami, who was minus leading scorer Matthew Cleveland, in an, 81-68, win. Now, with four games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season before the ACC Tournament, the Hokies will begin a three-game homestand in what won’t be an easy stretch.
Virginia Tech looks to pull off an upset against Louisville
If there is one program in the ACC that the Hokies can point to that goes from a struggling team to an NCAA Tournament team with an off-season of changes, it is Louisville. Yes, the Cardinal hired a new coach in Pat Kelsey, but through the transfer portal, the Cardinals are 14-2 in the ACC, currently in the third spot, and on pace for a double-bye in the conference tournament next month. Then the NCAA Tournament will be their next stop in the 68-team field.
Against Miami, Virginia Tech got 53 points from their bench, highlighted by a career-high 27 from Jaydon Young. Ben Burnham and Patrick Wessler were also huge off the bench, especially Wessler who played a lot in the second half without center Mylyjael Poteat. If the Hokies are going to be competitive against a Cardinals team that has won just as easily on the road as they have at home, they’ll need the same production from their bench.
This will be a good test for Virginia Tech freshman Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond who have played well since the calendar turned to 2025. For the second straight Tuesday night, the Hokies get the dreaded 9 p.m. start, this time at home.