After going 11-2 in the non-conference portion of their 2025-26 schedule, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will kick off ACC play when it hosts Virginia on Wednesday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum. This season, the ACC has cut down its conference games from 20 to 18.
The ACC schedule is an interesting one for Mike Young and the Hokies, who will bookend it with games against Virginia before the ACC Tournament in March. The Hokies will enter conference play as part of Joe Lunardi's "Next Four Out" in his latest NCAA Tournament bracketology at ESPN. This season, however, unlike others, offers a lot of teams the chance at Quad 1 and 2 wins to build up a résumé.
Virginia Tech vs. Virginia: Players to Watch
Virginia Tech
- Amani Hansberry: 16.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists
- Neoklis Avdalas: 14.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5 assists
- Jaden Schutt: 10.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1 assist
- Ben Hammond: 10.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists
Virginia
- Thijs De Ridder: 16.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1 assist
- Malik Thomas: 11.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists
- Chance Mallory: 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists
- Jacari White: 10.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists
Virginia Tech will again be without Tobi Lawal, but they should get freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas back after he missed the overtime win over Elon before Christmas with an illness. Amani Hansberry has been huge for Virginia Tech and will have to be again if they have any hopes of knocking off Virginia at home. Last season, the two teams split the season series, with each team winning on the road.
Virginia has been very good under first-year coach Ryan Odom, with their only loss being to Butler, 80-73, in the Greenbrier Tip-Off before Thanksgiving. Two of the top players for Odom this year are North Dakota State transfer Jacari White, who was also a target of Virginia Tech's in the Transfer Portal, and freshman Chance Mallory, who the Hokiers were also in on. What a way to kick off ACC play.