A late second half loss on Saturday night placed No. 20 Virginia Tech over No. 8 Virginia and gave the Hokies their best start in school history at 7-2 at ACC.
“The most important thing is maturity; we had a very young team last year and it was the first year of many guys playing at ACC ”, said the second year guard Hunter Cattoor in the historical beginning. “I think having a year on our resume and these experiences really helped us.”
Virginia Tech has made strides since Mike Young’s first season in Blacksburg, when the Hokies ended the season in 16-16 sitting 11º in the ACC. Entering the 2020-21 season, Virginia Tech was chosen to end season 11º in ACC, but now the Hokies are in second place, behind Virginia, who is 7-1 and still remains in first place after the defeat to Virginia Tech.
This game was a tale of two halves for the Hokies. After scoring just 21 points in the first half and hitting 38.1% of the field and 25% from three – 8-21 FG, 2-8 3PT – Virginia Tech recovered its recovery in the second half after a 19-0 run to beat Virginia 44-22 in the second half.
“I thought the ball was moving a little better and I thought the screen was a little better from that moment on,” said the head coach Mike Young. “On the other hand, we continued to contest and I thought we did a good job on the glass. They had four offensive rebounds in the second half; it surprised me a little. It was just a better basketball for our team, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. A good victory for the Hokies. “
Star forward Keve Aluma deserves most of the praise for this victory. Junior broke a new career record with 29 points. In addition, Aluma caught 10 rebounds, which marked his double-double room of the season. Aluma was fine from the start, as he was responsible for 16 of the Hokies’ 21 points in the first half. All night he bullied Virginia’s Jay Huff, who was forced to go out and play Aluma on the three-point line after hitting two first three points. In the second half, Aluma managed to score four fouls over Huff, forcing Huff to play a less aggressive defense to avoid a foul.
“It [Aluma] it’s good, you can see that it can get us in trouble. He has great footwork, as well as fakes, and then he hit some three of which he’s capable of, but he didn’t play at ACC, ”said the Virginia coach Tony Bennett. “We try to arrest them sometimes, sometimes we did well and they made some moves out of it. They [Hokies] can actually move around with some of those snipers coming off the screens. They are losing a very good player and I understand that, but what happens is that it opens up a little more space for Aluma to work ”.
Supporting Aluma’s career night was the second-year guard Hunter Cattoor who took 15 off the bench and shot 3-5 of three and 5-7 from the field. Cattoor started the Hokies’ surprising 19-0 streak by hitting a three on the left side of the court. He also added three indisputable midfielders after a striker screen Justyn Mutts released Cattoor. In the 19-0 Hokies race, Cattoor contributed 10 points and Aluma added seven and an important block in the Kihei Clark which helped the Hokies to keep the Cavaliers goalless for 5 straight minutes.
“We haven’t changed our style much, coach [Young] he just told us to be aggressive in attack and defense, ”said Aluma in the second half.
This was an important victory for the Hokies season in more ways than one. Virginia Tech adds another impressive victory to their tournament curriculum, as this marks the Hokies’ fourth win in the top 25 and their second win in the top 10 (No. 3 Villanova, No. 8 Virginia), but even with this victory the Young coach is not comfortable with where his team sits.
“It is significant now, but we are going to hit the brake. It’s late January, they’re not putting a crown on anyone’s head in January, ”said Coach Young. “We have a bunch more of those puzzles to go to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Great victory for us; we played a good game against a really good team from Virginia, but we will continue. We have much more to expect ”.
The Hokies not only defeated their rival in their only fight this season, but that defeat also gave Virginia their first loss at ACC, and secured a string of 15 consecutive ACC victories for the Cavaliers.
“It’s exciting to talk to people around you and see things on social media and Twitter,” said Cattoor. “Everyone is talking about winning UVA, it’s good to be a part of it.”
The Hokies return to the road to face the 8-5 Pittsburgh Panthers this Wednesday at 7 pm EST. Pittsburgh is looking for a three-game losing streak and is 6-4 in its last 10 games. Game coverage will be available on RSN.