Hokie Hoops Central: Virginia Tech (9-12) at Virginia (10-11) 4pm ACCN

Battle for #OurState🆚 UVA🕓 4PM📺 ACCN🔗 https://t.co/Ypqs6c8sMc🤝 @SmithfieldBrand pic.twitter.com/lot01OMsuG— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 1, 2025

Virginia Tech (9-12)
at
Virginia (10-11)
John Paul Jones Arena
4pm ACCN

Commonwealth Clash

Hokies are coming off a great win. Why great? They dominated the first half but got a lot of help from self inflicted Seminoles mistakes. It was a great win though because after FSU mounted a comeback to close it to a 6 point game with about 8 minutes to go and all the indicators of another Stanford game, they righted the ship. They stretched the lead back to as many as 15 in what would be a 76-66 win ON THE ROAD. Now they need to find a bit more road magic to win the Commonwealth Clash.

Tobi coming through 😅📺 ACCN pic.twitter.com/5e1nLtxFVi— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 30, 2025

Virginia comes into this one after a 2-6 January. They are 3-7 overall in the ACC. Wins against NC State, Miami and Boston College. Losses were to SMU twice, Notre Dame, Louisville twice, Cal, and Stanford.

Tony Bennett knew what he was doing deciding to move on. Not much has changed in the Boohoos style of play. They still play the pack line defense and still rely on shooters to keep them in games offensively. That said, this is a slightly bigger lineup than normal for Virginia, with three Forwards rotating but scoring. They may be a bit taller but they are also slower, more so on defense. Poor zone realignment due to ball movement has left shooters open against the Cavaliers.

Isaac McKneely and Elijah Saunders are the only double-digit scorers for Virginia. As a team, they only average 63 points per game in conference play. They do however shoot 37% from the perimeter which could be an issue. McKneely, Saunders and Murray all shoot above 40%.

They take the fewest field goal attempts in the ACC but hold opponents to the 2nd fewest attempts. The Hokies need to find some transition baskets to separate from the snail pace.

This is a very winnable game but as always it comes down to consistent scoring in the second half, which always seems to be a challenge.

Video tribute to Mike Young's 400 wins

an 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 far 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 than 400 wins 💛🧡 @CoachMKYoung pic.twitter.com/qOALqIBe1T— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 31, 2025

Cavaliers Starting Five
Isaac McKneely
11 JR G 6-4 179
13.0 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 3.0 Ast

Elijah Saunders
2 JR F 6-8 240
11.8 Pts, 5.5 Reb, 0.8 Ast

Jacob Cofie
5 FR F 6-10 232
8.0 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 1.2 Ast

Andrew Rohde
4 JR G 6-6 185
8.7 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 3.6 Ast

Dai Dai Ames
7 SO G 6-1 185
6.0 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 2.0 Ast

Key bench players
Blake Buchanan
0 SO F 6-11 215
5.9 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 1.2 Ast

Taine Murray
10 SR G 6-5 207
4.5 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 1.7 Ast

Ishan Sharma
9 FR G 6-5 192
3.9 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 1.1 Ast