The series of events only added to the tense atmosphere Monday night at Cassell Coliseum, as the Hokies cruised to a 75-41 victory that was all but decided in the first half. In the Commonwealth Clash, Virginia Tech (15-11, 7-8, ACC) won four straight at home, defeating the University of Virginia (20-7, 11-5) for the fewest points in a meeting since 1942. I kept it to .
The Hokies shot 50.9 percent with just seven turnovers and had the second-largest margin of victory in the 158-game series. They avenged a 65-57 loss in their first game on January 17th in Charlottesville. With the win, the Cavaliers have won eight in a row and have lost two of three games since then.
“I was happy to see it, it was good,” Hokies coach Mike Young said. “And I don't understand why we would play any other way.”
Virginia Tech trailed by just 16 seconds, and Kidd scored a game-high 14 points on 5-of-5 field goals, 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, and grabbed seven rebounds. The Hokies held a 24-4 scoring edge, not including turnovers.
The win lifted the Hokies out of the bottom four of the ACC standings. These four teams must play on the first day of the conference tournament, which begins March 12 at Capital One Arena. Each of these teams would need five wins in the same number of days to win the ACC Tournament title and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Entering this week, Virginia Tech's NCAA Tournament resume was spotty at best. The Hokies were ranked No. 62 in the NCAA's NET rankings, but had four wins in Quadrant 1, the most attractive of which was Nov. 24 in Kissimmee, Fla., against Iowa State (No. 8 in the NET). ) was a 71-62 victory.
“We've kind of pushed ourselves into a corner here and we don't have a lot of wiggle room,” Young said. “We need to make the most of what we have left.”
The Cavaliers sit 41st in the NET with four games left in the regular season and their NCAA Tournament aspirations are on a much more secure footing. A home matchup against North Carolina (net 9th) on Saturday and a matchup against Duke (net 17th) on March 2 will give them another chance at a Quadrant 1 victory.
But the Cavaliers have climbed near the top of the ACC standings and are stuck in a somewhat precarious third place. The teams tied for fourth in conference play with an 8-6 record are Pittsburgh, which holds a direct tiebreaker, as well as North Carolina State and Wake Forest, who have a regular-season series with Virginia.
One of Virginia Tech's best first halves of the season saw the Cavaliers go from a 20-0 lead without scoring for nearly nine minutes to leading 36-16 at halftime. The Hokies did much of their damage by relying on Kidd, who scored eight straight points, including two dunks, during a surge in the paint.
Mairijael Poteet added a dunk near the end of the barrage and assisted on Hunter Kattore's 3-pointer, pushing the Hokies' advantage to 36-14 with 1:02 left in the first half, a disastrous one for Virginia. Pointer and So starters Ryan Dunn and Jordan Miner each picked up two fouls.
Isaac McKneely led the Cavaliers with 11 points. He was the only Virginia player to earn seven or more. Senior guard Reece Beekman was held to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, while Miner scored five points on 1-of-4 shooting. In the first game against Virginia Tech, the two combined for 32 points.
“They were very physical,” Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett said of the Hokies. “We didn't handle that physicality very well, and defensively we were inferior in every way. I mean, they outplayed us, but it was a tough game. We were on a fine line. Yes, and if you're wrong, a breakup can result. It's happened to us a few times. We may have hoped it wouldn't happen at this stage, but it did happen. That's Virginia. Credit to how well Tech played, but at the same time we didn’t have the right mindset.”
