Emphatic effort powers Hokies
No. 16 Virginia Tech hammer Wake Forest 84-46 to improve to 9-4 in the ACC, maintaining third place in the league standings.
Any lingering questions about No. 16 Virginia Tech’s mindset and conditioning coming out of Tuesday night’s loss against Georgia Tech after a lengthy coronavirus break were answered Saturday in the Hokies’ 84-46 win against Wake Forest.
Virginia Tech (15-5, 9-4 ACC) maintained third place in the conference standings, keeping alive its chances to finish in the top four and seal a double bye in the ACC tournament heading into the final week of regular-season play. Virginia Tech’s win represented its largest margin of victory against an ACC opponent, topping its 29-point win Jan. 15, 2011, against Wake Forest.
“I know the people in that locker room,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said. “I know they were disappointed in themselves (after Tuesday night’s 69-53 loss to Georgia Tech). I know they were disappointed in one another and bound and determined to bounce back on Thursday (in practice), not (Saturday), but bounce back on Thursday and make it right, get better. They did. We had two good days of practice and we were good (Saturday).”
Virginia Tech continued a trend
of playing well after losses. It hasn’t had a losing streak all season, improving its record to 5-0 after losses.
After connecting on 67.9% of its field-goal attempts in the first half, Virginia Tech went on to shoot 53.4% for game and made 13 of its 24 attempts from 3-point range, including a 5 of 5 effort on 3s from Keve Aluma. Wake Forest (6-13, 3-13), which trailed by as many as 43 points, shot 27.8%.
Aluma led Virginia Tech, which lost Tuesday to Georgia Tech after the Hokies missed 17 days of time on the court because of coronavirus issues within and outside their program, with 23 points and eight rebounds against the Demon Deacons.
Though he came i nto the afternoon shooting 30.6% from 3-point range, Aluma looked more comfortable getting open looks from beyond the perimeter than he has all season. He said he felt good shooting from deep before the game even started.
“Definitely, pregame, I was just trying to get my shot feeling as good as possible, but there was a stretch (this season) where I was only shooting like one (3-pointer) a game and I would miss it and not try to shoot anymore,” Aluma said. “I’m pretty much wide open every shot (from 3-point range). They don’t really guard me, so I’m
just trying to pick and choose and knock them down.”
Tyrece Radford added 15 points for Virginia Tech, and Nahiem Alleyne chipped in with 13 points and five assists.
Wake Forest was led by Jonah Antonio’s 12 points. He was the only player to score in double figures for the Demon Deacons, who saw their starters combine to miss 23 of 32 shots attempted.
Committing 18 turnovers compared to just nine for Virginia Tech, Wake Forest struggled to keep the Hokies from capitalizing on all the Demon Deacons’ miscues. Virginia Tech finished the game with a 26-3 advantage in points off turnovers. The Hokies also had a 34-8 edge in points in the paint.
“We didn’t cut ourselves any slack (after the loss to Georgia Tech),” said Aluma, who scored at least 23 points in a game for the fifth time this season. “We just tried to pick up from where we left off and just try to be as aggressive and dominate.”