Wahoo Wire

The No. 17 Virginia men’s basketball team has relied on stifling defense to compensate for their offensive inefficiencies all season long. They could not overcome their lowest scoring output since last February, however, as Virginia Tech pulled off the upset in Charlottesville, 47-45.

Virginia (15-3, 2-2 ACC), which was without starting senior center Assane Sene who will miss six weeks with a fractured right ankle, struggled to put up points in all fashions Sunday. Virginia missed 13 of 14 three-point attempts including all six in the second half, shot 6-of-13 from the line in the second half, and shot just 32% from the field for the game.

“It was just one of those nights when the ball wasn’t going down for us, but we are going to bounce back and regardless of the off shooting night, we are going to shoot the ball with confidence against Boston College,” junior guard Jontel Evans said.  “We didn’t hit shots,” he added. “Our defense was good so maybe if we had hit some of those shots we could have come out victorious. They hit some tough shots. Our defense was there. They just hit a lot of tough shots. It was not being able to make shots on the offensive end that hurt us.”

Virginia was able to keep pace despite anemic accuracy by holding the Hokies to their lowest scoring output of the season in the win. It was Virginia Tech’s timely scoring that ultimately propelled them past Virginia to earn their first conference win after starting 0-4 in ACC play.

With 26 seconds remaining and the Hokies clinging to a one point lead, Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg was forced to call a second timeout of the possession as the shot clock ticked down to eleven. Out of the huddle, sophomore guard Jarell Eddie found redshirt senior guard Dorenzo Hudson for the dagger three pointer as the shot clock wound down to make it a two possession lead for the Hokies, 47-43.

“Hudson made the plays and showed his experience and he was the difference down the stretch,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said.

Virginia had one final chance with a single second remaining to even the score and force overtime. After freshman guard Robert Brown missed the front end of a one-and-one, Harris side-armed a full-court pass to Scott, which tailed off his hands and out of bounds to seal the loss. The Cavaliers had just six turnovers but also only notched two assists on the night.

Scott was aggressive early as he scored eight of the first fifteen points for Virginia. He led the Cavaliers in the first half with eight points and four rebounds on 3-of-7 shooting, but Virginia Tech clamped down on Scott in the second half. After the break, Scott attempted just two field goals as the Hokies collapsed the defense and double-teamed him in the paint, daring him to trust his teammates to make jumpers.

“They really sandwiched him in the lane,” Bennett said. “We have to keep going to him but he is really drawing a ton of attention and when that happens, it’s hard for him to shoot over a double team.”

After taking their largest lead of the night at 13-10 early in the first half off a free throw by freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia failed to score for over four and a half minutes and went into the break trailing 23-19 as they shot just 25% from the field in the half.

Junior guard Erick Green opened the second half by drilling his first of two triples to extend the Hokie lead to seven. Green finished with a game-high fifteen points on 5-of-11 shooting, scoring 12 points in the second half.

With Virginia struggling mightily in their half-court sets, junior guard Jontel Evans looked to turn defense into easy baskets. After converting the hoop and the harm on a foul by Green to bring the Cavaliers within five, Evans picked the pocket of freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith and appeared to have an open lane to the basket. Instead of turning on the jets, Evans coasted to the basket, giving a Hokie defender enough time to alter the shot and force the miss. The rebound ricocheted off a trailing Harris and off the head of an out-of-bounds Evans to send possession back to Virginia Tech with the score remaining 26-21.

The Cavaliers made their run several minutes later, reeling off eight straight points to erase a 32-25 deficit. With a sold out crowd of 14,021 rising to their feet to energize a frustrated Virginia squad—which was once again in the midst of a scoring drought of over three and a half minutes—Harris ignited the crowd by collecting a miss by Zeglinski and converting a lay-up. Evans followed that up by making good on a fast-break, this time stripping the ball from freshman guard Marquis Rankin. Virginia took its first lead since it was 17-16 as Brogdon, Harris and Evans made 4-of-6 from the line as Virginia stormed back to take a 33-32 lead with 10:09 to play.

The teams traded baskets until the Hokies wrested control of the game on a pair of questionable calls. First, Zeglinski tried to hold his ground in the paint but was called for the block as Hudson barreled over him. On the Hokies next possession, Harris was whistled for a block on Green when it appeared that Green eluded the contact by jumping to the side. Virginia Tech made 3-of-4 from the line to take a 42-41 lead with 1:51 to play, leading to Hudson’s devastating deep ball which effectively sealed the loss for Virginia

“You have to treat each game as a separate entity,” Bennett said. “When you’re playing well, you always want to keep it going. This is a tough loss, but it’s always what you do after that loss.”

Virginia will try to get back on Thursday as they host Boston College (11-8, 2-3 ACC)