By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
BLACKSBURG – The best 3-point shooting team in ACC men’s basketball, Virginia Tech, made only 25 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc Monday night at Cassell Coliseum. UVA would have happily settled for such accuracy against the Hokies.
“They held us to zero percent,” Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said with a rueful smile.
For the first time since Nov. 15, 2016, the Cavaliers failed to make at least one 3-pointer in a game. They came in ranked 12th among ACC teams in 3-point field-goal percent (32.8) and were 0 for 9 on Monday night. But poor outside shooting was not Virginia’s only problem in its 62-53 loss to Tech before a frenzied crowd of 9,825.
There were defensive lapses, too, and costly turnovers. Tech, which trailed by four at halftime, shot 55.6 percent from the floor after intermission. Keve Aluma, who scored 22 points in the Hokies’ Jan. 12 loss at John Paul Jones Arena, punished the Wahoos again Monday night. He hit 10 of 14 shots and finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
Tech’s other frontcourt starter, 6-foot-7 Justyn Mutts, had eight points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists, several of them to the 6-foot-9 Aluma.
“They have a nice connection,” said Bennett, whose team saw its four-game winning streak snapped.
Redshirt sophomore Kadin Shedrick, a force inside in the second half, threw down an alley-oop dunk to tie the game at 44-44 with 6:54 remaining. That was one of the final highlights for the Wahoos (16-10, 10-6). Tech responded with an 8-2 run, and UVA trailed by at least four points the rest of the way against the ACC’s hottest team.
The Hokies (16-10, 8-7), who came in shooting 41.5 percent from 3-point range, have won six games in a row.
“They made some plays,” Bennett said, “and we couldn’t answer. Other games we’ve answered when that’s happened. And again, certainly the crowd had them aroused and playing hard on both ends.”
Tech students were in full voice well before the start of this nationally televised game, and their enthusiasm never faded.
“I think the crowd was a big factor,” UVA forward Jayden Gardner said. “They really got into the game. They really made their mark and they gave [the Hokies] energy. Then they just kept going and we couldn’t stop the momentum.
“I think we did a poor job of matching their energy. It starts with the shots we were getting in the second half and turnovers. Being unsound, being undisciplined, we weren’t doing things that we were doing on our four-game win streak.”
Tech students took particular delight in heckling Virginia senior Kihei Clark. As a sophomore in 2019-20, Clark hit a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left to lift UVA to a 56-53 win at Cassell Coliseum, and he’s made countless other big plays during four seasons at Virginia.
On Monday night, however, 5-foot-10 point guard had a game to forget. He was 0 for 5 from 3-point range and 1 for 9 overall. Clark’s only points came on a jumper with 39.8 seconds left, and he had as many turnovers (two) as assists (two).
“We need him to look to score,” Bennett said, “but with all the guys it’s finding that sweet spot in this kind of game, because it was a physical game. Virginia Tech did a good job defensively, jamming the lane, playing good physical defense … They played good defense on [Clark], and that wasn’t one of his better games and he’ll bounce back and hopefully be ready for our next one.”
Clark shot an airball early in the game, and Tech’s fans made sure to remind him one of that miss every time he touched the ball thereafter. That’s college basketball, Bennett noted.
“Don’t shoot an airball, then, I guess, if you don’t want them to chant that,” Bennett said, smiling. “That’s the moral of the story, right?”