Tale of the Tape: Virginia at Virginia Tech

With only two weeks remaining in the regular season, Virginia will be gunning for its fifth consecutive victory along with a season sweep of Virginia Tech tonight at Cassell Coliseum (7 p.m., ESPN2).

The Cavaliers (19-7, 11-5 ACC) are in the driver’s seat for the final double-bye in the ACC Tournament (March 10-14) in Greensboro, with a comfortable three-game lead over Syracuse and Notre Dame, both tied for fifth at 8-8 going into tonight’s conference games (see updated standings below).

Virginia’s latest KenPom and NET rankings — now 48th (4th AdjD, 216th AdjO) and 52nd, respectively. The Hokies are 99th (93rd AdjD, 126th AdjO) according to KenPom and 84th in the NET.

The ‘Hoos, a slight 2½-point favorite this evening, have continued to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume by winning eight of their last 10 games, while the struggling Hokies (15-12, 6-10) are on the opposite end of the spectrum and probably can’t wait to get out of February.

Tech has gone 1-5 this month, and has won just two of its last 10 games overall after a somewhat promising start to head coach Mike Young’s first season in Blacksburg.

The Hokies exceeded early expectations with a 6-0 start that included an upset of then-No. 3 Michigan State in the opening round of the Maui Invitational in late November. Tech was 10-3 entering the first tilt with the ‘Hoos, but the team has a record of 5-9 since, all against ACC competition.

The Wahoos owned the first meeting with the Hokies, 65-39, in early January at John Paul Jones Arena. Coach Tony Bennett, who is 15-6 all-time against Tech, believes it was one of his team’s best performances of the season.

In that lopsided contest, Virginia outrebounded Tech by 13 and limited the Hokies to 27-percent shooting, including a 4-of-25 night from 3-point range.

Braxton Key had one of his best games of the season the first time around against VT, registering a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, while Kihei Clark also put up 18 points.

Hokie redshirt freshman forward Landers Nolley II is one of the league’s top talented newcomers, and he was on fire in the first half at JPJ that day.

He scored 15 of his team’s 17 points by halftime, but the UVA defense clamped down and only allowed him 3 points in the second half.

The 6-foot-7 Nolley has obviously been the focal point of opposing defenses in 2019-20, but lately has been in a bit of a slump offensively, having failed to notch double-digit scoring in two of his last three games — he had done so in 12 straight contests prior, and in all but two other games on the season.

Two other Tech freshmen, guards Nahiem Alleyne (9.4 ppg) and (redshirt) Tyrece Radford, have made important contributions. Radford (10.4 ppg) has particularly stepped his game up as of late, leading the Hokies in scoring in each of the last two games. He’s also the team’s leading rebounder on the season (6.3 a game), standing at just 6-foot-1.

Against Duke over the weekend, Radford posted team highs of 16 points and 9 rebounds, and was the only Hokie to play 30-plus minutes. He also had 26 points and 10 boards in the triple-overtime loss to Miami last week, registering an eye-popping 50 minutes in the loss.

Junior guard Wabissa Bede (5.4 ppg, 5.7 apg) runs the point, with forward P.J. Horne rounding out the usual starters.

Off the bench, 5-9 sharpshooter Jalen Cone (8.0 ppg in 17.5 minutes) has given a lift from the perimeter, along with another freshman, Hunter Cattoor. The duo has combined to hit 92 3-pointers this season, with Cone making over half of his attempts (53 for 104, 51 percent). Despite the recent struggles, the Hokies are still one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the conference at right around 35 percent. Tech has connected on 264 3-pointers this season, second only to Notre Dame’s made 266 triples.

Isaiah Wilkins, a 6-4 sophomore, had a nice all-around performance against Duke on Saturday, finishing with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, while yet another freshman, 6-10 forward John Ojiako, has seen his minutes increase as the season has progressed, and should play a significant role in the paint this evening.

Key, Mamadi Diakite, Jay Huff and Francisco Caffaro should all have a bit of a size advantage on Tech, and it’ll be interesting to see if the ‘Hoos decide to pound the ball inside again as a result. In the first meeting, UVA outscored the Hokies 34-16 in the paint.

Virginia returns to JPJ Saturday for its lone meeting of the regular season with No. 7 Duke (6 p.m., ESPN) before closing out next week at Miami on Wednesday and then back home for Senior Night against No. 11 Louisville next Saturday.

Should the ‘Hoos defeat both the Hokies and Blue Devils, they’d jump to third place in the conference ahead of Duke and would own the regular-season tiebreaker against Coach K’s troops with a week left until tourney time. Buckle up, Wahoo fans — these next few weeks could be a pretty wild ride.

Player Stats

As of Feb. 26