The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end on Friday as the 11th-seeded Hokies lost 81-73 to the sixth-seeded Texas Longhorns in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64.
Tech started the game off fairly well, but after allowing a half-court buzzer beater right before halftime, they just could not recover, stumbling in the second half against an elite Longhorns defense.
“You know, the basketball gods. It’s not a very good shooting team. They’re very, very, good, all right? You know, Big 12 and so on. But combination of good day for the Longhorns and not as good a defensive effort as we’ve come to expect,” coach Mike Young said after the game.
The game saw Tech allow a season-high 81 points, and it was also the second-highest shooting percentage allowed all season. To make matters worse, Texas pushed Tech off the three-point line all night, with Tech making a season-low four three-pointers. Chris Beard’s team did not score for the first five minutes of the game, but saw Andrew Jones catch fire with 21 points.
Riding a wave of emotion after their improbable run to winning the ACC Tournament, Young’s team just looked a bit gassed on the night, struggling down the stretch to deal with Texas’ physicality.
Keve Aluma finished with 15 points, while Hunter Cattoor had 12. The future at the point guard position, freshman Sean Pedulla, scored a team-high 19 points.
Tech finishes the season 23-13 and as ACC champions for the very first time.
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