The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team enters Tuesday night’s matchup with No. 23 Miami in need of another victory. That seven-game losing streak that ended last week has put the team behind the eight-ball in pursuit of postseason play.
In a sport where building your postseason resume is more important than anything else, this game provides a massive opportunity for a team that has created a bit of momentum with wins over Duke and Syracuse last week.
Now, there have been plenty of factors, including the return of Hunter Cattoor, but not to be overlooked is that of transfer forward Grant Basile. Fresh off taking home ACC Player of the Week honors, the Wisconsin native has been the go-to guy on offense in what was a big week for Mike Young’s team.
Averaging 14.8 points per game on the season to go with 5.8 rebounds, he has averaged 20 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game over his last five, assuming a leadership role for an offense that has needed it with Darius Maddox away due to a family emergency.
The former Wright State forward has been versatile in the four spot, even playing the five some, but his ability to stretch the court has played a huge role in in the emergence of center Lynn Kidd.
A transfer from Clemson, Kidd has averaged 5.5 points per game and 3.9 rebounds in limited minutes, benefitting from that newfound space underneath.
“I thought he was terrific against Duke. He was really good again in here [vs. Syracuse]. I thought he was good against Virginia. You need your best players to be your best players, and he’s one of our best players,” Young said.
“He’s very conscientious, is about all the right stuff. We just need him to recognize, it’s not a self-confidence thing at all, but he’s got to run to that fight night in, night out. We need him to run to it tomorrow in that matchup against [Miami forward Norchad Omier].”
With Keve Aluma’s departure from the school to test NBA waters, a move that did not work out in terms of joining the league, Basile was the key transfer to try and help replace that production, and he’s done just that.
Now, it’s all about pushing forward and to try and keep things going.
Basile has been so impressive that Young has compared him to last season’s point guard, Storm Murphy, who led the team to the ACC Championship just over a year ago.
It remains his time to try and lead this team to a three-game winning streak against a Miami team in the thick of potentially earning a bye in the ACC Tournament.
Tip-off from Coral Gables is at 7 p.m. ET.
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