Keve Aluma had 24 points, Virginia couldn’t buy a bucket down the stretch, and the combination proved fatal to the Cavaliers in a 62-53 loss in Blacksburg on Big Monday.
UVA (16-10, 10-6 ACC) led 29-25 at the half, but Virginia Tech (16-10, 8-7 ACC) came out of the break with an extended 13-4 run, holding the ‘Hoos to two made baskets and forcing five turnovers in the first 8:13 of the second half to go up 38-33 at the second media timeout.
Virginia would tie the game twice, on a drunk by Reece Beekman with 8:20 to go, then on a Kadin Shedrick alley-oop finish at the 6:53 mark that knotted the score at 44.
A pair of Aluma free throws put the Hokies back on top, and the key bucket of the night was a three by Nahiem Alleyne, his only make from long-range, that put Virginia Tech up five, at 49-44, with 6:06 on the clock.
The Hokies benefitted from there from getting to the foul line, going 9-of-10 at the line in the final 4:53.
The teams’ shooting profiles – Tech hoisted 30 jumpers, 20 from three, 10 others from two, and had 16 shots at the rim; Virginia had 22 shots at the rim, nine threes and 24 twos – would suggest that Virginia was attacking the lane more, but the Hokies had the advantage at the line, going 17-of-21, to Virginia’s 9-of-12.
With Virginia going 0-of-9 from behind the arc for the game, and shooting 40 percent overall for the game, that discrepancy would prove to be too much to overcome.
Aluma, who had 22 points on 9-of-20 shooting in the 54-52 loss at Virginia last month, had his 24 on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 at the line in this one.
Alleyne was the other Hokies in double figures, with 11 points, most of that at the line – somehow getting eight free throw attempts despite just one of his 11 shots being at the rim.
Now you know why Tony Bennett was fuming at the zebras on your TV screen.
Virginia got 17 points from Jayden Gardner, who had 15 on 6-of-11 shooting in the first half, and only had two on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half.
Shedrick had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 3-of-4 at the line, and six rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
Beekman had 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, four assists and one turnover in 38 minutes.
Kihei Clark had an awful night. An early airball on a teardrop had the Tech student section serenading him with chants of “airball!” and “Kihei sucks!” every time he was near the ball, and he seemed to let it get to him at times, on his way to a two-point, two-assist, two-turnover night.
Clark was 1-of-9 from the floor and 0-of-5 from three in 32 minutes.
The loss for Virginia isn’t necessarily devastating in terms of its NCAA Tournament hopes, but things do get more difficult for the ‘Hoos with four games remaining in the regular season.
At the least, the Cavaliers would seem to need to finish out the regular season with three wins in four games, against a schedule that has them playing on the road at Miami on Saturday, then hosting Duke and Florida State next week, and finishing on the road at Louisville in early March, to get its resume toward at-large bid worthiness.
Story by Chris Graham
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