The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team plays a familiar foe on Wednesday night as the Hokies make the trip to College Park to take on Maryland. Former rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the two square off in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge.
The Hokies are coming off two tough losses in Brooklyn while the Terrapins enter the game 5-2 overall, having just loss to Louisville on Saturday, 63-55.
Where to watch?
Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m. ET, and the game will air live on ESPN2.
What to know about VT
Hokie fans shouldn’t take the last two losses all that hard as they came against a top-10 team in Memphis and newly-ranked Xavier. But they’ll want to get back on track here and find their rhythm on offense. They are averaging under 60 points over their last two games, and that came after scoring over 70 in four of their five wins to open the season. Last time out, Tech started slow and was able to rally but couldn’t get it done late. They have to do a better job of closing down at the 3-point line after Xavier went 10-for-22 from deep. If they can do that and be a bit more patient on offense, they should feel confident in having a chance to win.
What to know about Maryland
The offense has been very inconsistent, scoring 69, then 86, then 63. They want to slow things down and not play at a wild pace, though they showed against Richmond they can do both. The key will be to get the ball to Eric Ayala early. Averaging 15.1 points per game and 4.7 rebounds, the senior guard has the ability to carry this team, but he’s just one of four Terps averaging double-digit points. Expect them to try and prove their quality in the paint first before looking to do damage from deep. Ayala leads the team with 16 treys so far this season.
Prediction
A hostile environment won’t be very welcoming to the Hokes, and in the end Mike Young’s team comes up just short once again.
Maryland 65, Virginia Tech 63
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