Virginia Tech came up short in Blacksburg against Wake Forest 72-63 in what was a back-and-forth battle. Although the result wasn’t what the Hokies wanted, Saturday’s game was the latest in a number of recent performances that have proven that Mike Young’s team is much improved from just a few weeks ago.
In the first half, Virginia Tech was plagued by familiar turnover issues, committing six in the first eight minutes of play. Not helping the Hokies’ sloppy play was their offense, as they shot just 2-7 in the same timeframe, and 3-20 in the first 16 minutes of action. Despite these early offensive struggles by the home team, Wake Forest failed to capitalize. Virginia Tech later got a better handle on the ball by not committing a turnover for the remaining 9:24 of the half, and stepped up the defensive pressure by holding the Demon Deacons to a 4.5 minute scoring drought until two minutes remaining in the half. The Hokies went into the locker room down just 31-29.
The second half got underway with a four point play by Jaden Schutt coming off of a perfectly executed offensive set, putting the Hokies ahead for the first time. Despite this strong start for the Hokies, the Demon Deacons later found their groove on the offensive end. Behind leading scorer Hunter Sallis with 24 points, and complemented by Cameron Hildreth with 21 points, Wake Forest managed to overcome its slow start, as well as some opportunistic Virginia Tech defense, and converted on the Hokies’ mistakes, unlike in the first half. Coming down the stretch, the Hokies’ deficit remained within five points until the final 1:30 when the Hokies began to foul intentionally to stop the clock. Virginia Tech shot 41% from the field, and 32% from three point range…