Leading Syracuse by nine points with just over a minute left, it seemed like the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team was going to close out a huge road win without any problems on Wednesday night. Guess again. It’s not in the 2025-26 Hokies’ DNA to win a game comfortably. It’s just not.
Instead of hitting free throws, taking care of the basketball, and making good decisions, Virginia Tech let the Orange into the game. How? Well, in an all-too-familiar way. Aside from the missed free throws, maybe the two biggest mistakes happened on the defensive end of the floor.
First, inbounding the ball, they kept throwing the ball into the corner, creating an easy trap for Syracuse. They got out of it once, but couldn’t do so a second time, which led to a turnover. Then, seconds later, an Orange layup cut the deficit to a one-possession game. Before that, Ben Hammond, who scored a game-high 24 points, fouled a 3-point shooter and allowed three free Orange points with the clock stopped…