Mylyjael Poteat’s game-winning three-point play with 2.7 seconds remaining propelled the Hokies past Miami for an 86-85 win on Saturday, their first of the year in ACC play.
Virginia Tech (6-8, 1-2 ACC) had possession with 10.2 left and head coach Mike Young drew up a play that had exposed the Hurricanes (4-10, 0-3) all afternoon. Poteat set a ball screen for point guard Ben Hammond, who drove baseline and found Poteat streaking to the rack. He made the layup through contact from Miami’s Brandon Johnson, and his subsequent free throw clinched the victory.
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? ACCN pic.twitter.com/LHZUK2tY5v— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 4, 2025
“We wanted to put one of their players into a ball screen,” Young said. “Didn’t think he’d handle it very well and get Ben Hammond downhill, and then we’re going to replace with Jaden Schutt. Ben made the right play. They chased Jaden out of there so we had some room to maneuver and the right play was made, and that was a foul.”
It capped a record day for Poteat, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He converted five of his seven foul shots, too, while grabbing three rebounds, recording two steals and only committing one foul, which came in the game’s first four minutes.
“I thought he had a good pop to him today,” Young said of Poteat.
Tech scored 42 of its 86 points in the paint and found success with Poteat and Tobi Lawal against Miami’s poor ball-screen coverage. The team’s lack of depth inside was evident. Former Hokies center Lynn Kidd played 29 minutes but struggled in hedging and tagging screens, which left Tech’s bigs — namely Poteat and Lawal — with point-blank opportunities at the rim.
“They don’t have a lot of depth in that frontcourt,” Poteat said of Miami. “They’re playing Lynn. Outside of that, don’t really have a backup five. They’re playing [Paul] Djobet as like a backup four and five, really. So attack them — they’re not going to want to foul, they’re not going to want to exert a lot of energy, they’ve got to play a lot of minutes so we knew we could definitely attack that.”
The Hokies handled Kidd on the other end, too. Though he entered Saturday averaging a double-double over the last five games at 13.2 points and 10.4 rebounds, Young & Co. frustrated Kidd to the tune of four turnovers. He finished with just seven points, and though he grabbed eight boards, Tech limited his impact by constantly trapping him and bringing a double team.
“We know him well,” Poteat said. “Played against here damn near every day for two years, right? So I know what he likes, I know what he doesn’t like, know how he’s comfortable in this, know how he’s not comfortable in this, what he likes getting into, so I think that helped us a lot.”
“He’s a heck of a player and he was a really good player for three years,” Young said of Kidd. “… Post players don’t like to be trapped, none of them do. It’s very uncomfortable. None of us like to be trapped. He hates it as much as any player I’ve ever seen; just not comfortable with it. … I could tell that he was looking for it as the game began. He knew it was coming and he never consistently caught the ball in his sweet spot.”
It was a back-and-forth contest that saw 10 ties and 16 lead changes, and neither team could pull away. It was also a high-powered offensive game that featured 59 percent shooting from Miami (33-of-56) and 54 percent from Virginia Tech (32-of-59).
The Hokies led for the majority of the first half before the Canes got out in transition and used a 6-0 run to swing the pendulum in their direction. It was more of the same later in the period when back-to-back 3-pointers from Jalil Bethea and Matthew Cleveland put Miami up 38-32 with 3:22 remaining.
Yet, Young settled his players down and got them to refocus, and Tech ended the half on an 8-1 run. At intermission, it was 40-39 in the home team’s favor.
However, the Canes didn’t go away and controlled most of the second half. It became dangerous territory for the Hokies when Austin Swartz nailed a trey to put Miami up seven, its biggest lead of the game. He followed that up with back-to-back baskets that held Tech at bay.
Then Young called another timeout, which had a similar effect. With 8:41 to play, the Hokies were in a 70-65 hole; they finished the game by outscoring the Hurricanes 21-15, which included a quick 9-2 spurt to draw level at 74 with 5:29 to play. That stretch featured a prayer from Brandon Rechsteiner as the shot clock expired and a few jumbled possessions that resulted in baskets.
“Coach does a good job of firing us up,” Lawal said. “The timeout is a great way to reset. I think Coach uses his timeouts perfectly. … Coach has so much experience in winning moments, so he’s very experienced and knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s great at just resetting the team and making sure everyone’s on the same page.”
“I think it’s a group that you kind of need to get them recentered from time to time, as much as anything,” Young said. “‘Here’s what we’re looking at, here’s the situation.’ We had a couple of shaky places in that game. … Not so comfortable, but encouraging to see them continue to fight and hang in there and make good basketball plays.”
It got a little dicey again for Tech in the final few minutes when a jumper from Bethea made it a six-point contest with 3:17 to play, but Rodney Brown Jr. provided hope with a triple before buckets from Poteat and Lawal cut it to two. Then the Hokies forced a miss from Bethea, which gave them a shot on their final offensive possession. Hammond and Poteat did the rest. Last but not least, Tech did a solid job of defended Miami’s final heave at the buzzer.
“A great level of resolve and hanging in there, believing in yourself and believing in your teammates,” Young said. “I thought they handled themselves with aplomb.”
It was an important victory for the Hokies, their first over a Power Four foe this year. They overcame some tough stretches from Miami and were in position to make some game-winning plays in the waning moments, which they did.
“Needed it bad,” Young said.
Lawal joined Poteat in double figures with 22 points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists. Jaden Schutt knocked down three of his eight 3-point attempts to chip in nine points and lead a well-rounded effort from the rest of the team. Tyler Johnson had seven, Rechsteiner posted six, Ben Burnham and Ben Hammond each scored five while Patrick Wessler finished with four.
Tech was improved on the glass, too. It outrebounded Miami 29-23, an effort led by Lawal (six), Johnson and Hammond (four each). The ball also moved well, and the Hokies finished with 23 assists on 32 baskets, paced by Hammond’s career-high eight dimes.
“He’s such a quick and a dynamic player,” Young said of Hammond. “Sometimes gets a little too quick and a little too dynamic and doesn’t make the right decisions, but is making great progress. I love having him here, he’s a delight to coach.”
Cleveland was Miami’s leading scorer with 21 points while Bethea posted 15 and Swartz notched 12. Johnson (nine points), Paul Djobet (eight) and Divine Ugochukwu (seven) were also factors.
The Hokies have their longest road trip of the season up next as they head to California. They’ll play at Stanford on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET) and at Cal on Saturday (6 p.m. ET). Virginia is the other ACC team on the West Coast at the same time.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 86, Miami 85
Thoughts from #Hokies' 86-85 win over Miami: pic.twitter.com/hs1z3M6BI2
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) January 5, 2025