Virginia Tech opened its 2025-26 season with a 98-67 win over Charleston Southern on Monday night in Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies (1-0) only led by four at intermission, 42-38, but blew the Buccaneers’ (0-1) doors off in the second half with a 56-29 margin, which included a 27-3 run over the first eight minutes.
“Righted the ship in the second half,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “… Some timely shots across the board, but they made eight threes in the first half — that’ll put you behind the 8-ball. Consequently, we come in up [four]. They scored 38 first-half points and we limit them to three made threes in the second half, and I thought we wore them down. They weren’t nearly as comfortable in the second half.”
Charleston Southern hung around early because of its 3-point shooting. One of the nation’s worst groups from behind the arc last season at 30.7 percent, good for 329th, it was 8-for-15 in the first half with a new-look roster, led by Richmond native Brycen Blaine.
The former L.C. Bird product and James Madison transfer, who joined the Buccaneers in the offseason from Gulf Coast State, had a game-high 22 points and was 6-for-12 from long range. He was the only double-figure scorer in the first half with 16 points behind a 4-for-6 mark from deep.
That changed after the break. Young put it succinctly: Tech stopped going under dribble handoffs in the second half, which took away the Bucs’ 3-point looks, and they were just 3-for-16.
“Just a greater attention to playing the damn thing the way we want to play it,” Young said. “If we went under a handoff in the first half, they stopped behind it and nailed it. That’s what good players do; you can’t do that. We didn’t do that in the second half.”
Offensively, the Hokies were steady for 40 minutes. They shot 46.1 percent for the game after a 44.4 percent mark in the first half and a 47.5 percent clip in the second. They saw an uptick in 3-point shooting, though, from 2-for-13 to 7-for-15 — a product of making some extra passes.
“I was surprised I had zero assists,” Tech guard Jailen Bedford said, “but it didn’t really matter because when I hit somebody, they made the one more, so the assist to the assist, and I really liked the fact that we were moving the ball, making the simple plays, the one more to the easy shot.”
Tech scored 42 points in the paint and dominated on the glass with a 54-41 margin, taking advantage of second-chance opportunities, which led to 25 points. It also capitalized on Charleston Southern’s 15 turnovers and turned them into 21 points.
The Hokies shot out of a cannon in the second half behind treys from Amani Hansberry and Bedford for a quick 8-0 run. Then they continued to pile on and scored 19 straight points, which included triples from Tyler Johnson, Neoklis Avdalas and Jaden Schutt, along with six free throws from Tobi Lawal. At the same time, the Buccaneers missed 14 of their first 15 second-half shots.
What was a four-point margin quickly transformed into a 28-point blowout.
Tech’s frontcourt pairing of Lawal and Hansberry led the way with double-doubles. Lawal finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Hansberry had 19 points and 13 boards in his debut for the maroon and orange.
It marked the first time the program had two guys secure double-doubles with points and rebounds in the same game since Keve Aluma (14 and 12) and Justyn Mutts (14 and 11) did it on Jan. 27, 2021, at Notre Dame.
Hansberry also had the first double-double in a Hokies debut since Grant Basile’s 30-point, 10-board outing vs. Delaware State on Nov. 7, 2022. Moreover, his 13 rebounds were the most in an introduction since Zach LeDay’s 15 on Nov. 14, 2015, vs. Alabama State.
“We put a huge emphasis on [rebounding] during practice,” Hansberry said, “so just seeing it translate to the game is huge. I think we’ll get a lot of open threes off of that as well, but just winning the rebounding battle during the game, you have a high percentage chance of winning, so that’s what it’s all about.”
He and Lawal both improved as the game wore on — particularly Hansberry, who started 0-for-3 from behind the arc but made three of his next six. Charleston Southern had its center in drop coverage, giving the West Virginia transfer plenty of open looks from the top of the key, and it startled him at first. He was fine once he settled down.
Lawal and Hansberry combined for 28 points in the second half — one point shy of the Buccaneers’ team total.
“I think [they’re] a really good one-two punch,” Young said. “I think they complement one another well. They give us some flexibility defensively. They’re both really good rebounders, so I think a very nice combination from our front line.
“I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do: I’m not going to turn down a double-double from both of them night in and night out.”
In the backcourt, Avdalas controlled the game in his first collegiate outing, finishing with eight points, nine assists, three rebounds, two blocks and just one turnover. He’s the third Hokies player with nine-plus assists in a season opener since the program entered the ACC in 2004, joining Jamon Gordon (2004) and Sean Pedulla (2023).
The Greek phenom was only 3-for-13 from the field but excelled as a facilitator, which included a full-court dime to Johnson for a transition layup.
“He’s just so anxious to get going offensively,” Young said of Avdalas. “We need for him to score some, but he’s such a difference-maker with his passing and his play-making, and I thought Hokie fans saw a sample of that tonight. He can really spray the thing around and does some things that are quite remarkable.”
As a team, Tech posted 19 assists to just seven turnovers. Johnson had five dimes while Ben Hammond added three. They each scored nine points, too, while Johnson chipped in six rebounds.
Bedford also had a nice Hokies debut with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting to accompany five boards. The UNLV transfer started alongside Avdalas, Johnson, Lawal and Hansberry — the same five Young rolled out in their public exhibition vs. Duquesne on Oct. 25.
True freshman center Christian Gurdak impressed, too. The four-star prospect from Gonzaga in Washington, D.C., tallied eight points and five rebounds in 15 minutes. He saw some extended playing time with German center Antonio Dorn ineligible for the opener.
All nine Tech players who were on the floor for double-digit minutes scored, including Schutt and Delaware transfer Izaiah Pasha, who had six points apiece.
It’s the fifth time in Young’s seven seasons the Hokies have started 1-0. They’ve got an intriguing test on Saturday vs. Providence at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., in the Hall of Fame Series. It’s a 4 p.m. ET tip on Peacock. The Friars beat Holy Cross 89-79 on Monday.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 98, Charleston Southern 67
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Thoughts from the #Hokies' season-opening 98-67 win over Charleston Southern: pic.twitter.com/sMEUMy0GSS— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) November 4, 2025