Virginia Tech lost its second consecutive game as it was handled by VCU 86-68 on Friday morning to wrap up Battle 4 Atlantis.
"They played better than we did and that falls on my shoulders," Tech head coach Mike Young said. "We'll get it corrected."
The Hokies (6-2) were without forward Tobi Lawal (foot) for the second straight game and couldn't slow down a red-hot Rams (5-3) squad that shot 52.6 percent from the field (30-for-57) and 52.4 percent from 3-point range (11-for-21).
"We had a couple of things on and they get shots down at the end of the buzzer, I think they had three of those in the first half and two of them in the second half," Young said of Tech's defense. "That's the game, you've got to respond better than we did to unfortunate things."
Tech fell behind early and spotted VCU a 10-2 lead before the first media timeout, forcing Young to call his group together and reset. The Hokies eventually picked up the pace late in the first half and, trailing 25-15, ripped off a 12-0 run to snatch back the lead.
Jaden Schutt was at the center of that push. The redshirt junior scored four straight baskets for Tech and knocked down three treys over three minutes to spark things. Forward Amani Hansberry and guard Neoklis Avdalas got layups to fall, and after VCU turned it over, Ben Hammond found Hansberry in transition for a dunk that put the Hokies up 27-25 and forced the Rams to call timeout.
VCU came out of the stoppage with its hair on fire, too. It responded with a 10-0 spurt of its own and put Tech on its heels at halftime with a 45-35 lead. It was the second straight day the Hokies trailed by double digits at the break.
"We had a hard time guarding the ball in the first half," Young said. "I thought we did a much better job of guarding the ball in the second half. Just straight-line drives, and you cannot do that. You've got to be able to guard your yard ... and that was an issue for us in the first half, and it was across the board, it wasn't one person."
The Rams pushed the lead to as many as 20 points after Terrance Hill Jr.'s 3-pointer at the 16:20 mark, but Tech slowly chipped away at the deficit. Beginning with an Avdalas three and featuring seven free throws, it used a 14-2 run over four minutes to pull within seven, 65-58, with nine minutes remaining.
It seemed like the Hokies might have a chance to turn the tide, especially when they got the deficit down to six, but two more triples from Hill shut the door.
"Just that we had to get back to being us," said Rams head coach Phil Martelli Jr. on his message at the under-eight timeout. "We kind of let the game slip a little bit, we got a little loose on both ends of the floor, we were a step behind on some of their actions and caused us to foul too much. We just had to get back to being us, go one play at a time and just make the right plays."
A 72-65 lead for VCU with six minutes remaining, it outscored Tech 14-3 the rest of the way, and the Hokies' last field goal was via Tyler Johnson at the 4:39 mark. They missed their final six shots as the Rams put the game to bed.
It was the second day in a row Tech allowed its opponent to shoot above 50 percent after Saint Mary's made a 51.9 percent (28-for-54) clip in Thursday's win.
"VCU is not a great shooting team, but they stepped to the plate and got them home today in fine fashion," Young said.
Though the Hokies were a bit better offensively this time around â 44.4 percent (24-for-54) as opposed to 30.9 percent (21-for-68) against the Gaels â they couldn't hang with the Rams.
"Our ball moved well," Young said. "They jacked us up on a couple of actions, but I thought we did not convert when we had great opportunities, opportunities that this team has gotten down. But VCU certainly was disruptive in some areas also."
Tech also had its most turnovers on the season with 13 against a VCU team that shows some different pressure looks. Hammond and Hansberry had four apiece. It's still the fifth-best team in the country in turnover rate at 12.3 percent, per Ken Pomeroy.
"I thought it was uncharacteristic," Young said of the turnovers. "We talked about it last night and this morning in our lead-up and our preparation, the frenetic pace from VCU and all over the place, you can't let it disrupt how you want to play offensively in terms of how fast. You can't let it speed you up, and it did that. We had seven in the first half. We allowed some of that to happen."
Hill paced the Rams with 21 points off the bench while Barry Evans dropped 17, Jadrian Tracey posted 13 and Lazar Djokovic added 11. On the other side, Schutt had 15 for Tech while Hansberry and Johnson posted 16 each.
It was the first meeting between the Hokies and Rams since 2013 and the 22nd overall, a series VCU now leads 12-10. Tech's lost three in a row, which included a 30-point setback under James Johnson and a five-point defeat in 1995.
The Hokies are back in action on Tuesday in Columbia, S.C., when they face South Carolina (4-2) in the ACC SEC Challenge at 7 p.m. ET (SECN). It's the third straight year they've met the Gamecocks, who won 79-77 in Charlotte in 2023 and 70-60 in Fort Myers last season.
Box Score: VCU 86, Virginia Tech 68