Virginia Tech comfortably beat Notre Dame 89-76 on Saturday afternoon in Cassell Coliseum.
It was the first time in over a month — since Dec. 14 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore — that a Hokies (14-5, 3-3 ACC) game didn’t come down to the final possession. After playing so many close ones recently, beating the Fighting Irish (10-8, 1-4) by double digits — and leading for 37:30 — was a change of pace.
“It was a breath of fresh air to come away with a win like that,” Tech guard Jailen Bedford said. “We slowed down at times, but we were able to pick it back up towards the end and get the dub that we needed.”
Tech bounced back from Wednesday’s loss at the buzzer to SMU by shooting 50.9 percent overall, converting 28 of its 32 foul shots and outrebounding Notre Dame 32-30. The late-night trip back from Dallas was more complicated than anticipated, though, as the weather in Blacksburg forced the team to land at Roanoke at 3:45 a.m. Head coach Mike Young didn’t arrive home until 5 a.m. ET.
As a result, the Hokies got their legs back under them on Thursday before spending all day Friday preparing for the Irish. It didn’t show up in the box score, but Young was pleased with how his group responded to the disappointment in Moody Coliseum by locking in and turning the page to Saturday’s matinee against Notre Dame.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Young said. “… For my team, our team, to respond and play as hard as they did from the start is just another testament to who they are as people and the team that we’re becoming. I’m quite pleased with a lot of it. We could’ve moped around, we could’ve been sluggish to start, but played a good ball game, going in at the half up 11 … and closed it out in the second in pretty good fashion.”
Tech’s focus showed up on the defensive end, where it shut down the Irish’s leading scorer, Jalen Haralson, to eight points on 4-for-6 shooting with three turnovers. He also dealt with foul trouble and only played 21 minutes, but he wasn’t very impactful when on the floor, despite entering the day averaging 15 points per game.
“I give credit to our defense, our mindset, our aggressiveness,” Bedford said. “Just taking pride in the scout. That was big. I came out there and I wanted to set a tone that we’re going to lock up each dude and get the job done.”
Due to injuries, particularly All-ACC guard Markus Burton, Notre Dame is undersized. However, it plays through Carson Towt, its 6-foot-8, 250-pound post player who averages 10.8 rebounds per game. The Hokies also got him in foul trouble, and he had just two points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.
Moreover, Tech kept point guard Braeden Shrewsberry quiet. The son of head coach Micah Shrewsberry, he was just 3-for-10 for six points in 34 minutes.
Throw in the fact that the Hokies outrebounded the Irish 32-30 — a point of emphasis entering the game given Notre Dame’s efficiency on the glass despite lacking size — and it was a well-rounded effort.
“In league play through four games, they’re plus seven,” Young said of the Irish. “They outrebounded Clemson; Clemson’s bigger than they are and a good rebounding team. They outrebounded Miami, who’s fierce on the glass, so that was a real concern. I thought our team did a really nice job. When you’ve got Lawal and Hansberry and those guys are grabbing 17, 18, 19 a night, it certainly helps your cause.”
Most impressive, though, was Tech’s 3-point defense. It’s been a theme all season, and Notre Dame was another culprit. The Irish, who are 36.2 percent from deep on the year, good for No. 60 in Division I, were just 6-for-24 in Blacksburg. Cole Certa, Brady Koehler and Sir Mohammed each drilled two.
“Just our versatility on the perimeter,” Bedford said. “Not allowing guys to make shots, or just take easy shots. We really take pride on just the stick hand and coming out aggressive, but not allowing them to blow by us.”
It’s the 17th time in 19 games this season the Hokies have held an opponent to 40 percent or below from long range, with VCU (11-for-21, 52.4%) and Western Carolina (8-for-20, 40%) being the two outliers.
Eight of their 19 opponents ranked in the top 100 in 3-point shooting. Those squads shot a combined 56-for-191 (29.3%) against Tech, which has limited teams to just 28.8 percent (139-for-483) from three this season. According to Ken Pomeroy, that mark ranks ninth in the nation — and would be the best-ever number for a Young-coached team.
“That has become a real sticking point for our team,” Young said. “Teams make twos, that hurts, but teams that make threes on you, that’s killer. You’ve got to guard the arc, playing without fouling. We did yet again.”
The Hokies were also good offensively against the Irish, led by Tobi Lawal and Amani Hansberry, both of whom frequented the foul line.
In his fourth game back from injury, Lawal posted a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double, making four of his six shots and 14 of his 18 free throws. Hansberry added 21 points — on 6-for-9 shooting, plus a 9-for-9 mark from the stripe — to accompany six boards, two assists and three steals.
“I thought he was good in his first game back,” Young said of Lawal. “I thought he was a little bit better in his second game back. Thought he looked a lot more like himself on Wednesday in Dallas. That’s him, and that rebounding and that gravity at the rim with his athleticism is a big deal. He’s back and he’s playing good basketball.”
That tandem combined to draw 15 of Notre Dame’s 20 fouls, too — 10 for Lawal, five for Hansberry.
“They dominated the paint,” Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “It’s a big part of it. We’re playing small so we have to run around and scramble and trap, and I thought in our ball screen coverage, they just kept attacking us in the paint. And then 32 free throws, that’s a big deal. Lawal shot 18. I know we fouled him some at the end, but he shoots 18 free throws, Hansberry shoots nine, that’s more than our whole team [21].”
“I was just listening to what Coach [Young] told us to do, I won’t lie,” Lawal said. “He told me and Amani especially to be ultra aggressive, so that’s what we went out there and did.”
Tech’s ball movement was efficient, leading to seven treys on 20 attempts, though it had 12 assists to 12 turnovers. The majority of those came from Neoklis Avdalas, who finished with eight points (two made threes) and seven assists to five giveaways. Ben Hammond also chipped in 16 points and drilled three triples.
Jaden Schutt was quiet from the outside, going 0-for-2 and not making a 3-pointer for the first time this season, but Bedford, his partner in crime on the wing, was good once again. After shooting 32 percent from the field, 21 percent from three and averaging 4.6 points in December, Bedford’s up to 41 percent overall, 34 percent from the outside and is averaging 16.2 points in January.
In his home state on Wednesday, the Austin, Texas, native racked up 22 points and seven rebounds. Back in Cassell Coliseum on Saturday, Bedford posted 14 points and four boards.
“Just my groove,” Bedford said on what he’s found lately. “Just trying to stay consistent. I listen to my mentors, my coaches; they believe in me, so I’m just going to do what I can on the floor. Just being aggressive. It starts defensively; the offense is going to come later. I’m just going to do whatever I can do to help my team win.”
Virginia Tech jumped out to an early 18-9 lead through the first 6:30, forcing a Notre Dame timeout. The Irish responded with a 9-2 run to cut the margin to two, but the Hokies pulled away with 10 straight points, which featured 3-pointers from Hammond and Avdalas. At halftime, Tech led 45-34.
Notre Dame didn’t roll over, but it was a comfortable double-digit margin for the Hokies in the second half, as the Irish never pulled closer than nine. Their biggest cushion of the day was 20 points, which came on the heels of a 10-0 run that was sparked by a Hansberry three-point play, an Avdalas three and four points from Lawal.
The Irish picked up some steam in the final few minutes and tried to make a run, but Tech capped things off with a Bedford dunk with 81 seconds left.
It was a much-needed bounce-back effort for the Hokies, who have their next two on the road at Syracuse and No. 20 Louisville. They’re both Quadrant 1 opportunities, though the Orange lost at Boston College in overtime on Saturday (81-73).
Box Score: Virginia Tech 89, Notre Dame 76