CHARLOTTESVILLE — The pending epitaph for the Heartbreak Hokies’ 2025-26 season might not need to be any longer than one word: Almost.
Virginia Tech dropped its regular-season finale to No. 13 Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday, falling 76-72 on a day when it trailed by as many as 17 and worked feverishly to tie things up in the second half but ultimately never led.
It’s the latest close-but-no-cigar result for the Hokies (19-12, 8-10 ACC), whose shot at making the NCAA Tournament looks like it’ll have to involve another miracle run through the ACC Tournament, which takes place next week in Charlotte.
It left head coach Mike Young frustrated afterward, perhaps revisiting the letdowns that have the Hokies on the outside looking in at the Big Dance while running through the plays that led to another tight loss Saturday — a missed Tyler Johnson dunk that would have tied things, a critical pair of missed free throws by Ben Hammond in the final minutes and two 3-pointers from UVa big man Ugonna Onyenso, who’d made five in his career.
“C’mon,” Young said to the assembled media, perseverating on that last one. “What the f--- am I doing wrong?”
Virginia Tech goes into the ACC Tournament as the No. 12 seed and will face No. 13 seed Wake Forest on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in the first round at the Spectrum Center.
Any extended Hokies run in the tournament would take them through Clemson, North Carolina and (gulp) Duke, so winning it might not be necessary to get an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Tech sits among the first four teams out in a number of bracket projections, including the most recent by Joe Lunardi on ESPN.com heading into Saturday.
Still, Young bluntly assessed what the UVa loss did to the Hokies’ chances after they fell to 2-10 in Quad 1 games.
“Well, I mean, it doesn’t help us,” he deadpanned.
Virginia (27-4, 15-3), which goes into next week’s ACC Tournament as the No. 2 seed after avenging a 95-85 triple-overtime loss to the Hokies in Blacksburg on New Year’s Eve, finished the campaign with a 16-1 record at home.
It got there after holding on against a furious second-half rally by the Hokies, who trailed by 16 at halftime. Tech hit six 3-pointers after the break, turned the ball over just once and capitalized off UVa miscues, outscoring the Cavaliers 12-2 off turnovers to pull close.
Neoklis Avdalas hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 51 with 10:56 to play, capping a 26-10 run for the Hokies to open the half.
“We played the game the right way,” Young said of the turnaround.
They could never quite get over the hump, though. UVa, which had balanced scoring with four players in double figures, answered with eight straight points, starting with an alley-oop to Onyenso and finishing with two straight baskets, including a dunk, from Malik Thomas. Both players paced the Cavaliers with 16 points.
The Hokies hung around, getting within 65-61 on a jumper by Jailen Bedford with 3:26 to play. Hammond stripped UVa big man Thijs De Ridder at the other end and got fouled on a fastbreak, setting up two free throws with 2:09 remaining.
A nearly 90 percent free-throw shooter on the season, Hammond missed the first, bringing the Cavaliers faithful to a roar. A second straight miss would mean free bacon for those in attendance.
Hammond bricked the second, too.
“Playing a lot of minutes in the game, I could get fatigued,” Hammond said. “I feel like I bought into that. Go back to the drawing board and practice those, for sure.”
Making matters worse, UVa came down and swung the ball to Onyenso. Tech wanted him to shoot. The 7-foot transfer from Kentucky and Kansas State hadn’t made a 3-pointer in college before this season and was just 5-for-27 (18.5%) from long range all year, with only three of those makes coming in ACC play.
Given an open look with 1:47 remaining, though, he drained it, pushing the lead back to seven and fueling Young’s post-game disbelief.
“C’mon, man, give me a break,” Young said. “Really? ... And I take nothing from 33. He’s a heck of a basketball player. I commend him on his toughness to step up and make that shot, and he looked like he knew what he was doing.”
“A guy that we play off of, a guy that hasn’t hit any threes all season, to hit that big shot, it was definitely demoralizing,” Hammond said. “But I guess it happens.”
A Bedford 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the game gave the Hokies a slight bit of hope, pulling them within 75-72, but UVa’s Devin Tillis made one of two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining to seal it.
Hammond led the Hokies with 21 points, with Bedford and Amari Hansberry, who left the game late and had his knee wrapped, both adding 12. (Young didn’t have an update on Hansberry’s status afterward.)
Tech finished just 8-for-32 from long range, sunk by an ice-cold 2-for-14 first half from beyond the arc. Jaden Schutt and Avdalas combined in the game to go 0-for-11 from outside. Hammond was 1-for-6.
Young commended the Cavaliers’ defense, which forced nine first-half turnovers and turned them into 12 points.
“I thought our composure was lacking,” Young said. “Ball-handling was choppy. We had a couple of really sloppy basketball plays, a couple of really bad shots and, in turn, it affects our defense on the other end.”
UVa came out hot, scoring the game’s first nine points and building a 22-5 lead after making five of their first eight 3-point attempts. Hammond willed the Hokies back into things before the break, but a torrid 12-2 closing run to the half by the Cavaliers sent them into the locker room with a 41-25 lead.
The loss was Virginia Tech’s fifth by four points or less in ACC play, with four of them being Quadrant 1 opportunities on the road — at Wake Forest (81-78), SMU (77-76), Miami (67-66) and UVa (76-72).
They’ll likely need some ACC Tournament magic a lot like 2022 to get back to the Big Dance — an extreme long shot, considering a path that includes No. 1 Duke — though Young’s message remains the same.
“We know we’re going to play Tuesday. Win a game,” he said. “Can’t look out here. Win a game. Let’s get settled in, play a good ballgame Tuesday and see what happens.”
Box Score: No. 13 Virginia 76, Virginia Tech 72