Virginia Tech responded from back-to-back defeats by hammering Wake Forest 82-63 on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg.
“The ball is meant to be shared,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “And when people are turning down good shots and giving it to a teammate, who has a great shot — he’s more in rhythm than I am; that’s a good shot, that’s in rhythm and a great shot down here. We had a number of those. Nineteen assists and five turnovers, that says it all and how our team played today.”
When the two teams clashed in Winston-Salem on Jan. 3, the Hokies were without three key players — Tyler Johnson, Tobi Lawal and Antonio Dorn — and turned the ball over 19 times before losing to the Demon Deacons on Nate Calmese’s game-winning 3-pointer.
This time around, Lawal and Dorn played and were impactful, Calmese was a scratch due to injury and Tech (18-10, 7-8 ACC) only had five miscues over 40 minutes. That’s quite a difference from giving it away 13 times in the first 12 minutes, which was the case the first time around at Wake Forest (14-13, 5-9).
“We kicked it 19 times down there, and five in here today,” Young said. “They have altered their ball-screen coverage a little bit, and they do a great job. Coach [Steve] Forbes does a great job with this team. When you come off that ball screen, they really play with high hands, and they had a number of deflections in Winston-Salem, but much better job from our team today.”
The Hokies had an efficient offensive afternoon, shooting 50.8 percent from the field (31-for-61) and racking up 19 assists on 31 made buckets. They took care of the ball, too, and only one of their turnovers came in the first half.
“I just like how the ball moved,” Young said. “I liked how we shared and we took care of it. Such a big deal to not turn it over. You can’t give them more opportunities.”
Six players scored in double figures for Tech, led by 17-point scorers Neoklis Avdalas and Lawal.
Avdalas was quiet in Tuesday’s heartbreaking loss at Miami, dishing out eight assists and corralling five rebounds but only attempting three shots (and making one). Saturday was different.
He looked like himself against the Deacs, playing with an attack-first mentality and knocking down four of his nine 3-point attempts while dishing out seven assists (and not committing a turnover).
“He looked like Neo,” Young said. “He was getting downhill. He had seven assists and zero turnovers. He attacked the rim early in the first half. I think he had another in the second half. His shot selection was very good. He was a big-league player today, and it was good to see, and hope that is a sign of things to come as we move along down the stretch.”
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In the first meeting with Wake Forest, he accounted for seven of the team’s miscues and never found a rhythm. He had difficulty navigating the Demon Deacons’ ball-screen coverages and blitzes in his second ACC contest.
This time around, he made the right decisions, which opened up his teammates.
“I knew what I had to do to start the game,” Avdalas said. “I knew that I had to be more aggressive out of pick-and-roll and not be passive in my passes.”
He found Amani Hansberry three times, including on a one-handed full-court pass in transition that led to a dunk — and extended the second-half lead to 19 and forced a timeout from Steve Forbes.
dimes on dimes ?? pic.twitter.com/ORzbbOve2h
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 21, 2026
Along with assisting 3-pointers from Jailen Bedford and Ben Hammond, he hit Lawal twice, including on a dunk with 24 seconds remaining to cap off the victory.
“It’s not me taking only three shots [at Miami]; I’ve got to help my team win,” Avdalas said. “I’ve got to be aggressive. That’s who I am, and when I’m aggressive, I can do both — score and facilitate. …
“Had some bad games, games where I wasn’t aggressive, but I’m back now. … Had a good performance, and I feel like I grew my confidence more.”
It was senior day for Lawal, who transferred to Virginia Tech from VCU in 2024 and has averaged 12.2 points and 7.7 rebounds over 49 games in maroon and orange.
The London, England, native grabbed nine boards to go with his 17 points on Saturday — and did so with his mother, brother and coach in attendance from the U.K., plus his uncle from Houston.
“It means a lot, man,” Lawal said. “I don’t get to see them a lot, and they don’t get to see me play a lot, so that’s a blessing.”
“He’s been a great representative of our program, he’s been a great representative of Virginia Tech,” Young said of Lawal.
Avdalas and Lawal paced the Hokies, but it was an impactful day across the board. Hansberry had 13 points, three boards and two assists. Hammond posted 12 points, five assists and two steals. Bedford chipped in 10 points, four boards and two dimes. Freshman center Christian Gurdak added 10 points, too, all in the second half on 5-for-5 shooting, plus five rebounds.
Moreover, Tech converted 11 of its 28 looks from behind the arc (39.3%), with four from Avdalas and two makes apiece from Bedford, Hammond and Hansberry. Lawal drained one in the first half as well.
“We played really good, man,” Avdalas said. “We shared the ball, defense was great. We did a great job guarding Juke Harris, who is a great scorer.”
The Hokies also pressured Wake Forest defensively and made life difficult. It rode a three-game winning streak into the weekend after victories over Georgia Tech, Stanford and Clemson, even without its point guard in Calmese, who has not played since Jan. 27 at Pitt. (He had 25 points in the first meeting against Tech.)
Things looked bright to start for the Deacs, who drained their first four triples in Cassell Coliseum, three of which came in the corner in front of the Tech bench. But they went cold after that and only made two of their remaining 26.
“I thought they were really physical on defense,” Forbes said. “Forced us into shots that they were willing to give up. Now, we got some open shots that we’ve got to make on the road, but I thought for the most part, their defense forced us to shoot on their terms.”
Juke Harris led Wake in scoring with 16 points, five shy of his average, and reached that on 7-for-17 shooting, plus five boards. Tre’Von Spillers, who dealt with foul trouble, joined him in double figures with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Cooper Schwieger contributed 10 points, too.
Still, the Hokies limited the Demon Deacons to 37.7 percent shooting (23-for-61) and a 6-for-30 mark from long range (20%). And while the aforementioned trio was 16-for-33 (48.5%), the rest of the team was 7-for-28 (25%). That included two 1-for-7 clips from Myles Colvin and Isaac Carr.
“They’re not as good [without Calmese], and I take nothing away from [Colvin] and [Sebastian] Akins,” Young said. “They’ve figured it out without Calmese, but Calmese is good, and that is disruptive.”
It’s not really a victory that will help Virginia Tech in the metrics, but it can provide some confidence heading into the final three-game stretch. The Hokies have a week off before traveling to Chapel Hill for an 8:30 p.m ET tip next Saturday at No. 16 North Carolina.
“I feel like our confidence should always be high,” Lawal said, “because I feel like we can compete with anyone in this league, but it’s great, everyone’s going to be in high spirits. Let’s just try and keep it rolling.”
Young is also hopeful that Tyler Johnson returns after missing the last 15 games with an injury.
“Tyler Johnson, we’re all geared up,” Young said. “Sat him intentionally in Miami on Tuesday thinking today’s the day, we’ll get him back, and he practiced on Thursday and was good. Rusty, but good. He didn’t reinjure anything. There was a play, he didn’t go down. He went back to the locker room in yesterday’s practice and talked to Hisham [Ziyout] and came back, and he just wasn’t ready.
“Now, we’ve got a week off. I’m not going to speculate. I hope like heck we can get him geared up and ready to go against the Tar Heels. Time will tell. I’m not misleading anyone, that’s as honest as I can be.”
Box Score: Virginia Tech 82, Wake Forest 63
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