It’s been a dozen years since Virginia Tech played VCU.
They will now meet in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas on Friday morning.
The teams find themselves in the consolation game after falling by double digits in second-round games on Thanksgiving Day.
After VCU lost 89–74 to No. 24 Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech dropped a 77–66 decision to Saint Mary’s in a battle of undefeated teams.
The loss was also the same. The Rams (4-3) led for just 18 seconds, while the Hokies (6-1) suffered wire-to-wire losses after losing the first eight points of the game.
Virginia Tech was hurt by the loss of last year’s leading scorer and rebounder Toby LaValle, who played 15 minutes in the Hokies’ 66–64 victory over Colorado State in the tournament opener.
On Thursday, Lawal was sidelined and in a walking boot. Coach Mike Young said that Lawal would likely miss the VCU game and that his absence would be “precautionary”.
The Hokies struggled to shoot from the floor without an overhead inside threat, making only 30.9% of their shots against Saint Mary’s.
Jaylen Bedford, who made 7 of 9 field-goal attempts on Wednesday, missed all 10 of his attempts against the Gaels. Amani Hansberry (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaden Schutt (17 points) stood out Thursday for Virginia Tech, which scored just 20 points in the first half.
“We couldn’t get the ball rolling offensively in the first half and that’s disappointing,” Young said. “We’ll go back and look at it and analyze it.”
VCU has had an uneven start under first-year coach Phil Martelli Jr., who is still trying to figure out the Rams’ rotation. Eleven players averaged at least 12.0 minutes per game.
“We’ve created a certain path where I can go from 1 to 13 right now, where whoever I’m putting in the game, I feel very confident in all of them,” Martelli said.
Charleston transfer Lazar Djokovic (12.1 points per game) gives the Rams size at 6-foot-11.
VCU’s balanced attack features a backcourt trio of Oregon transfer Jadrian Tracy (12.1 ppg), Nike Lewis (11 ppg) and Terrence Hill Jr. (10.7 ppg).
–Field Level Media
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