Tobi Lawal and Virginia Tech had an extremely efficient Wednesday night vs. Saint Joseph’s. (Jon Fleming)
Virginia Tech sped past Saint Joseph’s 94-59 on Wednesday night in Cassell Coliseum for its third win of the 2025-26 season.
The Hokies (3-0) used a 16-2 run over five-plus minutes early in the first half to pull away from the Hawks (2-1), and their cushion had ballooned to 20 points, 47-27, at intermission.
“Just having each other’s back and trusting the coach’s scout,” said Hokies forward Tyler Johnson on what allowed them to buckle down defensively. “Having a teammate’s back when they talk to you, I feel like that was the main thing. Just locking in on defense, not worrying about it. … The coaches made a big point about getting our hand up early and making them shoot contested shots. … We forced them to the paint, made it hard on them.”
Tech quickly found an offensive rhythm — it was 20-for-39 (51.3%) in the first half — in part because of its defensive intensity. It had nine steals in the first 20 minutes, which created opportunities to get out and run, and it had 14 fastbreak points. Moreover, it only turned it over twice.
It stifled St. Joe’s, which never found a groove. The Hawks finished with 19 turnovers for the game, 12 of which came in the first half, and couldn’t slow Tech down on either end.
“Getting defensive stops, contesting shots, being a little physical,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “… Good work by our staff and getting things in place, and great job from our team at executing. We are getting better. We’ve got a long, long way to go. Great numbers from both ends of the floor.”
It wasn’t as if the Hokies blew the Hawks out of the water for 40 minutes. In fact, their next-biggest run throughout the contest was 10-0 in the second half when things were already decided. (They led by 26 at that point.)
Rather, they slowly chipped away at it after that initial stretch opened the floodgates. They did it in a variety of ways, too, from high-flying dunks in transition — expect Neoklis Avdalas’ alley-oop to Tobi Lawal to find its way to SportsCenter — to baskets off solid ball movement against both man and zone defenses.
we’ll see this on #SCTop10 tonight 😮💨
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/jtZ8seyWpk
— Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 13, 2025
“I wasn’t sure how well this team was going to shoot the ball [in the offseason],” Young said. “I was a bit nervous about it, and I told you there are going to be nights we make 12, I think there’ll be nights we make five. That assessment is changing. We’ve got a number of guys that can shoot it. … I’m bullish on this team’s ability to score.”
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Tech’s willingness to push the pace was fascinating, too. Young is a wizard of an offensive mind known for his exquisite halfcourt sets, but his teams have historically been slow and methodical. Look no further than the 2022 ACC championship team, which ranked 340th out of 358 teams in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted tempo metric at 63.3 possessions per game. That’s near Virginia under Tony Bennett — the Cavaliers were 357th that season at a 59.5 average.
The speed of Young’s teams has varied over the years, but the fastest team of his career was his 2003-04 Wofford bunch that ranked 19th in adjusted tempo at 70.7 possessions per game.
Neoklis Avdalas and Virginia Tech are playing at a record tempo for a Mike Young team. (Jon Fleming)
College basketball is much quicker now than it was two decades ago — the nation’s leader now averages 77.7 possessions per game as opposed to 73.5 from 2003-04 — but through three games, this 2025-26 Hokies team is averaging 72.7 possessions per game, good for 107th in Division I. (It had 74 vs. the Hawks after 78 and 89 last week.)
That would be a career-high pace for a Young-led team. Moreover, it had 21 fastbreak points against St. Joe’s, the second-most of the Young era. The most was 22 back in 2019 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore.
“I’ve always thought it’s the hardest thing in basketball to guard, a team that can really blow it at you,” Young said. “Transition defense is hard. Transitioning from the offensive end to the defensive end, and you’re trying to get matchups. And here’s a guy that can really shoot it, here’s a guy that can put pressure on the rim. I watch others play really good teams and can be a real tough spot, especially after a bad shot and a turnover. Now, those typically end in a dunk or a 3-point field goal on the other end.
“Neo is an exceptional passer. They’re all willing. They’re all confident in one another. I’m going to spray it over there to Tyler Johnson, he’s going to make the right play, and that’s going to continue to get better as we move along.”
As Young alluded to, Tech showed that it has the horses to play like that in its win on Wednesday. Jaden Schutt’s second 3-pointer of the first half was a prime example.
Just six seconds after Deuce Jones II converted a layup for the Hawks, Hokies forward Amani Hansberry had inbounded the ball to Ben Hammond, who took a few dribbles and threw a cross-court pass to a wide-open Schutt, who calmly knocked down a three. In a rare instance of Tech flying down the floor, St. Joe’s was caught off guard.
“I think we’re a more athletic team than Coach Young’s really used to,” Hammond said. “Us playing fast, it’s something we’re good at, and we showed him that, we proved that we can do that. He’s more slow-paced and run a play every possession, but he trusts us now to push the pace, and I love that. … He’s been able to let us play free out there.”
That kind of mindset helped the Hokies set the tone early, led by Hansberry. He paced them with 19 points — his third straight double-figure outing — on 7-for-13 shooting and also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
With Utah Jazz front office representative Carlos Boozer in attendance, Avdalas, Tech’s star freshman, had 14 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two blocks.
The Hokies received production from all over and had six double-figure scorers in total. Schutt (12 points, 5 rebounds), Hammond (11 points, 6 assists, 3 steals), Lawal (11 points, 7 rebounds) and Johnson (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) accompanied Hansberry and Avdalas.
“Don’t want to have him off the floor,” Young said of Johnson. “Everybody has a glue guy. Talk about glue guys in basketball. May not be the best of this, may not be the best of that, but I’ll tell you one thing: he affects winning. His hustle, his toughness, his rebounding, his athleticism at the rim and transition. He’s a good one. I’m thrilled to coach him.”
Tyler Johnson has a knack for making winning plays. (Jon Fleming)
Tech’s point guards impressed with their control over the game as well. Avdalas and Hammond combined for 13 assists to one turnover. Through three games, they’ve got 33 assists to five giveaways, and Avdalas is averaging 7.3 dimes per contest.
“We’ve got guys [with] great vision, great point guards,” Schutt said, “and they’ll be dribbling the ball full head of steam and they’re giving you a look, it’s like cut through, and you just know what to do by the way they look at you. It’s just fun, free-flowing and there are great connectors.”
Young played 11 guys against the Hawks, 10 of whom scored, with true freshman Sin’Cere Jones being the outlier.
Jailen Bedford chipped in eight points, three assists and two rebounds while German center Antonio Dorn scored his first two collegiate baskets and had four points, three boards and an assist on a Bedford triple. Izaiah Pasha and Christian Gurdak each contributed two points, too.
Tech shot 52.1 percent (38-for-73) for the game, including a 40.7 percent clip (11-for-27) from behind the arc. Conversely, it limited Saint Joseph’s to 37.3 percent from the floor (25-for-67) and a mere 5-for-28 (17.9%) from the outside. The Hawks only had two guys reach double figures in Jones (14 points) and Jaiden Glover-Toscano (10).
With the win, the Hokies avenged last year’s 20-point defeat to St. Joe’s at the Palestra. Though it’s nearly a brand new team — only Hammond, Johnson, Lawal and Schutt are back — that didn’t stop the coaching staff from harping on the opportunity at hand for a get-back performance in the preparation leading up to Wednesday’s game.
“That was the main point in our scout,” Johnson said. “Just coming out, we know these dudes beat us last year, and just having that pride in each other and having each other’s back, just not let it happen again.”
Tech is back in Cassell Coliseum on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET to host Charlotte (2-1), who fell to Davidson on Tuesday.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 94, Saint Joseph’s 59
Thoughts from #Hokies’ 94-59 rout of Saint Joseph’s: pic.twitter.com/hnLLSNq5V4
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) November 13, 2025
