Virginia Tech Hammered by Dayton 89-62

Virginia Tech
It wasn’t a good night for Virginia Tech in Maui. (Glen Pascual)

A day after upsetting No. 3 Michigan State, Virginia Tech was blown out by Dayton 89-62 in the Maui Invitational.  The Flyers also smoked Georgia 80-61 on Monday.  The Hokies dropped to 6-1 on the season, while Dayton improved to a perfect 5-0.

The Hokies took the first lead of the game 2-0 on a Wabissa Bede layup, but that turned out to be their only lead of the game.  They played with the Flyers for most of the first half before a late 17-3 run buried them, giving Dayton a 49-31 halftime lead.  A late second half run by Dayton turned a low double-digits game into a rout as Tech lost focus on defense and watched a dunk fest.

“We tip our cap to a really good Dayton team, exceptionally well-coached Dayton team,” Mike Young said after the game. “They took us behind the shed and whipped our hind end. And Coach Grant is — they’re going to have a really good year — so are we — they got the better of us today, we’ll live to see another day, and [we’re] excited about coming back over tomorrow and representing Virginia Tech.”

Landers Nolley led the Hokies with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, though he got into foul trouble early, sometimes forced shots and only played 24 minutes.  Hunter Cattoor was the only other Tech player in double figures with 12. Cattoor was 4-of-6 from three-point range, while the rest of the Hokies were 4-of-15.

The Hokies were outrebounded by a much bigger and more aggressive Dayton team 38-21.  They were outscored 11-0 in second chance points and 48-24 in the paint.  Not that the Flyers were limited to scoring from the inside; they were also 11-of-24 (45.8%) from three-point range.

“We just came out with bad energy, I kind of felt it from like the layup line our energy was kind of low, we weren’t as upbeat as yesterday,” Wabissa Bede said. “We knew how good they were, and we knew they were a great team and they came out with fight from the first media timeout. You could tell the energy was high, the fans were in it, it was like a home game for them and all, congrats to them.”

Virginia Tech returns to action on Wednesday night against BYU, 71-56 losers to Kansas.  Tipoff is scheduled for 11:30pm Eastern time.  According to the Maui Invitational website, the game will be broadcast by ESPN2.

Box Score

Game Notes From Virginia Tech

Record and Notables

  • Virginia Tech falls to 6-1 after the loss to Dayton, and remain 1-0 in ACC play.
  • 6-1 matches the record of the 2018-19 team, which started 6-1 as well. The 2018-2019 team went 14-1 through the start of the season.
  • Tech is now 4-1 in preseason tournament games over the last two seasons. The Hokies went 3-0 and won the Charleston Classic in 2018-19.
  • Virginia Tech leads the all-time series versus Dayton with eight wins to the Flyers’ six. The two programs’ first-ever meeting was in 1959, and the Flyers won 77-59. The two teams last met in 2000 in Blacksburg, where Tech won 64-52.
  • UP NEXT: The Hokies will face the loser of Kansas/BYU in the third-place game at 11:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Team Notes

  • Virginia Tech used the starting lineup of Wabissa Bede, Tyrece Radford, P.J. Horne, Landers Nolley II, and Nahiem Alleyne. This is the fifth straight game the Hokies have started these five out of the gate.
  • KEY FIRST HALF RUN: It was back and forth action through the start of the first half. Tech trailed 29-23 with just under eight minutes to go in the first half when forward Landers Nolley hit a triple, and redshirt freshman Tyrece Radford made a layup under the basket to cut the lead to 32-28. Dayton closed out half one on a 17 -3 run to enter the break leading 49-31. Tech only led at 5-2 early on in the first.
  • KEY SECOND HALF RUN: Seeking a comeback early in the second, freshman Hunter Cattoor nailed a much-needed 3-pointer followed by back-to-back layups from guard Nahiem Alleyne. Tech would continue to cut into the deficit making the score 55-41 early in the second. The Flyers offense was too much, though, never letting the Hokies within single digits on its way to a 89-62 victory.
  • Landers Nolley had a team-high 15 points and led Tech in scoring for the fifth game this season out of seven outings.
  • The Hokies had 19 points off the bench, including 12 points from Cattoor. 

Individual Notes

  • Landers Nolley hit three triples against Dayton. The forward has now hit 16 3s over his last four games and seven in the Maui.
  • PJ Horne posted a season-high two blocks and tied a season-high in steals with one against.
  • Wabissa Bede tallied six assists against Dayton. Bede now has 51 assists this season and 20 over his last three games. Defensively, Bede had three steals, tying his season high.
  • Hunter Cattoor had four 3s against Dayton, which is his season high. Cattoor scored 12 points, which is his third double-digit scoring performance in the last four games.

 

21 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. I think we’d be better off starting Ojiako and letting him play 20-25 minutes a game. We need length in the middle. Defensively it’s the move to make. He’ll improve with time. I’ve not seen Branden Johnson play, but it seems to me at 6’8”, we need his presence as well. Like it or not, size matters. They may not be Blackshear, but without them, teams are going to play to play away from the basket and take away the three, and continue to crush us every game on the boards, which is demoralizing.

  2. agree with most other posts below to a high degree.
    also, we seemed to have tired legs and arms by end of 1st half. of course daytowun had same 1 day interval to recover from their previous game.
    the undefeated monkey has now left the season: reality strikes at least once a season.

    i am so proud and [Happy] Thank[sgiving]ful for our team and coaches. we are a positive work in growth, talent, strategy, and athleticism. future years look brighter for very obvious reasons. but this season has just begun and there’s a lot of fun to be had by this team and the Hokies who come to Cassell. wish ‘burg was closer to 757, or/and they played a team in these parts each season:: then i could be more ‘presently’ involved in making some noise at our home (and a local) games.

    Go Hokies!

  3. As we have discussed at great length on this site there’s no substitute for experience in sports, the football teams defense is a perfect example. Last night it was our kids playing 8 extremely experienced men. Add to that their size able advantage inside and you get the result we all saw last night. I really like this team Give them some time and some complimentary pieces i.e. More post players and we will be Dayton in the not too distant future.

  4. Not surprised. I think Dayton is the best team in the tournament better than MSU and will beat Kansas today. They are a top 10 team. The better team won however I really like the coaching and future of Virginia Tech Basketball! Go Hokies!

  5. Considering the inexperience of our team, nights like last night will happen throughout this season, especially when we start playing ACC teams in the last 2+ months of the season. Dayton exposed our weaknesses. It’s now up to Mike Young and his staff to make some changes that other teams haven’t seen. I believe that CMY is smart enough to do it. I’m disappointed but not surprised by last night’s result. Before the season began, I felt like Tech would surprise a few top 25 teams this season. I still think they’ll finish anywhere between #7-10 in the ACC and will have a good chance at the NIT. I see us going something like 8-12 in the ACC and 17-14 overall.

    I just think that our lack of experience and youth will catch up to us by February. Our lack of size hurts us too, but we all knew these three things before the season began. What I’ve learned after 7 games is that our team’s defense is much better than I thought it would be (except for the last night’s game and we even played good defense at times) and that we’ll live and die with the 3-point shot. Plus, we have a heck of a head basketball coach and staff.

  6. Not only was Dayton broader and bigger, they were quick enough to keep hands in the faces of most 3s we took. I was most impressed by their defense. That was a pressure Duke defense of old. They were also hitting shots from outside with regularity usually seen by the boys in maroon and orange so far this yr. The personal 9-0 run by Obi took the wind out of my sails. I’m sure the energy expended on Monday night had a little to do with it but the way UD played, even if we hit 60% from deep like Monday, we weren’t going to win that game.

  7. Good lesson having to compete against another tall team with 24 hours rest. I think Dayton was much bigger, more experienced and physical. Tech had speed, but they got jammed inside and defended well outside. I still think Tech is capable of beating big teams, this was a good lesson to have and some film to study. HOKIES will be OK this and they will be even better next year.

  8. We’ll get there. Keep the faith. This is part of the journey as well. Keep it up guys. Hokie nation is behind you!!!

  9. Dayton is a very good team and I think the better team won. Dayton has “no class” with their constant waving and parading around the gym after scoring numerous times. They need to work on sportsmanship big time and on the floor at least show they are worthy of their basketball skills.

    1. By raising up their arms and pumping up the team and their fans? You must really hate when a player plays the air guitar after a made basket. Being offended should come much more difficult than that.

      1. Gotta agree with Rockie. Fans giving throat slashing gesture ( just happened to be coached sons) Not a good look. Like excessive celebrations in the end zone – have some class and act like you’re been there before. Hope KU waxes them

    2. I see your point. My thought was that “wow betting VT is a big deal to them”. That’s nice to see we are held in that regard.

    3. Yea that bothered me a little bit and I couldn’t tell if I was being over sensitive … I don’t think it was personal. I think we were watching their fans and team begin to appreciate in real time that they will have a special season. But at least as far as their players, it started to feel like a bunch of veterans behaving like bullies, and not in a good way on the court.

  10. Hokies were making a move at 55-41 and still showing a lot of fight when Nolley hit another 3 while Cattoor was being fouled. For some reason they took the shot off the board even though he was in the act of shooting when Cattoor was fouled. That long review and reversal seemed to take the wind out of our sails and they just extended the lead from there. I’m not surprised they were a little flat though after such a big upset.
    I tell you though I certainly won’t root for Dayton again. They acted so classless, waving their arms around, dancing after every shot. You’d think they just made it to the sweet 16. I’m all for kids having fun playing the game, but man, that just seemed way over the top and very unsportsmanlike.

    1. They ruled the off-ball
      foul happened before the shot. But I agree that seemed to deflate us. We were within 11 and then we were down 17.

  11. Seems like the ride is gonna be a lot more fun than we may have thought in the wake of all the departures. I liked the CMY hire from the start, even before he managed to convince all these guys to either stay or come to Tech, and nothing I’ve seen since is giving me second thoughts. This loss was probably at least as valuable as the MSU win in terms of preparing to play in the ACC sandbox.

  12. Welp, time to fire MY, I’m sure Whitcock has some names in his back pocket…

    …being facetious obviously, this entire year is his honeymoon year, so sit back and relax and enjoy the development, remember that thing about getting too high or too low, last two days are a perfect example. I honestly don’t think that’s a problem here, maybe too high on the MSU win, but most understand the issues with losing yesterday, heck MY had pointed them out previous to the game. I’m just going to stick w/my pre-season expectations, it’d be nice to go .500.

  13. I thought the difference against Michigan State was our speed and ball movement. They were a step slower last night, and ball movement was limited by the Dayton defense, which is really good. This was a great learning experience for them, that CMY will use to prepare for ACC opponents. You have to fall to be able to get up, and I expect there will be several of these falls this year. Overall, I’m still really impressed with the team.

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