Hokies don't have to leave neutral, blow out Coppin State
It was unlikely that Virginia Tech would get much of a game from Coppin State. Ultimately, the Hokies didn't. They managed triple digits against a team in a major transition year.
Aside from a back-and-forth stretch midway through the second half, the Eagles rarely looked like they belonged in the same gym as the Orange and Maroon. With 15 points and 10 assists from guard Sean Pedulla, Virginia Tech managed a 100-55 victory to open the 2023-24 season in style. They were the nightcap to a game that was eerily similar in the matinee: Kenny Brooks's Hokie women beat High Point 94-55 in the first half of the doubleheader.
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Coppin started three freshmen and a newly-arrived transfer, with fifth-year senior Justin Winston the only returning contributor to make the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, the Hokies' lineup was mostly reminiscent of last year's best group: while Justyn Mutts and Grant Basile have moved on to professional basketball in Japan and Europe, respectively, center Lynn Kidd stepped into Basile's shoes to start at center, while Northwestern transfer Robbie Beran was a stretch-four in the opening lineup.
Beran scored two points in his Hokie debut on 1/4 shooting. Fellow transfers Tyler Nickel (North Carolina) and Mekhi Long (Old Dominion) scored 12 and 6 points, respectively. Freshman newcomers Brandon Rechsteiner and Jaydon Young got plenty of time, scoring their first points in an official game for VT - with Rechsteiner breaking the seal on back-to-back sequences in the first half involving a fast-break finish and a long-range three. He finished with 12 points while Young had eight - just one made basket away from joining five of his teammates as double-digit scorers.
The Hokies built a 20-point lead with 7:41 to play in the first half, and the lead never shrunk any smaller than that margin. It was a necessary but not sufficient performance to say that last year's slump is in the rearview mirror for this squad.
Mike Young's program will have its first chance to truly make a statement on the season with a Friday matchup against South Carolina. The game tips at a neutral site in Charlotte, N.C. at 9:30 p.m.
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