Hokies' sluggish offense forgotten as defense excels
BLACKSBURG - Wednesday night was anything but a barn burner. Woeful offense from both the Hokies and the Campbell Camels, meant that defense was gonna have to show out, thankfully Virginia Tech's defense suffocated the Camels in what would turn out to be a 60-44 win for the Blacksburg side.
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Neither side opted to carry the offensive weight through the early going, as it took till the 15:26 mark for the combined score of the night to reach 10 (Hokies were up 8-2).
While a slow Hokie start is not atypical, it is a cause for concern when going up against Big South competition.
While the first half lacked offensive highlights of any kind, the Hokies were able to keep the Camels at arm's reach, as by the end of the first 20, Campbell had more minutes played than points (16). The faults were not all on them, Mike Young's side had multiple scoring droughts including a nearly five-minute scoreless streak in the middle of the first.
heading into the half, the Hokies had a slim ten-point advantage, and the Hokies shot a bleak 35.7% from the field. That would be better than the North Carolina-based squad who was only converting 19% of their field goals with only four total shots made.
To say the second half was one that got more lively would not tell the whole truth. Virginia Tech did up their field percentage by 4.3% and they also scored six more points than the half previous, yet the game overall still looked stale.
I quickly drew comparisons to the Hokies matchup vs the Charleston Southern Buccaneers that took place nearly a year ago Wednesday night. That was a game that left every Hokie fan with a bad taste in their mouth, as the Maroon and Orange just scraped by the Bucs in a 69-64 dogfight. Sure, the Hokies lead never fell lower than eight against the Camels. Yet, there was an eerie feeling that the smallest of runs could flip the tide on a very shaky Hokie performance.
Thankfully, a strong Hunter Cattoor second half of nine points and a superb 24 points for Lynn Kidd was enough to push the Hokies somewhat comfortably over the edge. While there are positives in the aforementioned Lynn Kidd dominance and remarkable defense, most will be disappointed primarily due to the lack of offensive prowess on either side of the half.
Up next is a bit of an odd homecoming for Mike Young as his former side the Wofford Terriers, will travel to Cassell to take on the Hokies. This will be the first time Young has come against the Wofford since his 2019 departure, and the first time these two sides have met since 2002. Hokies take on the Terriers, Sunday at 5 pm.
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