BLACKSBURG - Expectedly, the Hokies overpowered the Vermont Catamounts Saturday afternoon. By no means was Saturday as efficient as it could have been. After all, the Hokies barely scraped by Vermont, edging them 37-34 in the second half. Yet, another stellar showing by Lynn Kidd and a continued improvement from UNC transfer Tyler Nickel was enough to secure their 8th win on the year.
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It was a first half of dreams for Hokie faithful: per usual the Hokies were shaky out the gates but when they found their footing, they were moving with an electric pace that the Catamounts could not keep up with.
A common complaining point for head coach Mike Young is the Hokies recent high numbers of first-half turnovers. Saturday night proved to be different for the Hokies as they were able to limit their giveaways to just five during the first 20.
The aforementioned Lynn Kidd, Tyler Nickel combo looks to be growing into one that could allow the Hokies to not be so reliant on option A (Hunter Cattoor) and last year's option B (Grant Basile, now plying his trade in Europe). Saturday marked Kidd's third double-double of the season and Nickel's sixth double-digit scoring night of his short Hokies tenure. While Nickel's shooting splits are not always glamorous his steady uptick in numbers (although against lower competition) is bound to give him a much-needed confidence boost.
It was another steady night for Hokie freshmen. Both Jaydon Young and Brandon Rechsteiner are fitting into their newfound roles quite nicely. For Rechsteiner, his pace and vision grow game in and game out, while for Young he once again showed his knockdown ability clipping 2/3 from beyond the arc and 50% from the field on the night.
Saturday was another example of excellent Hokies defense as they held their fourth opponent to under 60 points, while also snagging 17 points off turnovers. Their numbers didn't only show up in the turnover stat, as just one Catamount eclipsed 10 points with Nick Fiorillo leading all Vermont players with 15 on the night.
Star player of the night goes to Lynn Kidd who is emerging as possibly the most vital option on both sides of the ball. Kidd once again neared the 20-point tally (17) and led all on the night with 7 defensive rebounds, earning his double-double by snagging four on the offensive end, as well.
For the Hokies, their homestand comes to an end Thursday as American U ventures down south to take on the hot Hokies at 5 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum.
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