Texas Basketball: What to expect from Virginia Tech

An opportunity to drive the lane and win the battle on the boards

It’s hard to find the weaker points of Virginia Tech’s game lately. That is largely due to the fact that the Hokies are playing great basketball in the last four or five weeks, which included upset wins over the No. 25 North Carolina Tar Heels and No. 7 Duke Blue Devils.

There are some weaknesses that Texas can still target to try and upend the Hokies, though.

First and foremost, Texas needs to take advantage of the fact that they are the better rebounding team in this game. Virginia Tech has some key rebounders such as senior forward Justyn Mutts, who leads the team by averaging 7.4 rebounds per game. But there are a limited number of effective rebounders for the Hokies in their frontcourt unit.

Texas can take advantage of this thanks to the fact that they have a pretty deep and experienced group in the frontcourt unit between the likes of senior forward Timmy Allen, junior forward Brock Cunningham, junior power forward Dylan Disu, etc.

Secondly, Texas could have the physicality edge on the inside. While Texas has some good rebounders and shot blockers such as Allen and senior forward Christian Bishop, Virginia Tech is mostly lacking in that regard. Virginia Tech has registered a team block percentage this season just shy of 9.5. That is barely good enough for the Hokies to crack the top 130 in Division I this season.

Virginia Tech also ranked in the bottom half of Division I in terms of blocks during the regular season (3.3) and blocks during the ACC schedule (3.2). The Hokies also rank in the middle of the pack of the ACC in terms of total rebounding percentage (50.8) throughout conference play.

Mutts is the leading shot blocker for the Hokies so far this season. But he’s only averaging around one block per game, with a block percentage just shy of 4.0. Texas has four players this season that registered a block percentage north of 4.0.

Meanwhile, the duo of Bishop and Allen helps the Longhorns become one of the more dominant major conference teams in terms of their ability to hit the offensive glass effectively. Texas ranks in the top 70 in the NCAA this season in terms of offensive rebounding percentage (32.1).

Virginia Tech surely has some physical forwards that give a lot of effort down low. Mutts is the most important player in Virginia Tech’s frontcourt unit that Texas must be aware of in terms of his defensive prowess down low and his rebounding ability.