Hokies Comeback Bid Falls Short in 81-78 Road Loss to Wake Forest

Jailen Bedford’s 25-point outing was not enough for Virginia Tech as it drops to 1-1 in ACC play and 12-3 overall on the 2025-2026 season.

What seemed to be another day at the office for the Hokies turned out to be a trap game on the road against the Demon Deacons.

The Hokies entered Saturday’s contest coming off a big-time, triple-overtime win against archrival Virginia to kick off conference play. Tech would look to improve to 2-0 against ACC opponents as they took on Wake Forest.

However, Tech’s start to Saturday’s contest appeared rather wary, as Wake Forest jumped out to an early 12-2 lead in less than five minutes due in part to four turnovers from Neoklis Avdalas. 

Though the Hokies would be able to narrow the Demon Deacons’ lead to 19-14, the turnover issue lingered throughout the first half. In the half alone, the maroon & orange gave up the ball 14 times compared to Wake Forest’s six turnovers.

Despite the turnovers, the Hokies held the deficit close in the first half. In the final three minutes of the half, a trio of three-pointers – two from Bedford and one from Jaden Schutt – brought the Hokies to within four points as they closed the gap to 36-32 heading into halftime.

Though Bedford has been in a bit of a scoring drought over the past month – as he has not reached double-digit points in the last seven games – the deep-ball shooter was able to knock down 11 points in the first half to keep the Hokies in the game. 

Ben Hammond continued where he left off from his 30-point outburst against Virginia on New Year’s Eve, for he was Tech’s second leading scorer in the first half with his eight points.

The Hokies clawed their way back after halftime as an Amani Hansberry three-pointer gave them their first lead of the game at 60-58 with just over eight minutes left to play. Hammond would extend the lead to 62-58 with a pair of free throws to cap off a 12-unanswered-point run by Tech.

Once again, the Hokies found themselves tied late in the contest as they traded off scores with the Demon Deacons to where each team had 76 points with 25 seconds left in the game.

However, the Blacksburg bunch was on the wrong side of fate as Wake Forest’s Nate Calmese hit the deciding step-back, three-point shot to give his team a 79-76 lead with six seconds remaining, after which there was not much for the Hokies to do to try to equalize the game. Though Tech had the opportunity to maybe make some magic happen at the free-throw line, critical misses ended up costing them any chance of coming back, and their comeback would fall short at a final score of 81-78.

Tech’s loss was mostly in part of a three-headed attack from Bedford, Hansberry, and Hammond. The trio, which posted 25, 19, and 14 points, respectively, accounted for 58 of the Hokies’ 81 points on the afternoon. After those three, Avdalas was the team’s next-highest scorer with just eight points.

Although Tech was able to limit its turnovers in the second half of Saturday’s contest, the team’s first-half miscues would be the main cause for the loss. The Hokies’ 19 total turnovers in the game would be much of what killed the team’s scoring efforts.

Though turnovers plagued Tech on Saturday, they likely will not be too much of an issue going forward considering how significant they were against Wake Forest. In general, the Hokies will need to see more players step up rather than a consistent duo or trio doing most of the scoring. Though Bedford’s outing was nice to see, it is uncertain if he will be able to keep that momentum going forward.

Virginia Tech will return to Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday to take on the 12-3 Stanford Cardinal. Three days later, the Hokies will face off against another West Coast foe in the California Golden Bears, who currently sit at 13-2 on the 2025-2026 season. This loss to Wake Forest will likely serve as a learning lesson for the Hokies as they navigate the early stage of ACC play.