Hokies Have Rough Showing on the Road in 85-71 Loss to Louisville

A combined 42 points from Jailen Bedford and Ben Hammond proved fruitless as Virginia Tech fell to the Cardinals in double-digit fashion Saturday afternoon.

Since starting off its 2025-2026 season at 11-2 to conclude non-conference play, Tech has had a tough go of games against ACC opponents after going 4-3 in conference play. Moreover, only one of those seven games came by more than one score at the end of regulation with Tech’s 89-76 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 17.

Coming off a come-from-behind, 76-74 win against Syracuse on Jan. 21, the Hokies looked to keep some much-needed good fortune on the road going against No. 23 ranked Louisville.

Though the Hokies held close through the first 14-and-a-half minutes of Saturday’s contest, the team’s defense fell apart in the final five minutes of the first half. With Jaden Schutt picking up three fouls early in the half, Tech was forced to pull from its bench early in order to stop Louisville's fast-paced offense.

As a result of bad turnovers, shots not falling, and, frankly, being outplayed by Louisville’s players, the Hokies were on the wrong end of a 17-5 run in the final five minutes of the first half. Tech would head into the break trailing 37-22 in one of the team’s worst first halves of the 2025-2026 season.

Given the low first-half score from the Hokies, not many players were having much of an impact early on against the Cardinals. Bedford was the sole scorer keeping Tech somewhat competitive in the first half; he totaled 11 points off three makes from beyond the arc as well as a mid-range jumper.

Although the Hokies did get some scoring going in the second half – with Tech cutting its deficit down to eight points with 7:22 remaining in the contest – defense still faltered as the maroon & orange could not claim the lead despite a heavy increase in three-point shots falling. The Hokies were unable to come back from their early hole they were in, and they fell to the Cardinals 85-71 in lackluster fashion.

Bedford continued to show out against Louisville in the second half, as he scored an additional 13 points in the latter half of the contest. Bedford’s 24-point tally was good for his fifth double-digit-scoring outing in the last seven games. More notably, his hot hand also helped him cross the 100-career-points threshold.

Hammond followed suit behind Bedford, as the sophomore posted 18 points for his fourth consecutive double-digit-point outing and his 12th double-digit-scoring total in Tech’s last 13 games.

Amani Hansberry was the final Hokie with more than 10 points against the Cardinals as he posted 12 points due in part from three-made three-pointers from the big man.

Despite a second half surge from Tech Saturday, the Blacksburg squad simply seemed to have gotten outplayed by Louisville especially given the early, 15-point deficit heading into halftime. Although Tech’s 16 made three-pointers on 30 attempts was a pleasant surprise, the 53% shooting from beyond the arc is not a sustainable statistic for a March Madness-hopful team down the stretch in its final games of the 2025-2026 season.

The Hokies will return to Blacksburg for a must-win game against Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Tech will need the win over the Yellow Jackets to not only avoid falling back below .500 against ACC opponents, but the squad will also need some sort of positive energy heading into a difficult home matchup against No. 5 ranked Duke.