Hokies’ Late-Game Collapse Makes Difference in 89-82 Loss to North Carolina

Virginia Tech ends the month of February at 7-9 in conference play heading into its final matchups before the ACC Tournament.

You can never say ‘never’ when it comes to securing a spot in March’s big dance, especially if you are on the bubble for weeks on end.

The Hokies have, at some point or another, been ranked at a different spot on the bubble for the 2025-2026 season. Sometimes, Tech would even be in the tournament.

But, after an agonizing go at ACC play in 2026, the Hokies find themselves on the outside looking in yet again. This time, however, they only have a handful of games left to make some end-of-season heroics happen.

The first step of this turnaround would come Saturday night, as the Hokies crossed into Chapel Hill to take on No. 18 ranked North Carolina. 

For perspective, the Tar Heels sat four games ahead of the Hokies prior to their Saturday night matchup; North Carolina went in with a 22-6 record, and Tech with an 18-10 record. If the Hokies flip their one-score conference losses in 2026 – Wake Forest, Stanford, SMU, Miami – to wins, the Blacksburg squad is sitting right up there in the rankings with the Tar Heels.

Let that sink in.

Regardless, every sports fan knows that a team is only as good as how it overcomes a loss. If the Hokies were to somehow pull off a ranked win on the road Saturday night, they would certainly be able to add to their tournament resume and make up for their midseason struggles.

For a road matchup against a ranked team, Tech looked rather strong in the first half of Saturday night’s contest. Moreover, Tobi Lawal’s electrifying, 13-point start along with solid first-half stat lines from Ben Hammond and Neoklis Avdalas – as the duo posted eight points and nine points, respectively, in the first half – kept the Hokies close as they went into halftime tied with the Tar Heels at 44-points apiece.

Though Tech was able to keep the contest close coming out of the break, the wheels started to fall off for the Hokies roughly halfway through the second half. A bad, two-minute stretch midway through the half caused the Hokies to fall to beyond a two-score deficit. From then on for the Tar Heels, it was only a matter of maintaining their lead.

Although Tech did have some late-game flashes, the Hokies’ efforts were not enough to overcome their deficit. The Hokies would end up on the wrong side of the 89-82 final score and would take yet another blow to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

Despite the loss, the Hokies had some rather solid stat lines across the lineup. Avdalas would wind up being the team’s leading scorer on the night with 19 points – a promising tally for the freshman resurging from his mid-season slump.

Hammond and Lawal would tie for second in scoring on the night for Tech as they each posted 16 points. The double-digit totals mark the fifth of their kind for Lawal in Tech’s past six games as well as the fifth consecutive double-digit-scoring outing for Hammond – not to mention his 14th game with 10-or-more points in Tech’s 16 intraconference contests this season.

Amani Hansberry closed out Tech’s double-digit scoring Saturday night with 11 points – his sixth double-digit tally in Tech’s past seven games.

The Hokies will return to Blacksburg for their final home matchup of the 2025-2026 season when they take on Boston College. Given that the Eagles sit at 3-13 in conference play thus far in 2026, Tech should be able to close out its 2025-2026 Cassell Coliseum contests with a win.

It is not newly apparent that Tech has a rather deep hole to climb out of if it wants to find its way into the March Madness tournament. While a ranked win against North Carolina would have been nice – for lack of better words – the Hokies are still not completely out of the conversation just yet.

What Tech needs to do now is just win the game that it is supposed to win when the Eagles head into town. If Tech can do just that, then a road win against in-state rival Virginia in the Hokies’ final game heading into the conference tournament will not be as dire as it could be.

For now, the Hokies’ best bet at making the big dance will likely lie in the form of an ACC Tournament run like that of the team’s 2022 miracle.