Hokies Stay in March Madness Fight with 82-63 Win Against Wake Forest

Guided by double-digit-point outings from six Hokies, Virginia Tech looked sharp as it grabbed the dominant win Saturday afternoon.

“The ball is meant to be shared," said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. "When people are turning down good shots and giving it to a teammate who has a great shot and who’s more in rhythm, there’s a good shot, and then there’s a great shot. We had a number of those great shots. We had 19 assists and five turnovers; that says it all in how our team played today.”

The Hokies’ most recent game Tuesday against Miami highlighted the woeful theme for the team’s conference play in 2026: brutal, one-score losses.

With the agonizing, 67-66, blow against the Hurricanes, Tech could only watch as its March Madness position dropped once more. By the end of the week, the Hokies were sitting among the next four out, a new low for their tournament forecast in recent weeks.

Tech would look to salvage their tournament hopes Saturday, Feb. 21 against Wake Forest. Given the Demon Deacons came out on top in one of Tech’s many one-score losses, the Hokies would seek revenge in a contest very well up for the taking.

Though Saturday’s contest appeared as though the Demon Deacons would have their way with the Hokies once again, Tech was able to keep the game close for the opening 10 minutes.

However, three-pointers from Ben Hammond and Jailen Bedford gave the Hokies the spark they needed. The pair of makes from beyond the arc lifted the Hokies to a 28-20 lead with just over eight minutes in the half, and Tech held a steady lead until halftime. 

The Hokies would take a 43-33 lead into the break, and would look to close out the contest in similar fashion to how they played throughout the first half.

Two Hokies started off Saturday’s contest with double-digit point tallies. Neoklis Avdalas led the way with 12 points in part from three made three-pointers.

Tobi Lawal slotted in as the second Hokie with 10 or more points in the first half against the Demon Deacons. His 10 points in the first half came off four field goals – including a three-pointer – and a free throw.

The Hokeis were able to hold their lead, and then some, to begin the second half against Wake Forest. Avdalas and Amani Hansberry each knocked down a deep ball, and then another three-pointer from Bedford capped off a nine-unanswered-point run from Tech to give the Hokies a solid, 61-45, lead with 11:25 left to play.

The Hokies would ride their lead out, and would end Saturday’s contest with a bang as Lawal slammed down two dunks – in the span of one minute and 15 seconds – to put an exclamation point on his senior day showout. Lawal’s electrifying dunks were just part of Tech’s late-game impressiveness as the squad cruised to its comfortable, 82-63 win.

With 17 points each, Lawal and Avdalas would finish out as Tech’s leading scorers for Saturday’s contest. Lawal’s outing proved good enough for his sixth double-digit-scoring performance in Tech’s past eight games, and Avdalas’s showing was good for his third game with 10 or more points in Tech’s past five games – a stat line progressively getting him out of his midseason scoring drought.

Four other Hokies joined in on double-digit figures Saturday afternoon. Hansberry and Hammond posted 13 points and 12 points, respectively, and Bedford and Christian Gurdak each totaled 12 points against Wake Forest. This quartet of Hokies, along with Lawal and Avdalas, created a six-man squad that accounted for all but three of Tech’s points against the Demon Deacons.

Tech will face off against another Top 25 team as the Blacksburg bunch travels down to Chapel Hill to take on No. 16 ranked North Carolina. Though the Tar Heels – who currently sit at 21-6 on the 2025-2026 season – are likely to be without freshman standout forward Caleb Wilson for the Saturday, Feb. 28 matchup against Tech, the Hokies will still have a very tall task ahead of them as they look to stay in the NCAA Tournament battle.

“We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding,” Young said. We did out-rebound Wake Forest by five, but such an important part of it next Saturday when we travel to Chapel Hill.”

Young noted postgame that the Hokies should be getting sophomore standout Tyler Johnson back in the lineup very soon. Johnson was intentionally rested against Miami and, while he did practice in the days prior to the Wake Forest matchup, he looked good but was a bit rusty. So, he was rested against the Demon Deacons in order to get back to 100% performance.

For what has been a rollercoaster of a go at conference play for the 2025-2026 season for the Hokies, it is rather difficult to tell where they could end up come Selection Sunday. In one game, Tech may look like it could compete with any team in college basketball. The next game, the Hokies lose by one score – or many more than one score for that matter.

Given the Hokies’ polarizing late-season play, the team is still not 100% out of March Madness hope, but it is also not 100% in the tournament by any means. Frankly, the Blacksburg squad has begun to gravitate to the latter in recent weeks.

However, as the 2022 Hokies team proved, a team is never out of it until they are officially out of it. The 2025-2026 Tech squad could very well go on a three-game run heading into the ACC Tournament. Moreover, a run in the conference tournament could very well be the boost the Hokies need to get on the right side of the bubble.

All will be revealed in just a few weeks.