Schutt’s Career-High Six Three-Pointers Helps Hokies Cruise Past George Mason 73-62

Jaden Schutt’s 18 points off six three-pointers led the Hokies in handing in-state rival George Mason its first loss of the 2025-2026 season.

“[Schutt’s] held down the scoring for a long time now, he’s not a kid,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. “And, he’s been healthy. His first two years he was dinged up and didn’t  have the opportunity to work on his game and work on his body the way we need to as young people developing and going through the ranks. He’s been healthy for quite some time now;  please, goodness, stay that way. Consequently, he looks great. He’s playing strong. He’s guarding so much better than he did a year ago. I cannot compliment Schutt more; he’s a darn good ballplayer.”

After a Thanksgiving Weekend hiccup with losses to Saint Mary’s and VCU, Virginia Tech got itself back into the win column with its 86-83 overtime victory over South Carolina on Dec. 2. 

On Saturday, the Hokies took on the tall task of facing an undefeated George Mason team. The Patriots, whose 9-0 record led the Atlantic 10 Conference heading into Saturday’s contest against Tech.

“You can’t really get too stuck up on the losses,” Schutt said. “We lost two games in 20 hours; you just gotta turn the page. We knew that wasn’t the way we wanted to play. We didn’t feel like we executed. We didn’t feel like we guarded. You want the anger from the last game, but you don’t want it to affect your confidence. You just wanna play the next game.”

While the Hokies did get off to a hot start with a 7-0 lead to begin the contest, George Mason loomed close behind throughout the first half. What’s more, the Patriots would trade off lead changes with the maroon & orange throughout the half, as an 18-15 score halfway through the first showed signs of a possible nail-biter in the making.

“We were like ‘the game’s a little too close; we gotta pick it up,’” said Tyler Johnson. “We gotta pick up our defense by not letting them get second-chance shots and rebounding the ball. Our defense translates to our offense getting open threes, playing together, and making the right plays. I feel like that’s what led to that lead.”

However, the Hokies broke through.

After various lead changes and scores being traded, an Amani Hansberry layup – which gave Tech a 31-28 lead – would end up being the catalyst for a 12-2 Hokies run to end the first half.

Schutt picked up where he left off as a deep-range threat off the bench, as he extended Tech’s lead to nine with 2:20 left in the first half. He would add another three on with one minute left in the half, and his nine total points would all come in the span of roughly two minutes.

Neoklis Avdalas knocked down a crowd-erupting three-pointer with 25 seconds left in the first half to make the score 43-30. The Hokies would take this 13-point lead into halftime.

The Schutt show continued into the second half, as the three-point threat knocked down another set of back-to-back deep balls just over five minutes into the half.

The Hokies kept their momentum throughout the half, as they jumped out to a 64-44 lead with 10 minutes left in the game. Tech would hold on to the strong lead as it reached the 73-62 final.

Schutt’s 18 points on the evening gives him his fourth-consecutive double-digit outing on the season. He has arguably been the most underrated player on this Blacksburg team thus far.

Hansberry, Johnson, and Ben Hammond joined Schutt in double-digit scoring. The trio posted 15, 13, and 10 points, respectively.

Tech’s win against George Mason Saturday was crucial for many reasons. First, it could be an indication of the Blacksburg team’s ability to compete with higher-level teams down the stretch, especially when Tobi Lawal returns to the lineup.

More impressively, however, might arguably be the depth and overall playmaking of the Hokies squad. Hansberry puts up double-digit-point outings practically each game. Schutt and Hammond have proved themselves to be a formidable duo off the bench. Johnson has shown great improvements on defense, and Avdalas, when not scoring, has shown off his athleticism and playmaking as a bit of a role-player on both sides of the ball.

Though starter Jailen Bedford has had a few low-output games recently, the depth of the Hokies 2025-2026 team has been of great help as the team picks up wins in its opening matches. The team’s mindset has been simple: just get better.

“Especially after the two losses in the Bahamas, our mindset has been just having a short memory, turn it around, and not letting it lead on to three, four games, just being able to get those two games out of our head, come back, watch some film, and get better,” Johnson said.

The Hokies will return to Cassell Coliseum on Thursday, Dec. 11 as they take on the 4-5 Western Carolina Catamounts. Tech will look to pick up yet another win without Lawal to improve to 9-2 in its successful start to the 2025-2026 season.

“With Tobi out obviously there’s just gaps you gotta fill, and you gotta just step up to the plate and help the team in any way you can,” Schutt said.