ESPN's BPI Predicts Winner of Virginia Tech/Wake Forest ACC Basketball Matchup

Virginia Tech comes into today's game vs Wake Forest as winners of three of their last four games, including a thriller on Wednesday night vs NC State. It was a rough start to the season for the Hokies, but they have found a way to bounce back and have some momentum on their side right now. The same can be said about the Demon Deacons though. They have won four straight and six of their last seven. They are 4th in the ACC and look to keep pace with the teams around them in hopes of landing in the top half of the conference. The winner will remain hot and with tons of momentum heading into the last stretch of January.

Can the Hokies get another win as an underdog? Not only do the oddsmakers favor Wake Forest today, but so does ESPN's BPI, even if just slightly. BPI is giving Virginia Tech a 64% chance to win today's game.

But what is BPI? Here is how ESPN describes it:

"The Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team's W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day's rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections. Numbers update daily."

Virginia Tech is 39-34 all-time against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are Tech’s closest ACC foe – 122 miles from Blacksburg. The first game in the series was Feb. 7, 1912 – a 45-15 win by the Hokies in Blacksburg. Tech snapped Wake Forest’s three-game winning streak in the series last season inside Cassell Coliseum. Behind Hunter Cattoor’s 26 points, the Hokies had a 50-point outburst in the second half to down the Deacs, 87-76. Wake won the first matchup of last season, 86-63, in Winston-Salem. The Hokies have won 10 of the last 15 matchups with the Deacs, including six in a row between March 8, 2017 and Feb. 27, 2021. VT is 25-12 all-time as the home team in the series. The winner of 12 of the last 14 meetings have scored at least 80 points

Tech overcame a 15-point deficit to win for the first time since March 2, 2024 vs. Wake Forest. Although, in that game, the 15-point lead was with 6:22 to go in the first half. The Hokies erased a 15-point deficit against NC State beginning at the 13:29 mark in the second half. Trailing 72-60 with 6:38 to go, Tech closed the game. on a 19-4 run highlighted by nine points from Jaden Schutt to secure the comefrom-behind win. “That’s just part of the character of our team,” Schutt said. “We’ve always got to keep fighting. It’s the nature of we can’t just walk in here and coast to a win. We’ve got to keep fighting and we’ve got to fight the full 40 minutes. It’s one of those things where we’ve lost nine games, and losing is not fun; it’s bad vibes, and we all want to win — it’s why we came here. We’ve just got to keep believing in coach, and when we’re looking at the coach and he thinks we can win, we can win."

Additional Links:

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