How Does Virginia Tech Men's Basketball's Resume Look Entering Tomorrow's Tilt vs. Duke?

Virginia Tech is more than two-thirds into its 2025-26 campaign and tomorrow afternoon, the Hokies host No. 4 Duke in a Saturday matinee that's slated to be, on paper, their most difficult test of the season.

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— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 30, 2026

So, how does Virginia Tech's (16-6, 5-4 ACC) resume stack up thus far as they enter tomorrow's tilt?

The Advanced Metrics

As of this morning, Virginia Tech ranks No. 56 in KenPom with offensive and defensive ratings of 115.5 (No. 78) and 102.0 (No. 52), respectively. This year, the Hokies have been playing at a tempo that ranks at No. 135 in the country. That's the fastest under head coach Mike Young's tenure and its highest mark in the country for Virginia Tech since the 2015-16 season under former head coach Buzz Williams.

For a Young-led team, it's a rather frenetic pace, one that has gone well at points while also leaving the team rushing at the end of contests, a risk that's bitten them on numerous occasions this season.

ESPN's Bracketology

After their six-point victory over Georgia Tech, a Quad 3 opponent, the Hokies actually dropped out of the ESPN Bracketology NCAA Tournament field. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, who's the one compiling the provisional 68-team field for ESPN, now has the Hokies listed as the No. 69 seed — one spot outside the tournament, if those predictions become reality on Selection Sunday (March 15).

A Brief Look at This Season:

Virginia Tech has toiled through lapses, but has also thrived at several points this year. The Hokies started their season with a six-game win streak in non-conference play before dropping the latter two games of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas. Virginia Tech then won its final five non-conference games, including overtime victories over South Carolina and Elon.

The Hokies then kicked off their conference schedule with a 95-85 triple-overtime victory over then-No. 21 Virginia; Virginia Tech then dropped consecutive contests against Wake Forest (Jan. 3) and Stanford (Jan. 7).

In its last six conference games, the Hokies have won four, beating California, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Georgia Tech, while suffering a buzzer-beating loss to SMU via Boopie Miller's half-court heave plus a 85-71 loss to Louisville where Virginia Tech was down 15 at the end of the first half.

My Thoughts:

This season, Virginia Tech has often been vacillatory. At times, the Hokies have shown serious fight in regard to competing against the upper echelon at the ACC. Negating the four-minute run then-No. 20 Louisville made at the end of the first half, the margin would have only been by two points in favor of the Cardinals.

Yet, Virginia Tech has also toiled through contests it could have won if not for making crucial mistakes down the stretch. The Hokies nearly clawed back on Jan. 3 to take down Wake Forest, yet lost forward Amani Hansberry. Virginia Tech blew a 12-point lead with about two and a half minutes to go vs. Stanford, ceding a game-winning triple to Ebuka Okorie. And the Hokies missed the front -end of consecutive one-and-ones against SMU, setting up Miller's game-winning heave.

Still, the team has shown serious grit and determination, even when down key pillars of their team due to injury. The Hokies were down guard Tyler Johnson, forward Tobi Lawal and center Antonio Dorn for their Commonwealth Clash game against then-No. 21 Virginia — yet, they won, perservering through a triple-overtime slugfest of a game, 95-85.

Virginia Tech's clash vs. No. 4 Duke tips off at 12 p.m. ET tomorrow and can be viewed on ESPN. We'll have you covered throughout the day with a game preview, a roundtable score prediction, Coach Mike Young's post-game transcript, a game recap and takeaways from the contest. You can read more of our basketball coverage here.