Hughes: Virginia Tech Men's Hoops Controls Its Own Destiny — But Time's Running Out

The Hokies have seven games left in the regular season — and just under five weeks until Selection Sunday.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech men's hoops is at a juncture point. Seven games separate the Hokies from the start of the ACC Tournament, which will begin on March 10. As of now, Virginia Tech is the last team to possess a single bye and would play SMU.

Final from Raleigh pic.twitter.com/rWOXOu8Jjv

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 7, 2026

The Hokies have essentially four resume-boosting opportunities before the ACC Tournament. The main difficulty? All four — albeit all Quadrant 1 contests — are on the road. All four are against teams ranked higher than Virginia Tech in the ACC standings, the NET rankings and in Ken Pomeroy's metrics (net rating).

Firstly, the Hokies need to take care of business in their three remaining home games, not to enhance their resume, but rather, to protect it. Virginia Tech likely needs to claim two of its final four road games; Clemson and Miami profile as the most likely wins on KenPom at the time of writing. If it can't do that, it will likely need a deep run in the ACC Tournament to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Hokies are not completely out of chances, but they're certainly running out of time. And while a victory vs. Virginia would cement their tournament aspirations further, Virginia Tech has had a plethora of trouble in regard to winning in John Paul Jones Arena as of late. Since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, the Hokies have only won in Charlottesville once, a narrow 75-74 triumph last year where then-Virginia guard Andrew Rohde missed a potential game-winning jumper at the horn.

Virginia Tech controls its own destiny; it has ample opportunity to win the games in front of it. At various points in all 11 of their ACC games, the Hokies have held tough and challenged each opponent it has gone up against. Here's a look at the nature of Virginia Tech's six losses in league play:

• Wake Forest, Jan. 3: game-winning triple from Nate Calmese
• Stanford, Jan. 7: game-winning triple from Ebuka Okorie
• SMU, Jan. 14: game-winning half-court triple from Boopie Miller
• Louisville, Jan. 24: Ceded 14-3 run at end of first half (margin would have been 71-68 Cardinals, discounting that run)
• Duke, Jan. 31: closed to six with under seven minutes to go, never got any closer
• N.C. State, Feb. 7: closed margin to three (54-51) off a Jaden Schutt triple in 2H, never got any closer

In each of its six losses, the Hokies acquitted themselves well at points, but found themselves susceptible to lapses in key moments. In its first three, Virginia Tech led down the stretch, but allowed game-winning buckets with under 10 seconds to go each time. In the latter three, the Hokies, going up against Quadrant 1 opponents in each of those three contests, challenged late but didn't retain the firepower needed to snag the victory required.

And though the Hokies control their own destiny, their home loss to Stanford — plus a missed opportunity on the road at SMU — has it behind the 8-ball.

Virginia Tech's next game comes on the road at Clemson; the Hokies will face off against the Tigers on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage for the event will be carried on the ACC Network.