Three Takeaways From Virginia Tech Basketball's 82-81 Overtime Comeback Victory Over Elon

Kaden Reinhard breaks down three takeaways from Virginia Tech's 82-81 overtime victory.

Amani Hansberry brings the ball into the paint with Christian Gurdak beside. | Virginia Tech Athletics.

From being down 19 points in the first half to forcing an overtime victory, this game was an up-and-down affair for the Hokies. Tech snatched the 82-81overtime victory. Here are three big takeaways from the battle:

dashing through with a dub 😝 pic.twitter.com/umpxL40a1H

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 20, 2025

No. 1: The run to cut the halftime deficit to eight was essential,

Just 75 seconds into the contest, the Hokies were already staring at a six-point deficit at the hands of 6-foot-8 junior forward Isaac Harrell.

"[Harrell is] a good player, we knew that going in," said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. "He was a prominent person on the scouting report for us."

This early six-point advantage spiraled into an eventual 19-point lead with six and a half minutes of action remaining in the first half.

The Hokies brought it within eight at halftime, 43-35, in what seemed like a victory in itself. Cassell roared as Tech ended the half on an 11-0 run with five points from center Christian Gurdak in the stretch, and a half-ending layup by guard Izaiah Pasha.

"We had a couple of turnovers, Cassell got in an uproar," Young said on the run to end the half. "We started guarding."

No. 2: Elon's start would be hard to replicate.

The Phoenix were red-hot to start the affair in Blacksburg, even opening the contest on a 6-0 run on the back of Isaac Harrell knocking down two threes.

The three-point shot was a consistent fallback for the Phoenix offense in the first half. After Harrell's two successful attempts to open the contest, Elon went on to shoot 5-10 from behind the arc, with graduate Kacper Klaczek knocking down two of the baskets.

Notably, to conclude the first half, the Phoenix missed their last five attempts from distance, a key turning point for Tech's defense.

Elon also netted an efficient 17-for-32 (53.1%) as a whole from the floor in the first half, a high bar that the Hokies were having to compete with. This stellar shooting leveled out with a 12-for-27 affair in the second, and a 2-for-7 performance in overtime for the Phoenix. After halftime, the Phoenix collectively shot 3-13 from deep.

No. 3: Tech needs to be healthy for conference action.

This contest marked the second straight game that Tech was limited on the depth chart.

Against UMES, the Hokies were without Jailen Bedford and Antonio Dorn (Dorn logged four minutes but left with a back injury). Without Neoklis Avdalas (illness) and Dorn against Elon, Young was limited to an eight-man rotation for another contest.

With the limited eight-man rotation this afternoon, to make matters worse in overtime, both Amani Hansberry (fouled out) and Tyler Johnson (ankle) exited the contest, dwindling the rotation down to six.

The best thing for the Hokies is to make sure everybody is healthy for a long and strenuous conference schedule that is set to last over two months. The non-conference schedule is done, and now Tech has 10 days to rest and prepare for the University of Virginia on New Year's Eve at 2 p.m. EST, with coverage available on the ACC Network.