Virginia Tech And The Curious Case of Its One-Score Losses

Virginia Tech men's basketball and one-score losses. It's a designation that was once tied to the football squad, which went 1-12 in one-score games under then-head coach Brent Pry.

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— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 25, 2026

While this year's men's basketball team hasn't exactly hit those troughs, they've also languished through some perplexing losses that have consequently diminished their NCAA Tournament aspirations by a significant margin. Here's a look at how each one-score loss in league play went:

Jan. 3: Wake Forest

Fresh off the back of a 95-85 triple-overtime victory over Virginia, the Hokies came out flat against the Demon Deacons, allowing Wake Forest to erupt on a 12-2 run in the opening 4:13.

Just as quickly, Virginia Tech closed the deficit to three by the 13:19 mark, but then allowed the Demon Deacons to stretch the lead as high as nine.

The Hokies, down four at the half, eventually rallied and seized the lead off an Amani Hansberry three-pointer with 8:10 left in the second half.

The game remained neck-and-neck down the stretch, with center Christian Gurdak notching a layup to knot the score at 76-all.

After a missed jumper and tip-in by Wake's Tre'Von Spillers and Juke Harris, the Demon Deacons called time. Wake Forest guard Nate Calmese came up clutch in the end, burying a trey with six ticks left to give the Demon Deacons a three-point lead. After Neoklis Avdalas and Calmese exchanged free throws, Bedford missed a pair at the line to close out the contest.

Bedford and Calmese each scored 25 points for their respective units; Amani Hansberry also logged 19 points and 10 rebounds for Virginia Tech.

Jan. 7: Stanford

Contrary to the Hokies' last game vs. Wake Forest, Jan. 7's start was far better. Virginia Tech leapt out to a 31-24 lead at intermission, courtesy of 11 first-half points from Avdalas.

Down the stretch, the Hokies appeared to have the game firmly in control, holding a 12-point lead with 2;18 to go. Over the next 138 seconds of game time, however, things collapsed. Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie notched five straight points in succession to cut the lead to seven with 1:40 remaining. After Cameron Grant's three-pointer was blocked by Hokies forward Tobi Lawal, Okorie received a look from beyond the arc and buried it to cut the Cardinal's deficit to 67-63.

After both teams called successive timeouts, Donavin Young buried a htree to cut the deficit to one. After Avdalas made one of two at the line, Okorie struck again, giving Stanford the lead with a three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Avdalas.

Avdalas then coughed the ball up on the subsequent inbound, turning the ball over with two seconds left and guaranteeing Stanford's one-point win.

Avdalas led Virginia Tech with a 21-poing performance, doing so on a 7-of-15 shot line; Okorie logged a game-high 31 points, with 26 coming in the second half. Ben Hammond also logged 14 points, while Hansberry produced another double-double (11 points, 11 boards). Stanford limited Jailen Bedford to a 2-for-10 clip for seven points.

Jan. 14: SMU

Though SMU took an eight-point lead just under 10 minutes in, Virginia Tech again held stout and thinned the lead down to one at the half, taking the lead at various points in the final five minutes of the opening frame.

The Hokies then led for the majority of the second half, upping their lead by as many as eight. Again, however, Virginia Tech began to lose control and slipped away, bit by bit.

With 2:59 to go, the Hokies' lead was sliced to four, then fell to one after a jumper and free throw from SMU's Boopie Miller. Virginia Tech countered late with a three-pointer from Jaden Schutt with 29 seconds remaining. However, inbounding with eight seconds left, Hansberry attempted to pass the ball along the baseline to Avdalas. The ball bounced off the leg of Avdalas and went to SMU, who subsequently found B.J. Edwards open for a layup with five ticks left.

After Hammond and Lawal both missed the front end of one-and-ones, Miller received the ball and being face-guarded by Hammond up to half-court, let it fly from 50 feet out. Improbably and inconceivably, the ball swished, sending the Hokies to a crushing road loss in Dallas and denying them a vaunted Quadrant 1 road victory.

Miller ended the day with 24 points, buoyed by a 11-for-16 clip at the free-throw line. Bedford led the Hokies with 22 points, while four other Virginia Tech players scored in double figures.

Feb. 17: Miami

After a pair of close victories over Syracuse and Georgia Tech, where the Hokies almost produced another Stanford-esque performance, Virginia Tech went multiple weeks without a tight loss. On Feb. 17, in Coral Gables, Florida, that changed.

Though Miami jumped to a 12-5 lead by the U-16 media timeout, their lead evaporated and Virginia Tech assumed the lead at the 12:28 mark off a Schutt three. For the remainder of the game, the margin only went above five points once. With 2:38 to go, Hammond stole the ball from Shelton Henderson and funneled it up Lawal's way for a dunk. That was the last field goal Virginia Tech knocked down for the remainder of the game.

Donaldson escaped for a jumper with 2:09 to go to cut the Hokies' lead to two and after a Lawal free throw, he scampered free for a three-pointer that knotted the game at 66-all. Following a missed three-pointer from Hammond, Lawal fouled Donaldson with 12 seconds remaining; the Hurricanes guard sank one of his two shots at the foul line.

Hammond's subsequent buzzer-beating lay-in attempt hit back iron and curled away, guaranteeing Virginia Tech's fourth one-score loss in league play.

Donaldson sank 13 of his 24 field goal attempts for 32 points. While only one other Hurricane scored in double-figures (Dante Allen, 10 points), Virginia Tech could not counter. The Hokies went 28-for-56, and they were paced by Hansberry's 16. Miami won off the back of a 9-for-13 mark at the stripe, in contrast to Virginia Tech's 2-for-3 clip.

Up Next

VIrginia Tech is back in action this Saturday when it ventures to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to play No. 16 UNC. The contest will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET, and will be available for viewing on ESPN2.