Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Fends Off Late Surge to Defeat Georgia Tech 71-65

The Hokies' last field goal came with 6:58 to play in the contest.

Jan 27, 2026; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies guard Jailen Bedford (0) dunks the ball during the second half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

On the back of second-chance points and a stuffy defense that forced 14 turnovers, Virginia Tech men's basketball narrowly escaped with a 71-65 victory over Georgia Tech Tuesday evening in Cassell Coliseum.

Had to have it

🤝 @cmgleasing pic.twitter.com/B6pCG2LaBq

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 28, 2026

Redshirt junior guard Kam Craft got the party started rather quickly for the Yellow Jackets (11-10, 2-6 ACC), as he fired and connected on Georgia Tech's first three field goals of the contest. That gave the Yellow Jackets an early 9-0 lead over the Hokies (16-6, 5-4), who missed their first five field goal attempts.

However, Craft's flurry of three-pointers was the only connection from downtown the Yellow Jackets had all night.

Guard Ben Hammond, who made his fifth straight start, accounted for Virginia Tech's opening seven points off a dish to Amani Hansberry and scoring the following five himself.

"I'm not real sure, and I think about it all the time," Hokies head coach Mike Young explained on the decision to start Hammond for the last five games. "[But] he's just playing so good... We need his firepower in that lineup."

The rest of the first half was a ping-pong battle of runs; Hammond's five points were the start of a 12-0 run for Virginia Tech that ended with freshman Neoklis Avdalas nailing a shot from distance. After starting 0-for-3 from deep in the contest, Avdalas' successful three on his fourth attempt was his first since the Notre Dame battle on January 17.

The Yellow Jackets looked for a defensive shift to stop the surging Hokies, and they looked for it with a full-court press. This change halted Virginia Tech enough for Georgia Tech to hoist its last lead of the contest, 24-22, before physical interior finishing from Christian Gurdak and Hansberry rallied the Hokies back ahead by four points.

"It [the press] caught us off guard a little bit," Gurdak said. "We didn't want to take an early shot in the possession, and sometimes that leads to not being as fluid... In the flow of the game, we're scoring with 20, 15, 18 seconds left in the shot clock, but we're trying to score 10 in that situation."

The Hokies led at halftime, 36-30, even with lower shooting splits (VT:13-for-35; GT: 12-for-28) than Georgia Tech. That was due to the Hokies' defensive front being so potent; Virginia Tech caused five turnovers in the first half, which spiraled into an eventual 20 points off turnovers.

The backcourt for the Hokies added to the Yellow Jackets' turnover dilemma on the other end of the court; the Hokies' guards did not commit a single turnover through 40 minutes of game time.

"Georgia Tech doesn't turn you over; it's not like they're messing with you," Young said. "I've got a great ball-handling team, and turnovers disgust me. Sloppy basketball disgusts me."

The two-possession lead that Virginia Tech held at halftime grew as large as 15 with just under five minutes of regulation remaining, in part due to spectacular offensive rebounding and continued defensive pressure.

A five-possession stretch for Virginia Tech, which encompassed three minutes of the second half, saw the Hokies corral seven offensive rebounds, tallying eight second-chance points in the mix.

Senior forward Tobi Lawal was a large scoring contributor in the second half after a quiet three-point first half, going 1-for-4 from the field, with his only connection coming from a short-wing three.

"We didn't shoot the ball worth a darn," Young said. "We had six great looks in the first half that we typically get down."

Lawal still struggled in the second half, going just 1-for-3, but physical play placed him at the charity stripe multiple times for a 5-for-6 effort. A five-free-throw stretch from Lawal was the cherry on top of Virginia Tech's largest lead, 65-50, with 4:26 in the second half. At this point, the Hokies were already nearing two-and-a-half minutes expired from their final field goal of the contest, courtesy of Jailen Bedford.

The Hokies were unable to consistently get to the rim, forcing them into taking shots from the perimeter that they also couldn't hit. Virginia Tech failed to make a field goal for the final six minutes and 58 seconds of the game.

"I got the most poised, smart basketball team that I've had in a long, long time. And we are anything but poised and smart down the stretch. We'll get better," said Young.

But Hammond, who led the Hokies in scoring with 20, along with Bedford, iced the contest at the stripe by nailing four late free throws to pull away with it for good.

"It's an ACC win, it's an ACC win. Move on down the line," Young exclaimed after finalizing the home victory.

The Hokies have their toughest face in store next time out, coming against the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, January 31, at noon ET. Coverage will be available on ESPN.