Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Seeking to Claim Clash with California

The Hokies look to lift their ACC record back to an even .500 today.

Jan 7, 2026; Blacksburg, Va.; Stanford forward Chisom Okpara (10) shoots a shot over Virginia Tech forward Tobi Lawal (1). | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

Virginia Tech men's basketball enters today's clash with California looking for a victory in several facets. The Hokies have dropped their first two contests of the new year and today, are striving to return their ACC record to an even .500. More importantly, they're looking to claim an ACC victory ahead of a difficult slate near the end of January, where they'll play four teams ranked in Ken Pomeroy's top 40.

Another opportunity 💪

🆚 Cal
🕓 4PM
📺 ACCN
➡️ https://t.co/BbETcO3VaM

🤝 @shelormotormile pic.twitter.com/fORlJAhRuG

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 10, 2026

Virginia Tech (12-4, 1-2 ACC) is looking to win toay against the team that put an end to its 2024-25 campaign a season ago. However, this Golden Bears (13-3, 1-2 ACC) team resembles its counterparts of last year in name only.

Gone is last year's squad anchored by 2024-25 ACC Sixth Man of the Year Jeremiah Wilkinson (Georgia), plus Andrej Stojakovic (Illinois) and Mady Sissoko (graduated). California lost 15 players to the transfer portal, returning little production from last season.

However, that's not to say that the Hokies won't face off against any familiar faces. For one, they'll face off against Dai Dai Ames, who suited up for Virginia last year before transferring to California ahead of this season. In 16 games for the Golden Bears, Ames has starred, averaging 17.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 31.5 minutes a night.

California enters this contest coming off a 84-60 loss to No. 23 Virginia on Jan. 7; the Hokies supplanted the Cavaliers, 95-85, in a triple-overtime thriller on Dec. 31, 2025. Like Virginia Tech, the Golden Bears sit at 1-2 in league play, with a 90-70 loss to No. 16 Louisville and the aforementioned game vs. Virginia sandwiching a classic 72-71 victory over Notre Dame. In that contest, Ames knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the waning seconds and converted on a four-point play with five seconds remaining to claim Cal's first ACC victory of the year.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech enters this contest on a two-game skid and should they lose, it will be their first three-game losing streak of the season. Through non-conference play, the Hokies rolled up a 11-2 record, with overtime victories over Providence (107-101), South Carolina (86-83) and Elon (82-81). Virginia Tech then began conference play by beating Virginia in triple overtime, doing so behind the efforts of guard Ben Hammond, who logged a career-high 30 points, in addition to five rebounds and as many assists.

However, following that stretch, the Hokies dropped consecutive games to kick off the new year. Virginia Tech languished through foul trouble with their two starting bigs, forward Amani Hansberry and center Christian Gurdak, against Wake Forest. Hansberry and Gurdak each collected three fouls in the first half against the Demon Deacons, with Hansberry fouling out. The Hokies trailed for the majority of the contest, but assumed a late lead. They couldn't hang on, however, and eventually dropped the contest, 81-78, after Wake Forest guard Nate Calmese drained the game-winning triple with 6.5 seconds left on the clock.

Against Stanford, Virginia Tech was highly competitive late, leading by 12 with 2:18 left to play. However, the Hokies collapsed down the stretch, allowing a 14-1 run, with 11 points coming from Cardinal guard Ebuka Okorie. Okorie rolled up 31 points against Virginia Tech, with 26 coming in the second half.

"Definitely a tough loss," Gurdak said on the Tech Talk Live show Thursday. "I think we should be 3-0 in ACC play, we’ve lost a few close ones, and credit to them, they didn’t give up, they hit some tough shots down the stretch, took advantage of some of our defensive lapses, but it’s not going to define us. Obviously, we’re a good basketball team. We’re 12-4, that’s not bad. We beat a ranked team [in Virginia]. We got Cal coming up, SMU, another ranked team, coming up.

"We’re not going to let this loss define us. It’s not like we’re getting blown out. We’ve been there, we should’ve won the other night, we should’ve beaten Wake Forest, so we still have a winner’s mentality and we’re going to go into these next few games really looking to get it back."

Virginia Tech's contest against the Golden Bears tips off today at 4 p.m. ET, with viewing available on the ACC Network.