Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Stock Report After 85-71 Loss to No. 23 Louisville

What's my thoughts on the Hokies' stock after their 85-71 loss to No. 23 Louisville?

Jan 24, 2026; Louisville, Ky.; Louisville guard J'vonne Hadley (1) shoots against Virginia Tech guard Neoklis Avdalas (17). | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Virginia Tech men's basketball now sits at 4-4 after its first eight ACC games and has slipped to No. 10 in the ACC standings. With that in mind, what's my thoughts on where their stock currently sits at?

Final from Louisville pic.twitter.com/YrXgF3mrTl

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 24, 2026

I think that their stock has trended slightly downward; the contest vs. No. 13 Louisville was one where the Hokies entered as 14.5-point pups and finished around that mark. The main sticking point is that the game was close until the final four minutes of the first half, when the Cardinals went on a quick 14-2 burst to ultimately put the game out of reach.

Aside from that, the rest of the game was relatively deadlocked. Nevertheless, it's the first ACC contest that Virginia Tech has lost by more than a possession. Its previous in-conferences losses came to Wake Forest (81-78), Stanford (69-68) and SMU (77-76); all three came via game-winning triples.

In terms of individual players, the main hooper that's stuck out through eight games of conference play is sophomore guard Ben Hammond. In league play, the point guard has averaged a team-high 16.6 points, 3.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. The sophomore has started each of the last four contests after starting in three of the previous 13 games.

Across the entirety of the season, Hammond's 12.6 points/game ranks third on the team, only behind forward Amani Hansberry (15.3) and wing Neoklis Avdalas (13.1).

Avdalas has struggled in conference play thus far, compiling 10.9 points per game — fourth-highest on the team, behind Hammond (16.6), guard Jailen Bedford (14.4) and Hansberry (13.9). In eight league games, Avdalas has shot a drab 33% from the field, 17.9% from three-point range and 69% from the charity stripe. The freshman wing has also averaged 3.1 turnovers per game.

While I don't think that the Louisville loss does much to impact Virginia Tech's tournament hopes — the Hokies sit No. 57 in KenPom at the time of writing — the nature of the loss lends itself to what could be construed as a missed opportunity, depending on which side of the lens you view it through. Virginia Tech slipped to 1-4 in Quad 1 games, with Syracuse slipping to No. 79 and thus rendering the Hokies' win over it as a Quad 2 victory for VT.

Virginia Tech's next contest comes back at Cassell Coliseum as the Hokies take on Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 27. The contest will tip off at 8 p.m. ET; viewing for the contest will be available on ACC Network Extra.