'We Had Our Opportunities': Virginia Tech's Mike Young On Hokies' Loss to Wake Forest

Virginia Tech men's basketball is exceedingly likely to miss the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season,

pic.twitter.com/QxND25WYhd
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2026

"Not the outcome we were looking for or expected," said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young.

The Hokies were handed their fourth straight loss in the ACC Tournament; Virginia Tech has not won an ACC Tournament game since the 2021-22 campaign, where the Hokies were the tournament champions.

Virginia Tech lacked forward Amani Hansberry, the team's leading scorer, for the contest. The forward sustained a leg injury with under six and a half minutes to go in the Hokies' regular-season finale against then-No. 13 Virginia and did not return.

"Down Amani, and you've got to find a way to continue to win, and we didn't do enough of that," Young said. "We didn't do enough of that. Not quite good enough."

Virginia Tech pulled ahead by as much as five thanks to a three from Ben Hammond, but the Demon Deacons went on a 7-0 run. Though the Hokies went on a 7-0 run to assume a late lead, Wake Forest pulled ahead. Virginia Tech had the ball with 17.7 seconds left, but Hammond's floater and a subsequent tip-in try from Jailen Bedford fell awry.

In overtime, Wake Forest scored five quick points and weathered the Hokies' late charges. Virginia Tech closed the deficit to one twice in the extra period, but could not close it enough.

"The story of the game is Wake Forest played a little bit better than we did," Young said. "Disappointing, but I thought they did some good things. A little bit better than the Hokies unfortunately."

Guard Ben Hammond led the team with 23 points on a 7-of-17 clip. Guard Jailen Bedford, guard Jaden Schutt and forward Tobi Lawal scored 17, 15 and 12 points, respectively. Yet, it was not enough, and Virginia Tech fell in yet another close game. It was the Hokies' eighth single-digit loss to an ACC opponent this year.

"There was a lot of mixing and matching throughout the year. It wasn't a shoe-in. It wasn't a shoe-in, this team. They all matter. We did a lot of things right. 12-2, 11-2 maybe coming out of non-conference. We didn't have a blemish. We still don't have a blemish. We had great opportunities. We had unbelievable opportunities.

"Now, a lot of those opportunities were on the road. North Carolina, Louisville. We won at Clemson, won at Syracuse, on and on. Had Duke at home, and they were playing really, really good basketball. We had our opportunities, and we came up just short. That's disappointing, infuriating, and I take a lot of responsibility there."