How would the Virginia Tech Hokies bounce back from Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss to the SMU Mustangs? Well, if we’ve learned one thing about the 2025-2026 Hokies, it’s that they’re a resilient group. On Saturday, they proved it again by dominating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 89-76 to move to 14-5 on the season and 3-3 in ACC play.
Virginia Tech dominated from the start. After Notre Dame took a 7-5 lead, the Hokies got a 3-point basket from sophomore guard Ben Hammond to take an 8-7 lead. The Fighting Irish got within two points again in the first half, but the Hokies kept them at arm’s length the entire game. VT would go into halftime with a 45-34 lead, having shot 56% from the field and made all 11 free throw attempts.
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The second half was more of the same for Tech. When junior forward Amani Hansberry hit a jumper with 17:22 left, it gave the Hokies an 11-point lead. The deficit would never be in single digits again, with VT opening a 19-point lead at various points in the second half.
For the first time in a long time, the Hokies dominated an opponent and couldn’t play until the final seconds. Senior forward Tobi Lawal, in his third game since returning from a leg injury, led Virginia Tech with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Before Lawal’s injury, he was averaging a double-double. He came off the bench again and played 29 minutes. Tech faced just seven players in Saturday’s win. Hansberry scored 21 for the Hokies, while Hammond scored 16 and Jailen Bedford scored 14.
Freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas got off to a good start, but finished the game on the bench after hitting his knee on a Notre Dame player. Avdalas was last seen cycling to relax his knee. The hope is it’s nothing more than a bruise and will be fine for Wednesday’s game against Syracuse. Avdalas finished with eight points and seven assists.
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The most encouraging aspect of this game: The Hokies shot 28 of 32 from the free throw line. If they had shot this well from the charity stripe in recent weeks, they could have been undefeated in ACC play.
This was an encouraging bounce-back performance from Virginia Tech. Wednesday’s game at Syracuse promises to be important.
