The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will have to play in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
No. 11 Clemson cruised past the visiting Hokies 65-47 on Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C., denying Virginia Tech a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament.
The Hokies (13-18, 8-12) would have clinched the ninth seed in the tournament if they had won Saturday. The top nine seeds get a first-round bye.
Instead, the Hokies will be in action Tuesday as the No. 10 seed or the No. 11 seed in the 15-team field. The tournament seedings and pairings had not yet been announced at press time.
Virginia Tech has lost three of its last four games.
The Hokies failed to reach 60 points for the second straight game and for the third time in their last six games.
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The Tigers (26-5, 18-2), who had already clinched a double bye in the tournament, led from the opening basket Saturday. The Tigers led by double digits the entire second half.
It was Clemson’s second double-digit win over the Hokies this season.
Virginia Tech forward Tobi Lawal returned to action Saturday but had just five points and four rebounds in 24 minutes. Lawal had missed last weekend’s win over Syracuse with an illness and had missed Tuesday’s loss to North Carolina with a nagging lower-body injury.
The Hokies committed 23 turnovers, including 14 in the first half. The 23 turnovers were Tech’s second-highest total of the season. Mylyjael Poteat had five turnovers, while Lawal had four.
The Tigers scored 25 points off Virginia Tech’s turnovers.
Clemson had 15 steals.
“They had us so pushed out on the floor,” Hokies coach Mike Young said in a postgame teleconference. “They contest everything. … They’re physical. They get after you. They’re uncomfortable to play against, and I admire that.”
Viktor Lakhin, a 6-foot-11, 245-pound transfer from Cincinnati, had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Tigers.
“He’s tough. He’s a mean dude,” Young said. “He’s physical as all get out in the post.”
Jaeden Zackery added 12 points, four steals and four assists for Clemson.
Clemson won even though its top two scorers this season, Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin, combined for just nine points. It was the final home game of their careers.
“I don’t think they had their best stuff today — (it was) Senior Day,” Young said. “Tobi and Ben Burnham did a good job on Ian, but he still affects the game … in so many ways other than scoring.
“Chase didn’t look as comfortable today.”
Twelve players scored for Clemson, while just eight players scored for Tech. Jaden Schutt of the Hokies was 0 of 2 from the field.
Brandon Rechsteiner scored 11 points off the bench for the Hokies. Jaydon Young added 10 points.
The Tigers shot 44.3% from the field to Tech’s 41.3%.
Clemson scored 44 points in the paint.
“Hard, downhill people,” Mike Young said. “They got us behind some things, which allowed Schieffelin and Lakhin to get on top of our post players.”
Virginia Tech made eight 3-pointers. Clemson was 3 of 20 from that distance.
Clemson outrebounded the visitors 35-30.
Burnham scored to cut the Clemson lead to 11-9, but the Tigers scored eight straight points to build a 19-9 cushion with 11:44 to go in the first half.
The lead grew to 29-14 with 8:08 remaining in the first half.
Clemson led 35-20 at halftime.
The lead grew to 44-25 with 15:33 to go.
