With an elusive Quadrant 1 victory finally in hand, surging Virginia Tech has a good chance this week to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume.
The Hokies will reach the 20-win mark if they emerge victorious in their final two games, both against Atlantic Coast Conference teams with losing records. The first comes Tuesday night when Virginia Tech (18-11, 10-8 ACC) hosts reeling Louisville (12-16, 6-12) in Blacksburg, Va.
The Hokies have lost 17 straight games to the Cardinals, but this matchup finds the teams on vastly different trajectories. While Virginia Tech has won eight of its last nine games, Louisville has dropped nine of its last 10.
The Hokies are flying high after pulling off a stunning 71-70 win at Miami on Saturday.
Sean Pedulla, who finished with 17 points, made a steal that led to a Keve Aluma dunk as Virginia Tech erased an eight-point deficit over the final 1:42 of the game.
Darius Maddox drained a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining for the game-winning shot.
“We have grit. We’re not going to give up,” Maddox said. “All of us want to make it to March Madness.”
Getting there won’t be easy given the emphasis on the NCAA’s quadrant system. In Quad 1 games, which the system deems the most critical, Tech has a 1-5 record.
There’s been no NCAA Tournament talk around Louisville as it appears destined for the program’s first losing season since 2000-01.
Louisville has been competitive in many of its recent losses but that wasn’t the case Saturday. The Cardinals trailed by as many as 32 points on their way to a 99-77 defeat at Wake Forest.
Sydney Curry came off the bench to score a career-high 28 points.
But the Cardinals put up little resistance on the defensive end. They surrendered a season high in points as the Demon Deacons shot 58.2 percent from the floor and made 13 of 27 attempts from 3-point range.
“We dug ourselves another hole in the second half,” Louisville interim coach Mike Pegues said. “Rough night for everybody involved.”
–Field Level Media
