INDIANAPOLIS – A memorable season came to a close on Friday, as the 10th-seeded Virginia Tech men's basketball team fell in overtime, 75-70, to seventh-seeded Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Nahiem Alleyne had himself a day, scoring the second-most points in the NCAA Tournament in school history with a career-high 28 points, including hitting the game-tying 3 with two seconds left to send the game into overtime. But it was not enough as Florida's Tre Mann hit a clutch stepback 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in overtime to make it a two-possession game and seal it.
Florida advances to the second round and will face 15th-seeded Oral Roberts (17-10, 10-5 Summit), which upset second-seeded Ohio State (16-7, 12-8 B1G), on Sunday.
THE GAME
With the game at 10-8 in the early going, the Hokies went on a 11-3 run behind Hunter Cattoor nailing three 3-pointers to give them their biggest lead of the game (10 points) at the 9-minute mark, 21-11. Tech would go on to take a six-point lead into halftime, 33-27.
Trailing by six points with three minutes remaining in regulation, Nahiem Alleyne went to work by scoring nine points and hitting a triple with two seconds left to send the game into overtime, 64-64. The play was set up by his teammate Keve Aluma getting him the rock on the right wing and Alleyne fired quickly and buried it.
Owning a one-point lead with 25 seconds left in overtime, the Gators' Tre Mann hit a stepback 3-pointer to put Florida up four points, which proved to be the difference, as it went on to win 75-70.
QUOTING MIKE YOUNG
Opening statement:
"Hats off to Coach [Mike] White's Florida Gator team," Tech coach Mike Young said. "Sometimes in this business you think you know how things are going to play out in terms of pace on either end of the floor and that's not exactly what you're going to get. This was a really good Virginia Tech rebounding team, and Colin [Castleton] and [Anthony] Duruji and the rest of the Gators outrebounded us by a pretty good clip. And then we just couldn't get stops. We were up eight and miss a layup and then they score. We were where we wanted to be and were in good shape, and then we didn't handle some things very well. I thought Florida played well. They advance and we go back to Blacksburg, and that's hard to swallow."
QUOTING NAHIEM ALLEYNE
On describing his 3 that sent the game into overtime:
"I mean, it was a crazy feeling. It's everybody's dream to hit a big shot. Big-time players make big-time plays. That was a crazy feeling. But that really wasn't the play. We were supposed to give the ball to Tyrece [Radford], but they were shading his side. So, Keve [Aluma] passed it to me and I just knocked it down."
TEAM NOTES
- Tech cashed in on Florida's miscues, outscoring the Gators 17-9 in points off turnovers. It also forced Florida into 18 turnovers.
- The Hokies allowed Florida to shoot 56.5 percent from the field, making 26 field goals.
- The Gators owned the glass, outrebounding Tech 36-22. Tech finished its last two games getting outrebounded by double-digits.
- Tech led for 30 minutes of the game, while Florida owned a lead for nine minutes.
PLAYER NOTES
- Alleyne scored the second-most points in an NCAA Tournament by a Hokie in school history, racking up 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting. The school record is 29 points and that was done by Glen Combs versus Indiana on March 17, 1967. The 28 points for the sophomore marked the most of his career, topping his previous career high of 22 versus Chattanooga his freshman season (Dec. 11, 2019).
- Radford scored the second-most points on the team, dropping 18 on 7-of-15 shooting. The Louisiana native also had four rebounds and two assists in 44 minutes of work. The guard finished the season scoring in double figures his last seven games, dating back to Jan. 12 against Duke.
- Cattoor hit three 3-pointers in a row in the first half and ended up finishing with 11 points. His other bucket came with under a minute left in overtime when he slammed home a fastbreak dunk to make it a one-point game. The sophomore played 29 minutes and also had a game-high three steals and three rebounds.Gallery: (3-19-2021) VIRGINIA TECH IN THE 2021 NCAA TOURNAMENT