BLACKSBURG – After willing its way into the field by winning the first ACC Tournament title in program history, Virginia Tech starts its NCAA Tournament journey on Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, Wis. against No. 25 Texas.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Friday, March 18 | 4:30 p.m. ET
Fiserv Forum
vs. Texas
Game Notes: Virginia Tech (PDF) | Texas (PDF)
TV Broadcast
TBS
Play-by-Play: Spero Dedes
Analyst: Debbie Antonelli
Sideline: AJ Ross
Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Tim Bickford
Analyst: Mike Burnop
THE SERIES
- Virginia Tech and Texas will meet for the first time on the hardwood Friday afternoon.
- The Hokies are 39-55 all-time vs. current members of the Big 12 Conference, including a 9-6 record against teams other than West Virginia.
- Mike Young is 0-1 against Texas as a head coach (Dec. 4, 2003).
- He will face-off against the Longhorns' head coach Chris Beard for the second time. On Nov. 22, 2017, Young took his Wofford Terriers to Lubbock, Texas to battle Beard's Red Raiders. Storm Murphy and Keve Aluma played in that game, which Texas Tech won 79-56.
A WIN WOULD...
- Mark the Hokies' 14th win in their last 16 outings.
- Secure Tech's first NCAA Tournament win since 2019.
- Advance the Hokies past their first game in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time.
- Improve Tech to 9-12 all-time in the Big Dance.
- Give Mike Young his second NCAA Tournament win (1- 6) and first with the Hokies.
- Give the Hokies three consecutive wins over teams ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time ever. Three other times Tech has beaten at least three ranked teams in a row, but played unranked teams in between.
HOKIE HEADLINES
- Tech is set to make its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after capturing the program's first-ever ACC Tournament title.
- Keve Aluma, who averages a team-best 15.8 points per game, was selected No. 5 on Andy Katz's top players on teams with double-digit seeds.
- The Hokies averaged 79.3 ppg and shot 49.6% at the ACC tourney en route to winning four games in four days.
- Tech was selected as a No. 11 seed for the Big Dance and will play in Wisconsin - both program firsts in its NCAA Tournament history.
HISTORY MADE IN BROOKLYN
- Virginia Tech claimed its first-ever ACC title in program history by winning four games in four days in Brooklyn, New York.
- The last time the Hokies made a postseason tournament final was the 1995 NIT Championship vs. Marquette in Madison Square Garden. Shawn Smith sank two free throws with 0.7 seconds left to lift Tech to the 65-64 win in overtime.
- Tech's only other conference tournament title in program history is the 1979 Metro Conference championship, defeating Florida State 68-60 in the final.
- The Hokies became the second team to win four games en route to the ACC Tournament championship, joining Duke's 2017 team (also at Barclays Center).
- Tech's 82-67 decision over Duke was its largest margin of victory against the Blue Devils in series history (began in 1912). In the semifinals, the Hokies posted their largest win against UNC since 1949.
- Tech became the first team since Coach K became Duke head coach to beat both UNC and Duke by double-digits on consecutive days.
- The Hokies are just the third team to do so in consecutive games (Maryland, 2003; Virginia, 1982).
FIVE STRAIGHT TICKETS PUNCHED
- The Hokies are among the nation's leaders in active NCAA Tournament appearances. With their program record fifth straight appearance locked up in 2022, they own the eighth-longest active streak. It's the second-longest among ACC programs.
- A pretty remarkable turnaround for a program that prior to 2017 had only gone to the NCAA Tournament once (2007) in 20 years.
HOTTEST TEAM IN THE COUNTRY
- ACC Network analyst Carlos Boozer said, "they got the hottest team in the country," following the Hokies' 82-67 win over Duke.
- In fact, Tech is second among major conference teams in win percentage since Feb. 1.