Hokies held back: South Carolina basketball earns neutral-site win over Virginia Tech

Madison Hricik
·2 min read

Hold off the Hokies — that was the goal in the final minutes of the South Carolina men’s basketball team’s second game of the season. Playing at Spectrum Center, in front of a Virginia Tech-heavy crowd, USC had to weather the fiery Hokie offense.

A jump ball in favor of USC sealed a 79-77 win after Jacobi Wright dove and tied the ball up with two seconds to play. South Carolina improves to 2-0 in the early season.

Virginia Tech’s man-to-man coverage was no match for Myles Stute in the early minutes of the game. The LSU transfer guard scored 10 points in under eight minutes of the first half. Six of those points were 3s.

Stute had 13 points at halftime, nearly doubling all scorers. South Carolina had six 3s, shooting 57% at the half. Offense wasn’t a problem for the Gamecocks, foul trouble was.

Without Josh Gray, who was out with illness, USC had three true forwards to work with. Under 120 seconds into the second half, BJ Mack had his third personal foul of the game. Stute played some small forward to help with the lack of depth in the paint.

The Gamecocks played a better first half than they did second half, but it was only a matter of time until the Hokies’ offense picked up. After only scoring two 3s and struggling through a six-minute scoring drought, Virginia Tech opened its second half with two threes in its first three possessions.

With three PFs, playing physical but cleaner basketball, Mack scored 19 points and six rebounds. Stute, also playing with three PFs, followed suit with 21 points and five rebounds. The pair didn’t leave the game through the majority of the second half, despite Mack stepping out in the first half after suffering an apparent ankle injury for a few minutes.

For the second-straight game, South Carolina had four of its five starters score double-digit points. Virginia Tech’s Sean Pedulla lead all scorers with 26 points.

Next four USC basketball games

Nov. 13 - home vs. VMI, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

Nov. 17 - vs. DePaul (Arizona Tip-Off Tournament)

Nov. 19 - vs. Grand Canyon or San Francisco (Arizona Tip-Off Tournament)

Nov. 28 - home vs. Notre Dame (SEC/ACC Challenge), 7:30 p.m.