BLACKSBURG, Va. – In the offseason we heard it being preached day after day: Virginia Tech’s focus on the defensive end of the basketball court. On Wednesday night, it came to fruition as the Hokies forced 15 turnovers against the Virginia Military Institute, resulting in 26 points.
"We’re getting the principles down. We’ve been practicing really hard and learning the principles of the defense that we’re running. it's really big for us," said Hokies senior guard Justin Robinson.
"Knowing when to help and when not to help and just playing hard the whole time is what we’ll keep doing."
Most notable was sophomore PJ Horne, who brought a tenacious attitude to the floor for the Hokies. It’s something head coach Buzz Williams has been waiting to see.
"We need PJ to be mean PJ when he’s playing. When he’s mean, that helps us. When he’s playing incredibly hard, when he’s setting a drag and rolling and forcing help, when he gets an offensive rebound, when he gets a tip, when he can get a defensive rebound and continue to follow the ball into a ball screen — I thought it was the best he had played," Williams said.
"We take pride in our defense. We try to cause turnovers and have more possessions than the other team," Horne said.
Wednesday night's game was also the second consecutive game where the Hokies have held their opponents to under 30 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Virginia Tech will try and continue that streak on Sunday afternoon as they host South Carolina State.