LAHAINA, Hawaii-Wednesday evening, BYU men’s basketball (4-3) plays for third place at the Maui Jim Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii as they face the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Virginia Tech Hokies (6-1, 1-0 in ACC play) for a 9:30 pm MST tip-off.
Under new head coach Mark Pope (4-3, .571 at BYU; 81-59, .579 as a collegiate basketball head coach), the Cougars have shown grit and toughness in the absence of star senior forward Yoeli Childs.
Childs is in the midst of serving a 9-game suspension mandated by the NCAA and is eligible to return to the BYU lineup December 4 against bitter rival Utah at the Huntsman Center.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are averaging 69.9 points per game, ranking them 237th nationally in scoring offense.
In Childs’ absence, BYU’s leading scorer remains senior guard Jake Toolson (15.3 points per game, along with 4.6 rebounds per game).
Senior guard TJ Haws (13 points per game, a team-best 27 assists) and junior guard Alex Barcello (10 points per game, a team-best 10 steals) continue to score in double-figures on average for the Cougars.
Senior forward Dalton Nixon is BYU’s leader in rebounds, averaging 4.7 boards per game.
The BYU defense surrenders 67.7 points per game, ranking the Cougars 164th nationally in scoring defense. They are tied with Columbia and Idaho in this category.
The Hokies are coached by Mike Young who is 6-1 (.857) in his first season at the helm at Blacksburg, Va.
In his 17th season as a collegiate men’s basketball head coach (299-244, .551 at Wofford), he has coached against BYU before as his Terriers lost to the Cougars 74-66 in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament at the Pepsi Center of Denver.
The Hokies score 76.1 points per game, ranking them 106th nationally in scoring offense.
Virginia Tech is fond of the 3-point line as they made 21 3-pointers in an 100-64 win over Delaware State November 20. They have made double-digit 3-point field goals in five of their seven games to start the season.
Redshirt freshman guard/forward Landers Nolley II (19.7 points, 4.9 rebounds per game) is the Hokies’ leading scorer. He also is tied for the team lead in steals (10) with junior guard Wabissa Bede.
Bede also ranks second nationally with 51 assists for the Hokies.
Freshman guard Nahiem Alleyne (11.7 points per game) also scores in double figures on average for Virginia Tech.
Redshirt freshman guard Tyrece Radford leads the Hokies on the glass as he averages a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game.
Nigerian national, freshman forward John Ojiako has a team-best 5 blocked shots on the season to pace Virginia Tech in that category.
The Hokies rank 70th nationally in scoring defense, surrendering 61.6 points per game.
The Cougars are 2-0 all-time against Virginia Tech, having vanquished the Hokies 97-64 December 29, 1967 at Oklahoma City and 80-77 at Provo March 18, 2016 in the second round of the NIT.
