Virginia Tech Hokies vs South Florida Bulls Match Player Stats On Nov 29, 2020

Tyrece Radford poured in 21 points and Virginia Tech followed a big upset by winning for the second consecutive night, thumping South Florida 76-58 on Sunday night in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-off in Uncasville, Conn.

Radford shot 9-for-12 from the field and teammate Keve Aluma was 5-for-8 from the floor to post 12 points. That made up for the other three Virginia Tech starters, who were a combined 3-for-13 from the field.

But the Hokies (3-0) clamped down on defense for most of the game and received key contributions on the offensive end from reserves Hunter Cattoor (13 points), Cordell Pemsl (10 points) and Cartier Diarra (10 points).

Virginia Tech, which knocked off No. 3 Villanova in overtime Saturday night, did much of its damage in the lane, where it controlled portions of play. The Hokies pushed their advantage to 59-38 with eight minutes to play.

The Hokies cruised despite minimal output offensively from point guard Wabissa Bede, who fouled out of the Villanova game and never got in much of a rhythm against USF.

Caleb Murphy's 11 points along with 10 points apiece from Michael Durr and David Collins paced South Florida (1-2), which shot 37.7 percent from the field and committed 13 turnovers.

The Bulls lost both of their games in the event.

The Hokies might have had a slight hangover from the late-night victory a day earlier. But they had the backups to find energy, with reserves accounting for 15 of the team's first-half points.

Virginia Tech led 36-23 at halftime, closing the half with an 11-2 run.

South Florida shot 37.5 percent from the field in the half. The Bulls had only two field goals in the final 9 1/2 minutes before the break, with both of those coming off putbacks.

It was the first meeting between the teams in 25 years. They had been members in the now-defunct Metro Conference, so they had never met on a neutral court until this matchup.

--Field Level Media