Virginia Tech trending up as Saint Joseph's awaits

Field Level Media|published: Fri 20th December, 13:02 2024

Nov 20, 2023; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Saint Joseph's Hawks forward Rasheer Fleming (13) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

After a brutal stretch of losses, Virginia Tech appears to be showing signs of life in recent weeks.

The Hokies go for their third straight victory on Saturday afternoon when they take on Saint Joseph's as part of the Holiday Hoopfest in Philadelphia.

Virginia Tech (5-6) dropped six games in a row from Nov. 15 to Dec. 7 -- the first five by double digits -- before authoring a competitive effort in a 64-59 loss to then-No. 18 Pittsburgh. Perhaps that defeat got the Hokies headed in the right direction, as they trounced North Carolina A&T by 28 and beat Navy 80-72 in their most recent contest.

Ben Burnham led the way against Navy last Sunday with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

"He had a great game," Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said. "He plays really, really hard."

The Hokies shot well from the field (52.9 percent), the 3-point arc (10 of 18) and the foul line (16 of 18) in one of their best performances of the season.

Saint Joseph's (7-4) is coming off a sizzling shooting performance of its own in Wednesday's 84-57 win over American. The Hawks shot 60.4 percent from the field -- the first time in nearly nine years they eclipsed 60 percent shooting in a contest.

Rasheer Fleming paced the team with 26 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. He shot 11 of 15 from the field, while Erik Reynolds II (8 of 13) also shot well en route to 23 points.

Reynolds' quality effort was particularly noteworthy for the Hawks, as the talented guard was 3 of 7 from 3-point range after going 6 of 35 from long distance over the previous five games.

"You got to love them and believe in them. You got to look to see if there's anything technical at this point of a guy's career that you can make a tweak to," Hawks coach Billy Lange said after Reynolds missed all six 3-point tries in a loss to Charleston last week.

"It could be a toe, it could be his legs, it could be his follow-through, it could be anything. So, you got to evaluate that and then you got to decide whether or not you're going to make that change now."

--Field Level Media