When graduate student Mylyjael Poteat missed two free throws with only six seconds left on the clock, John Paul Jones Arena roared, then quickly went quiet as junior guard Andrew Rohde received the ball to take the last shot. Virginia’s comeback had started slowly, but late-game heroics and just enough luck willed the team back into the game against its biggest rival in Virginia Tech.
Rohde ran the length of the court with conviction, and with just a second left in the game, he went up for a difficult layup under the basket.
Rohde, who had missed the previous game with a leg injury, did not convert the attempt, though he said afterward that it felt good leaving his hand. The shot bounced off the rim, the clock expiring before sophomore forward Blake Buchanan could attempt to tip the ball in, and the Cavaliers (10-12, 3-8 ACC) fell 75-74 to the Hokies (10-12, 5-6 ACC) in the first leg of the Commonwealth Clash, with the second — an away matchup in Blacksburg — only two weeks away.
With just under 70 seconds left in the game, Virginia, which was missing junior forward Elijah Saunders for the second straight game due to injury, trailed by seven. It had been playing from behind since the 8:21 mark of the first half, sitting 13 points down with only six and a half minutes left.
What turned the tide for the Cavaliers were its guards — juniors Andrew Rohde and Isaac McKneely, sophomore Dai Dai Ames, senior Taine Murray and even freshman Ishan Sharma all had strong outings, scoring well and limiting mistakes.
Ames started the second half 4-4 from the field, and though he missed the winning shot, Rohde’s heroics — including incredible passing, vocal offensive leadership and some clutch shots — were what got Virginia within one.
The rowdy crowd certainly knew where to point its ire. Virginia Tech shot 10 free throws in the first half, some off calls that the student section found tenuous at best. Interim Coach Ron Sanchez received a technical foul early for choice words he directed toward the official, and he noted his frustration with the foul calls throughout the game.
“At times, when I felt like we guarded our yard and stayed in our lane, and kind of stopped them, the whistle was blown, and they ended up getting free throws out of that,” Sanchez said.
Hokies Coach Mike Young, when asked, noted just how anomalous the free-throw disparity has been all season for the Cavaliers — who have not won back to back games in 2025 — and pointed to his players’ abilities to draw fouls as what got them the opportunities at the line today.
“The shocking statistic through [Virginia’s] first 10 games [is that] their opponents … have made more foul shots than U.Va.’s taken,” Young said. “Never do you see that. We’ve got some guys … that are prone to getting fouled around the rim.”
The referees can only do so much, however, and Virginia will go home hoping to address some major concerns on defense. Sophomore guard Jaden Schutt — a last name aptly pronounced as “shoot” — led the Hokies in scoring with 18 points, one less than McKneely, the game’s leading scorer. Schutt made four three-pointers, three in the first half, some hardly contested by defenders.
While Virginia’s guards played earnest and efficient basketball, especially in the second half, its bigs failed to make an impression on the stat sheet, barring rebounding numbers. Perhaps that was due to early foul trouble — sophomore forward Blake Buchanan had three in the first half — but defensive lapses and a failure to string together consistent offensive play placed even more pressure on the Cavalier backcourt.
Freshman forward Jacob Cofie shot 1-6, and redshirt freshman forward Anthony Robinson’s two baskets were both dunks created from Rohde’s lobs. Sanchez noted that Saunders’ absence forced Robinson into a position in which he had less experience than others.
“[We were] short-handed to begin with, without Elijah,” Sanchez said. “So Anthony Robinson had to step into a role that he's been prepared for but just doesn't have the experience [in].”
Sophomore forward TJ Power, who has at times this season looked out of place like a polar bear in the South, made a contribution in the first half with two offensive rebounds, but was also unable to contribute to the scoring sheet in a meaningful way.
The first half was certainly more trying than the second for Virginia. Virginia Tech was lights-out from beyond the arc, making nine of its eventual 14 free throws in the first 20 minutes of play. The Hokies scored 14 points in the paint on the half to four for the Cavaliers, holding their own defensively as they limited Virginia to 12-29 from the field.
Sanchez, as always, referenced the Cavaliers’ inexperience after the game. It is a young team, with only one senior seeing the floor tonight. However, the loss pushed Virginia down to the fourth-from-bottom position in the conference, with a difficult lineup of opponents on the docket in the coming weeks.
The Cavaliers will return to action Monday against Pittsburgh. The Panthers (14-7, 5-5 ACC) are coming off of a loss to Wake Forest, desperate to start a win streak in order to keep their tournament hopes alive.
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