BLACKSBURG – Following a road victory at Clemson to begin the Mike Young era earlier this week, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will play host to Coppin State on Friday at 7 p.m. ET at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
Tech (1-0, 1-0 ACC), which has won a school-record 24 home nonconference games in a row, looks to keep it going, as Young will face a familiar foe, taking down the Eagles (0-1) last season 99-65, when he was leading Wofford.
It will be a special night on Friday, with the NCAA Tournament 2018-19 banner being unveiled before the game, marking Tech's first time making the tourney three years in a row.
The game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, with Bryant Johnson (play-by-play) and Mack McCarthy (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Properties.
GAME INFORMATION
Fri. | 7 p.m. ET vs. Coppin State | Stats | Watch | Radio | Notes
The Hokies are 52-4 all-time in home openers, including a 13-2 mark since joining in the ACC in 2004. The last time Tech dropped its first game in Cassell was on Nov. 14, 2015 to Alabama State by a score of 85-82. Young at Wofford went 14-3 in his home openers, facing off against then-No. 8 North Carolina last year in Spartanburg, a 78-67 setback.
The last time the Hokies and Eagles played each other, Tech won the meeting 94-43 in Cassell on Nov. 10, 2006. The first game between the two schools was back in 1985, a 72-45 victory for Tech on Dec. 4.
In the Hokies' last time out, they came away with some crucial plays down the stretch to earn a seven-point ACC victory over Clemson, giving Young his 300th career win and that perfect 1-0 start in regular-season action and league play. Redshirt freshman Landers Nolley II had quite the debut, dropping the most points by a Tech freshman in their debut in school history with 30.
SCOUTING COPPIN STATE
• The Eagles are coming off a 91-84 defeat this past Tuesday in Baltimore, playing on their home court of PEC Arena against Rider (1-0). They were picked seventh in the MEAC preseason standings, earning 99 points, while 6-foot-2 guard Dejuan Clayton was tabbed first-team all-MEAC.
• Head coach Juan Dixon enters his third season in Baltimore, following his stint as the women's basketball coach at District of Columbia. Dixon, no stranger to the Maryland area, is the Terrapins' all-time leading scorer and a first-round NBA Draft pick in 2002.
• Similar to the Hokies, Coppin State returns just one starter from a year ago in Clayton. Clayton, who averaged a team-high 14.5 points and 3.8 assists per game last season, scored 17 points and dished out four assists in the season opener versus Rider.
• Being a team that is known to shoot quite often from the perimeter, Coppin State ranked second in the MEAC last year in 3-point field-goal attempts, shooting 841 to average 25 shots from behind the arc a game. On Tuesday, they shot 39 3-pointers and made 10 (25.6 percent).
