Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Playing at home for the fourth straight game, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will take on Coppin State Saturday at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum at 5:30 p.m. ET on Regional Sports Networks.
The Hokies (5-1, 1-0 ACC) will go up against the Eagles (1-5, 0-0 MEAC) for the second straight season, following their 74-42 win last season behind a huge halftime lead at home. Tech, which is 3-0 in the all-time series with Coppin State, has played all of its games in Blacksburg, with the first one being played way back in 1985, a 72-45 win.
This will mark the third time that Tech coach Mike Young has faced Coppin State, defeating the
Eagles his last year Wofford (99-65, 2018). Young is 2-0 vs. Coppin State's Juan Dixon.
The matchup will be broadcast on RSN (click here), with Evan Lepler (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Network.
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Watch: CLICK HERETech got up by as many as 16 points against No. 24/RV Clemson and almost squandered its lead, but held on down the stretch to win by six, 66-60. The Hokies were able to win the game at the foul line, making 25 free throws (80.6 FT%), while holding Clemson to just 14 FT attempts.
Making some clutch plays down the stretch, guard Tyrece Radford scored four points the final minute to hold off Clemson Tuesday. The redshirt sophomore racked up a team-high 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting and had two boards.
Leading the team in rebounds Tuesday against Clemson, Hunter Cattoor pulled down six boards and also had 11 points. His 11 points marked the third time this season he's cracked the double-digit plateau, with the others coming vs. Radford and USF.
SCOUTING COPPIN STATE
• Coppin State is coming off a 17-point loss to UMBC this past Sunday, falling by a score of 66-49. It marked the second time this season it did not score more than 50 points (Georgetown on Dec. 8, 80-48)
• Head coach Juan Dixon enters his fourth 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.
• The Eagles are led by Anthony Tarke, who leads the team with 17.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He also can share the rock, too, owning 2.5 assists a contest.
• Some of the strengths the Eagles possess are their tempo, with the concentration of that being getting up a lot of shots, hence being 20th nationally in 3-point field-goal attempts (192), and their defensive havoc, averaging 9.5 steals per game to rank No. 27 in the land.