BLACKSBURG — The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team turned in one of the most prolific outings in its history Sunday night.
The Hokies tuned up for this week’s trip to New York City by squashing The Citadel 132-93 at Cassell Coliseum.
The 132 points were the second-highest total in Tech history. Tech tallied a school-record 141 in a double-overtime win over Southern Mississippi in February 1988.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 29 points for Tech on Sunday — the third-most prolific outing by a freshman in school history. He was 10 of 16 from the field.
Tech (2-0) opened this season with a 111-79 rout of visiting Detroit Mercy.
This is the first time Tech has scored at least 100 points in back-to-back games since back-to-back 102-point outings in January 1988.
People are also reading…
It is the first time Tech has scored at least 100 points more than once during a season since doing so twice in the 2009-10 season.
The Hokies scored 113 points against The Citadel last season. This is the first time Tech has scored at least 100 points against the same foe in back-to-back years since doing it against Southern Mississippi in 1988 and 1989.
The Citadel is steered by former VMI coach Duggar Baucom, who employs the same uptempo offense he used with the Keydets. The Bulldogs won just 12 games last season, when they led Division I in scoring offense (89.9 ppg) but ranked last in scoring defense (94.6 ppg).
Virginia Tech will play its next two games in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York. Tech last played at the Garden six years ago.
The Hokies will face St. Louis (1-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Billikens were 12-21 overall and 6-12 in the Atlantic 10 last season.
On Friday, Tech will face either fellow 2017 NCAA Tournament participant Providence (1-0) or Washington (1-0 entering a Sunday night game).
Providence went 19-15 overall and 9-9 in the Big East last year, when it lost in the second round of the NCAAs. All five starters are back, although two of them missed the team’s opener with injuries.
Washington went 9-22 overall and 2-16 in the Pacific 12 last season. The Huskies are now coached by former Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins.
Thursday will mark Tech’s third straight game against a team that was ranked worse than No. 200 out of 351 Division I teams in the NCAA’s final RPI last season. Detroit Mercy finished at No. 289. The Citadel finished at No. 283. St. Louis wound up No. 247.
The Hokies led The Citadel 66-47 at halftime Sunday. Alexander-Walker had 21 points in the first half.
Tech shot 68.6 percent from the field in the game, The Hokies were 12 of 22 from 3-point range.
Kerry Blackshear finished the game with 22 points for Tech. Ahmed Hill added 20 points.
Virginia Tech guard Justin Bibbs missed his second straight game for disciplinary reasons.