BYU scorches nets in victory over Virginia Tech

BYU caught fire in the second half and took third place in the Maui Invitational with a 90-77 win over Virginia Tech.

BYU was down two points at halftime, but TJ Haws came out with 13 points in the first 6 minutes of the second half and the rest of the team knocked down shots to pull away from the Hokies. BYU tied a school record with 17 made threes from seven different guys. All five BYU starters had double digit points, led by 20 points from TJ Haws. Jake Toolson had a complete game with 11 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, and BYU got a balanced effort from everywhere else.

Virginia Tech beat #3 Michigan State just two days ago and came into the game ranked 47 in KenPom. Yoeli Childs now will just miss Saturday’s game versus Montana Tech before returning next Wednesday at Utah.

BYU managed this non-Yoeli stretch as well as one could realistically hoped for. Houston and Virginia Tech could both be Quad 1 wins come March, and UCLA is a blue blood win on a neutral floor. BYU should be full of confidence as they get Yoeli back for some big remaining non-conference games and heading into WCC play.

BYU next plays Montana Tech at 1pm MST Saturday on BYUtv.