Mike Young reacts to unique result in Virginia-Virginia Tech series this season

The Virginia Cavaliers went into Blacksburg and took a road game from the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday. In many ways, they were returning the favor after the Hokies took one at their place.

It’s rare to see any rivalry where teams split by winning their road games against an opponent. Certainly, for Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young, it’s not a result that he’s seen before.

“I certainly haven’t experienced that,” Mike Young said. “We’ve won the last four here. We’d never won in JPJ [John Paul Jones Arena]. You know, again, they’re playing good ball. They’re playing really good basketball and I tip my cap to Coach [Ron] Sanchez and that staff.”

At 11-14 overall and 6-8 in ACC play, the Hokies were hoping to find a way to sweep the season series against the Cavaliers. Going into the game, they had won three out of four games and could feel momentum building up in the final stretch of the season. It wasn’t meant to be, though, and Virginia was able to pull out a 73-70 win.

Both teams shot 46 percent in the game at Virginia Tech. On top of that, both sides had seven offensive rebounds. In many ways, that led to the Cavaliers winning the turnover battle by two turnovers to be the difference in the game. That came after the Hokies won by a single point in Charlottesville and, at the time, tied the two teams in the ACC standings. In that respect, the two sides are incredibly evenly matched this season.

Mike Young has been at Virginia Tech since 2019 and this is the first season he’s been in Blacksburg when Tony Bennett wasn’t the head coach at Virginia. He stepped away shortly before the season, leading to the promotion of Ron Sanchez to lead the program for the season. In that way, this is also a unique season for the rivalry between the two ACC schools.

In his time with the Hokies, Young is now 5-9 against Virginia. However, in recent years, the rivalry has been more competitive. Since Young got his first win against the Cavaliers in January of 2021, the Hokies have a record of 5-4 in the series. Their game in 2025 was the only win that the Hokies have in Charlottesville over the Cavaliers.

Now, Virginia Tech will look to bounce back from the loss and finish the last couple of weeks of the regular season strong. That starts on Tuesday night against Boston College.