With his top two scorers returning, Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said his team is anxious to see how it stacks up in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Conference season is still two months off, but the Hokies will begin tuning up when they tip off the season Tuesday night against Coppin State in Blacksburg, Va.
After going 13-19 in 2024-25, Virginia Tech flipped it to 19-13 last season behind Amani Hansberry’s 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and Ben Hammond’s 13.2 points and 2.0 steals. With both back, the Hokies are looking to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.
Hansberry was a preseason All-ACC second-team selection and could shift from center to power forward with the addition of San Diego State transfer Miles Heide.
“He’ll still play some five, but to play him at the four is a better matchup for him, he’s a better rebounder at the four,” Young said of Hansberry. “And he’s not wrestling down there with big Pat (Ngongba) from Duke and some of those hulking, big players in the ACC.”
Coppin State coach Larry Stewart enters his fourth year at his alma mater. A member of the school’s and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s Halls of Fame, Stewart played five seasons in the NBA for the Washington Bullets (1991-95) and Seattle SuperSonics (1996-97).
The Eagles struggled to a 7-24 record and seventh-place finish in the MEAC in 2025-26. They allowed a league-worst 80.4 points per game.
Tougher defense is the program’s top priority, and Stewart is confident it will be the most improved aspect of the Eagles’ identity.
“Defense is what wins you the games and we harp on that way more than we have in the past,” he said. “We’re returning … 10 guys and they understand that. We have to hang our hat on being a defensive-minded basketball team.”
Stewart also brought in three players who should make an immediate impact in a league where defending champion Howard is a prohibitive favorite. Stewart said transfers Favour Aire (Penn State), Tafara Gapare (Villanova) and Brendan Johnson (Merrimack) have meshed well with the holdovers.
