BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech men's basketball opens its season against Coppin State tonight, looking to get its 2026-27 campaign off to the right start under head coach Mike Young, who enters his eighth year with the program.

They'll draw a dormant opponent in Coppin State, which went 7-24 (5-9 MEAC) in 2025-26. The Eagles' end-of-season record was aided by a four-game surge in which they beat Delaware State, NC Central, South Carolina State, and Maryland Eastern Shore. Coppin State lost its first six games to open 2025-26 and was 2-15 after 17 games.

How Virginia Tech wins

Virginia Tech has never lost to the Eagles, and its margin of victory has not dipped below 32 in any of its four matchups with Coppin State. The Eagles' top returning scorer, guard Hussain Williams, averaged 7.3 points and 2.4 rebounds last season. Williams scored 19 points - a career-best at the D-I level - against Radford in a 107-77 loss Dec. 14, adding five other scoring performances in double-digits. Williams, a Lynchburg, Va. prospect, spent two years at CCBC Dundalk before moving up to the Division I level.

Senior Jamari Piercy is back, too; the 6-foot-5, 170-pound guard started 11 games last season and averaged 6.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest. Sophomore post player Nelson Lamizana returns after averaging 6.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward played in 17 games, missing the latter 14 with an injury.

Fifth-year forward Tafara Gapare could be a player to watch. Now at his fifth school in as many years, Gapare has averaged 3.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game throughout his collegiate career. With an opportunity to take on an expanded role at Coppin State, he could be poised for increased production this season.

Virginia Tech, meanwhile, looks to snap a four-year NCAA Tournament drought, having last reached the Big Dance during the 2021-22 season. The Hokies went 19-13 (8-10 ACC) and ended their season with a 95-89 overtime loss to Wake Forest on March 10.

Tech's efforts are anchored by a returning trio of senior forward Amani Hansberry and junior guards Ben Hammond and Tyler Johnson. Hansberry led the Hokies in scoring and rebounding last season, averaging 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on 49.2% shooting from the field. Hammond wasn't far behind, averaging 13.2 points, 3.2 assists and 2.0 steals per contest while shooting a team-best 43.1% from beyond the arc. He elevated his production during ACC play, averaging 14.9 points per game against conference opponents.

Johnson, meanwhile, averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds across 17 appearances in an injury-shortened campaign. The 6-foot-5 guard shot 53.3% from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range, giving Young another experienced option as the Hokies look to establish their rotation.

Tonight marks the beginning of what Virginia Tech hopes will be a bounce-back season, but the ultimate goal remains as clear as ever: Reach the NCAA Tournament. When asked by Virginia Tech On SI what would constitute a successful 2026-27 campaign, forward Kuol Atak and center Miles Heide both pointed to making the Big Dance — a goal that appears more attainable with this year's expansion of the March Madness field to 76 teams.

Atak flashed upside at Oklahoma last season, averaging 7.0 points in 12.4 minutes per game — including a 29-point outing against Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 29, 2025. Heide started all but one of 32 games for San Diego State last year; the 6-foot-10 big averaged 5.6 points and 4.5 rebounds on a 61.5% clip from the field.

The two are part of an eight-transfer influx for the Hokies this season. Senior guard Jaylen Curry will likely be among the Hokies' starting lineup tonight against Coppin State; the 6-foot-1 guard spent one year at UMass and two at Oklahoma State. He sported a 10.1-point, 3.2-rebound, 3.5-assist average in 2025-26 for the Cowboys, scoring in double-figures 19 times. Curry and Gapare intersected for one year at UMass in 2022-23.

Junior guard Isaiah Elohim is also at his third school. The junior, who spent a year apiece at USC and Florida Atlantic before coming to Blacksburg, started all 32 games last season for the Owls, averaging 12.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game on a 46.5% shooting clip. He totaled 20 points and eight rebounds in FAU's season-ending 74-70 loss to North Texas on March 12 and put up a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double against Tulsa.

Other additions include senior guard Ned Hull (Elon) and center Musa Sagnia (NC State). Perhaps the most intriguing newcomer, however, is fifth-year guard Butta Johnson, whose presence on Virginia Tech's roster was made possible by a court injunction.

Johnson brings the most proven scoring production of the trio, having averaged 6.3 points and 2.1 rebounds across 35 games at Clemson last season while shooting 35.5% from beyond the arc. Hull, meanwhile, averaged 4.5 points and 1.8 rebounds in 18 minutes per game at Elon, connecting on 35.8% of his 3-point attempts.

Sagnia, a 23-year-old sophomore, provides additional frontcourt depth after averaging 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds across 34 appearances at NC State, shooting 59.6% from the field. There's also center Solomon Davis, who didn't log any game action in 2025. He came to Virginia Tech after one season at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland.

Virginia Tech also returns sophomore forward Sin'Cere Jones, whose freshman campaign was cut short by injury. The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Portsmouth, Va., native appeared in just 11 games last season, averaging 1.4 rebounds and 6.7 minutes per contest. Jones scored seven total points, including a season-high four against Maryland Eastern Shore on Dec. 14. A former three-star prospect who averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks per game as a high school junior, Jones could be another piece of Virginia Tech's frontcourt rotation if healthy.

How Young distributes minutes could be one of the more intriguing storylines early in the season. Curry, Elohim and returning guards Ben Hammond and Tyler Johnson give the Hokies several options in the backcourt, while Atak, Heide and returning forward Amani Hansberry figure to factor heavily into the frontcourt. With Copeland, Hull, Butta Johnson and Sagnia also competing for playing time, Young has plenty of options as he looks to establish a rotation capable of navigating ACC play.

Final score prediction

This game should reveal more about how Virginia Tech plays than what the final scoreboard reads. The Hokies are likely to beat Coppin State by 30-plus points, but the biggest takeaways will come from how the pieces fit together on the court. It's the first true game environment to evaluate Tech's eight incoming transfers and how they mesh with the Hokies' returning core. After all, Virginia Tech enters tonight ranked No. 52 in KenPom, while Coppin State sits at No. 360 out of 365 Division I teams.

Final score prediction: Virginia Tech 90, Coppin State 53

The Hokies' game against Coppin State tips off at 7 p.m. ET, with viewing available for the contest on ACC Network.