Tyler Nickel ruled out of Wednesday night game vs. Campbell due to illness

The Virginia Tech Hokies are taking on the Campbell Fighting Camels on the hardwood on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, they’ll be without sophomore small forward Tyler Nickel. He has been ruled out of tonight’s matchup due to an illness, according to the Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball Twitter page.

Nickel transferred to the Hokies this offseason from the North Carolina Tar Heels. There, he averaged over two points per game in 25 appearances. His best performance of the season came against The Citadel, dropping a career-high 16 points on 50% shooting from the field.

Campbell and Virginia Tech are set to tip off at 6:00 PM EST. The game will be televised on ESPN+.

Heading into the locker room at half, VT head coach Mike Young was pleased with his team’s defense vs. Campbell. And he spoke with the ACC Network Extra broadcast crew for a very brief moment.

Mike Young halftime comments in Campbell game

“Mack, we’re doing fine there. We’re doing fine offensively. Can’t get a shot now, which is very unusual for our team. But really proud of them and their willingness to a scouting report. We’re guarding well. They had two declines off of a ball screen which we didn’t want to allow. I thought all and all a really, really nice effort defensively,” Young said.

The Hokies led the game, 26-16 at halftime.

Virginia Tech eventually ended up pulling away in the second half 60-44, but it wasn’t easy. Campbell was able to trim the lead down to as little as four points with 15:14 left in the second half.

The Camels actually outrebounded the Hokies 35-32. VT could never convincingly pull away from Campbell, due to the fact that the Hokies made just made 38 percent of their shots from the field.

The Hokies were without a doubt, carried by a career-high performance from Lynn Kidd, who stuffed the stat sheet with a double-double. Kidd pumped in 24 points and 15 rebounds. Senior guard Hunter Cattoor was their only other player with double figures. He pumped in 12 points.

The Virginia Tech defense did do an exceptional job for most of the game. They forced 16 turnovers on Wednesday night. Campbell shot 27.5 percent from the floor and 26 percent from three-point range.

Up next for Virginia Tech, they’ll face off against Mike Young’s former team, the Wofford Terriers. That one will take place on Sunday, Nov. 19th, which is slated for 5:00 PM EST. Then, they’ll take on Boise State on Thanksgiving, which is Thursday, Nov. 23rd. Tip time for that one is set for 8:00 PM EST.

In the ACC-SEC Challenge, Virginia Tech will face off against Auburn on Wednesday, Nov. 29th. Tip time for that one is slated for 9:15 PM EST.