BLACKSBURG, Va. – On the court for the third time in five days to open the 2024-25 season, USC Upstate trekked to the Commonwealth of Virginia's New River Valley for a meeting with Virginia Tech at Cassell Coliseum—a quite significant arena in the Spartans' Division I era (2007-pres.).
 
Facing the foe that delivered the program its first-ever Power-Six victory during the 2013-14 season, the Spartans fought valiantly on the road, leading the Hokies for over 15 minutes, the most for the program against a Power-Six foe since leading for 16-plus minutes at Vanderbilt last season. Upstate finished the night shooting greater than 50 percent from the field (50.9 percent; 28-of-55), the team's best shooting performance against a Power-Six opponent since Nov. 15, 2022, at Clemson.
 
Leading Upstate for the third straight game, freshman guard Mister Dean dropped 20 markers against the Hokies, becoming the first Spartan freshman to score 20-plus in consecutive games since Jordan Gainey (three straight) in 2021-22. He finished the night shooting 9-of-14 from the field (1-of-3 from three) as he becomes the first true freshman in the program's D1 era to lead his team in scoring in each of the first three games of his career.
 
Fellow freshman guard Carmelo Adkins ended the night just shy of 20 points with 18, shooting 6-of-7 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from three. Rounding out a trio of scorers with 15 or more points, redshirt sophomore guard Karmani Gregory tallied 15 markers.
 
Game Information
Score: Virginia Tech 93; USC Upstate 74
Records: USC Upstate (1-2; 0-0 Big South); Virginia Tech (2-0; 0-0 ACC)
Location: Cassell Coliseum | Blacksburg, Va.
 
How It Happened
First Half

• After the Hokies lifted the lid off the basket on their first possession of the night, Upstate wasted little time with its response as Carmelo Adkins came down the floor and laid one home to equal the game. Turning up the pressure on the defensive end, the Spartans forced five Virginia Tech turnovers—of seven Hokie turnovers in the game—to fuel the team's longest scoring run, a 16-point burst. Adkins paced the run with eight of the 16 points.
• Cutting into the Spartans' advantage, Virginia Tech offered its longest scoring stretch of the first half, an 11-0 run to trim the Spartan lead to three. Mister Dean snapped the run with consecutive buckets before back-to-back three from Chico Johnson and Adkins jumped the lead back to double-digits, delivering Upstate a nine-point swing upon the cessation of the long Hokie run.
• Battling back and erasing the Spartans' advantage, the Hokies held Upstate without a field goal four nearly four minutes late in the opening period. Virginia Tech coupled a 9-0 run and five-point spurt together against a pair of Breylin Garcia free throws, pulling the game even at 28 with 3:09 to play in the half.
• With the game tied for the first time, Daniel Helterhoff put Upstate back in the lead with a jumper with two minutes to play in the half. The Hokies, however, answered with seven consecutive markers to retake the lead for the first time since the opening 15 seconds of the half, holding a five-point cushion at the break.

 
Second Half

• Despite conceding the first basket of the second half, Upstate continued to battle as it attempted to chip away at the Virginia Tech advantage in the half's early going. Dean notched the first three markers of the half, including the Spartans' lone field goal—a dunk off an inbounds play—ahead of the under-16 media timeout.
• Out of the stoppage, Dean and Adkins hit successive buckets to cut the Hokie advantage back to single digits. Virginia Tech attempted multiple times to grow its lead to 10-plus, but Upstate was ready with answers each time. The Hokies pushed their lead to double-figures for the final time just ahead of the under-12 timeout.
• Spanning the under-12 stoppage, Virginia Tech embarked on a seven-point scoring run, the first of its two-longest runs of the second period. The Hokies second seven-point run of the second half grew their lead to 21, the game's largest before Dean cut the deficit under 20 with 40 seconds remaining.

 
Notable

• Leading Upstate in scoring for the third straight game to open the season and his collegiate career, Mister Dean is the first true freshman in Upstate's Division I era (2007-pres.) to lead the Spartans in scoring in each of his first three career games. Dean's performance Friday broke a tie with former Spartan Justin Bailey (2022-23) for the most consecutive games as Upstate's leading scorer to start his career.
• Scoring 20 points against the Hokies to follow up his 25-points performance against Piedmont Wednesday, Dean becomes the first true freshman since former Spartan Jordan Gainey (three straight games) in 2021-22 to score 20-plus points in consecutive games.
• Finishing the night shooting 9-of-14 from the field, good for a field goal percentage of 64.3, Dean has opened his career shooting greater than 60.0 percent in three straight games. Following the season's opening week, he's shooting 78.1 percent from the floor, making 25-of-32 attempts.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Following a three-game week to open the season, USC Upstate faces two games next weekend, including a third ACC program to open the season. The Spartans return to action next Wednesday at Wake Forest for a 7 p.m. ET tip-off.
 
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