The Virginia Tech men’s basketball program has picked up a strong transfer portal commitment from Old Dominion forward Mekhi Long, it was announced on Tuesday. Prior to spending the last three seasons with Old Dominion, Long also spent one year with Rhode Island.
This past season for Old Dominion, the Bryans Road (MD) native averaged 10.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. He also led the Sun Belt Conference with 11 double-doubles including four double-doubles in which he scored 15 points or more.
In 2022-23, Long shot 43.8% from the floor and 35.9% from beyond the arc. He won’t take many shots from deep but is a quality shooter when he does choose to. He also shot 66.1% from the free-throw line. Over his career, free throws have been a struggle with a career free throw percentage of 64.1%.
Long will look to help replace both Grant Basile and Justyn Mutts in the Hokies lineup. Basile and Mutts were the Hokies’ top two scorers from this past season averaging 16.4 and 13.3 points per contest.
Source: Old Dominion transfer Mekhi Long has committed to Virginia Tech.
Led the Sun Belt in double doubles.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 28, 2023
This season, Virginia Tech was 19-15 including 8-12 in ACC play, missing the NCAA Tournament in the process. Next season will be head coach Mike Young’s fifth with the program. Through his first four seasons, the Hokies have made the NCAA Tournament twice and won an ACC Conference Tournament championship in 2022. He’s collected a 73-51 overall record with the Hokies across 124 games.