MJ Collins scored all of his 15 points in the first half, and Jason Edwards had 17 of his 20 in the second half, as Vanderbilt (8-1) beat Virginia Tech (3-5), 80-64, in Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday evening.

The Commodores shot 52.7% from the field and won the turnover battle, 15-11.

It marked the first road game of the season for the Vanderbilt, and a homecoming of sorts for their coach Mark Byington, who grew up approximately a half-hour's drive from Blacksburg.

Jaden Schutt (15 points), Mylyjael Poteat (14) and Ben Burnham (10) led the Hokies in scoring.

It was the best game of the season for Collins, one of two Commodore transfers (the other being Tyler Nickel, who scored six) who played at Virginia Tech a year ago.

Vanderbilt held a six-point lead at half, which Tech cut to two with 15:41 left. But the Commodores went on a 9-0 run, with seven points coming from Edwards, to push the lead to 54-43 with 12:10 to play.

The Hokies cut the lead to eight but a quick 6-0 scoring spurt in a 46-second span, starting with a Nickel layup, followed by two Huffman steals that converted to fast-break lay-ups (one by Huffman, another by Tanner) made the advantage 71-57.

Edwards then hit about a 30-foot 3 to make the lead 17 with 4:05 left and put it away for good.

Collins had 15 in the first half, including 3-of-7 on 3-pointers, as the Commodores held a 39-34 lead at the break. He scored all 11 points in a game on a run that spanned from the 11:28 to the 9:05 mark of the first half, which put Vanderbilt up 10 at its end.

Virginia Tech held a 22-16 edge on the glass, but shot just 31.4% from the field compared to Vanderbilt’s 51.7%.

Poteat led the Hokies with 12 points at the break.

Vanderbilt started Huffman, Nickel, AJ Hoggard, Chris Manon and Devin McGlockton.

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Jason Edwards can carry this team for a time.

It wasn't Vanderbilt's best shooting night (9-of-27 from 3); take Edwards out of it and the Commodores are 6-of-20. It felt as if Edwards hit a big shot in the second half every time Vanderbilt needed it; sometimes those were contested shots in the paint and other times, a 30-footer nobody was expecting.

I'm not sure this team has a superstar, but if it does, my guess is Edwards winds up being that guy.

Huffman, Manon and Tyler Tanner continue to be defensive menaces.

Huffman had a game-high four steals, Manon had two and Tanner one. Those three came up big on the defensive end in the second half when Vanderbilt's lead teetered within about two and 10; good plays on that end of the floor led to easy buckets on the other side and helped Vanderbilt pull away.

Devin McGlockton health watch?

Vanderbilt was out-rebounded, 37-27, and McGlockton--far and away the Commodores' best rebounder--sat out much of the second half with the game in the balance. I don't know if McGlockton re-aggravated a minor injury suffered in the Drake game, but he wasn't in foul trouble (one for the night) didn't play poorly that I noticed.

McGlockton also pulled just two rebounds in 22 minutes; that's uncharacteristic for a guy who has the nation's 21st-best offensive rebounding rate and 151st-best mark on the defensive end after this one.

Edwards might be the best player, but McGlockton is probably the team's most indispensable one and the Commodores can't afford him at anything much less than 100%.