The Lady Hokies play #5/6 Baylor today at 7 PM in San Antonio. The game is on ESPN2. Pam Ward has the play by play; LaChina Robinson is the analyst. Baylor is the #2 seed in the Riverwalk bracket. The peoples bracket on ESPN picks Baylor 91% to VT 9% to win. Baylor is 25-2 overall with losses to current #15/16 Arkansas(78-83) on Dec 6; and to Iowa State(71-75) on Jan 16. They were scheduled to play UConn on Jan 7 and that game was cancelled. So they had a 2 week layoff from Jan 2 until they played Iowa State on Jan 16.
Their roster does not look too intimidating sizewise. They are a little taller than the Hokies overall; but their tallest starter is 6'3" Queen Egbo. The player who matches Kitley at 6'5" is a freshman who only plays 10 min/game. Baylor is a more mature team than the Hokies with three seniors and 2 juniors in the starting five. Their starters play 25-30 minutes per game; but the most of the rest of the team plays at least 11 minutes per game. Stamina may be an issue with our 7 players trying to stay with their 10 or 11.
THE STARTERS:
1 NaLyssa Smith F 6'2 Jr. 3rd Year
30.1 MIN/G 18.1 PPG 9.1 RPG
2.4 PF 1.1 Assists 2.8 TO 0.4 A/TO
12 Moon Ursin G 5'6 Sr. 4th Year
31.2 MIN/G 11.6 PPG 6.7 RPG
1.6 PF 3.9 Assists 1.6 TO 2.5 A/TO
21 DiJonai Carrington G 5'11 Sr. Grad
22.7 MIN/G 13.5 PPG 4.7 RPG
2.3 PF 2.3 Assists 2.6 TO 0.9 A/TO
25 Queen Egbo C 6'3 Jr. 3rd Year
24.2 MIN/G 11.3 PPG 8.6 RPG
2.5 PF 1 Assists 2.6 TO 0.4 A/TO
2 DiDi Richards G 6'2 Sr. 4th Year
29.2 MIN/G 6.7 PPG 3.1 RPG
1.8 PF 6.3 Assists 2.6 TO 2.5 A/TO
THE BENCH
20 Hannah Gusters C 6'5 Fr. 1st Year
10.6 MIN/G 5.4 PPG 2 RPG
1.3 PF 0.2 Assists 1 TO 0.2 A/TO
3 Trinity Oliver G 5'9 R-Jr. 4th Year
1.1 PF 1.3 Assists 1 TO 1.3 A/TO
17.4 MIN/G 4.7 PPG 3.3 RPG
24 Sarah Andrews G 5'6 Fr. 1st Year
11.8 MIN/G 4.3 PPG 1.2 RPG
1.2 PF 1.4 Assists 1 TO 1.3 A/TO
51 Caitlin Bickle F 6'0 Jr. 3rd year
14.4 MIN/G 4.6 PPG 4.6 RPG
1.4 PF 1 Assists 0.7 TO 1.5 A/TO
11 Jordyn Oliver G 5'10 So. 2nd Year
11.1 MIN/G 3.6 PPG 2.2 RPG
0.7 PF 2 Assists 0.8 TO 2.6 A/TO
10 Jaden Owens G 5'8 So. Transfer from UCLA started playing when all xfers were ruled elegible
9.3 MIN/G 2.5 PPG 0.9 RPG
1.1 PF 2.2 Assists 0.5 TO 4.7 A/TO
Baylor may be the best team the Ladies have played. Queen Egbo will be a challenge for Kitley; but she does average 2.5 fouls per game. If the Hokies can challenge her early and get some early foul calls, the game may open up for Kitley.
Baylor is a high scoring team and a good defensive team. They average 81.6 ppg and allow 54.5 ppg. They scored 101 vs Jackson State in the first round.
STATISTICS:
I think the Hokies have a chance in this game; but Sheppard is going to have to find her game. I don't think we will see as much double and triple-teaming of Kitley. And when they do double her, I don't think we'll see anyone left alone under the basket. There is going to have to be some offense from outside. Sheppard, King, and Amoore are going to have to make shots. This would be a good game for Baines to be aggressive inside; we need to get some of the Baylor starters in foul trouble.
Baylor is not a particularly good three point team, only averaging 32.5% from three; but they only allow 26.7% from three. They are a great inside team shooting 48.6% overall from the floor. They only take 16% of their shots from beyond the arc; so their average inside the arc is 52%. The flip side of my comment about getting their bigs in foul trouble is that Kitley is going to be challenged inside defensively and she may have problems staying on the floor. If she can't stay in the game, it's going to be a long day for the Hokies.
Baylor's opponents have attempted 32.5% of their shots from three and have averaged 7.5 fewer shots per game than Baylor. Baylor averages 16.7 offensive rebounds per game; and out rebounds their opponents by 19.2 rebounds per game. They rebound their own missed shots and don't let their opponents have second chances. We will need to box them out on both offense and defense to keep them from having a big advantage on the boards.
The bad news is that if we get by Baylor, we will face the winner of #13/15 Tennessee vs #16/14 Michigan for the opportunity to probably face UConn. This is a tough bracket. The next, game if we win today, will be Saturday.
Go Hokies!
Comments
I don't think Baylor is better than Louisville or NC State but they are probably the deepest team the Lady Hokies have faced.
LET'S GO!
HOKIES
Should be a heck of a battle down low.
Woo anyone find the lighting really badly off putting?
Killing us on the boards 13-7. We have not made a two point shot.
If we're gonna just jack up three's all game it might make sense to keep someone around to rebound.
Kitley not remotely interested in this game right now.
She's not good against a physical big. She's getting pushed around.
Baylor is doing everything well. They are even shooting 44% from three. And we can't keep them off the boards. We're getting out rebounded 26-13.
Was feeling bad I could not get the game on TV at the hotel, and was trying to find a way to stream to the laptop before I saw the score and the commentary. I think I'm fine not watching. Let me know if we get within 10.
72-42 after three quarters. The only way we could have a chance against Baylor would be if the refs called a tight game underneath. Baylor is very physical and the refs are letting them come flying for the rebounds.
I just watched Amore run down the court get in position and the Baylor girl run her down and score a basket. Amore is lying on the ground, no call. On the other side, Shepard brushed a girls arm and it was called.
The Lady Hokies weren't playing well, but the Refs were worse than useless.
Does anyone else think this officiating is absolute garbage? It wouldn't change the outcome, but it sure is frustrating to watch.
I think you could say that about NCAA basketball as a whole. I must admit that I have no concept of what is and is not a foul anymore.
Just as bad is the "shooting foul" where anything inside the 3 point arc seems to be granted continuation at this point.
Then there's Replay, which simultaneously interrupts the game and rarely fixes anything.
Officiating seemed really poor. Best I remember every block/charge call went against Tech. As noted, it would not have changed the outcome. Announcers just gushing over Baylor was obnoxious.
The officiating was atrocious.
The refereeing in wbb is atrocious. I go to as many home games as I can and every game I am astounded at how consistently bad the refs are. One of the fun things about the women's games are that due to the small crowd size, you can hear everything in the gym. At the men's games in normal times the crowd is so large and loud that the ref insults get lost in the commotion. With the smaller crowd sizes at the women's games every insult thrown at the refs is heard by everyone in the building, players and refs included, and it just hangs there. Plus at men's games its usually a loud mouth drunk guy yelling to get on tv. It hits different at the women's game when the insult is shouted by a 50 year old woman in a sweater.
I see you missed late 90s early 2000s VT mens basketball. I went to games that if you told me 200 fans where there id start counting to prove you're too high.
Kitly is getting schooled so badly. I almost feel bad for her. She's on the playground with the big girls tonight and better hit the weight room and find a mean streak this off-season. I also think the referees are calling lots of BS calls. The entire Baylor team is huge, yet VT seems to be getting all of the offensive fouls called.
Overall, a real learning experience and still an enjoyable game to watch, knowing what is likely in the future.
Great season from the women. Looking forward to next year.
This year is by far the most I have ever enjoyed watching any level of women's basketball. We have a lot of great ladies playing that are exciting to watch. Huge step to get to the NCAA's. We now have a good chance to keep going back with the young talent we have. Be nice to see VT start using football tickets to incentivise students to go to ladies sports, but tough to do when football is the one sport that is struggling to beat past expectations. Of course I can't talk. Never saw half the sports VT played as a student.
The parity between the high seeds and low seeds in women's college basketball is so much worse than men's IMO... If you aren't a top 2 seed, you basically have no shot.
I really thought the Ladies had a good enough roster to at least be competitive with the top teams. But Baylor just out-muscled us. Their physical play all over the court, but especially underneath, basically eliminated the Tech offense. With tighter officiating, we could have stayed closer; but I don't think we have the team yet to dream of a national championship. We need some bigger bodies that are not easy to push around.
As much as I lover her play, Kitley needs to eat her Wheaties and get mean this summer.