WBB at Miami Jan 5 at Noon

The Ladies are in Miami today to take on the Hurricanes at noon. The game will be on ACCNextra. The ESPN Matchup Predictor gives the Hokies 61.3% chance to win. Miami is 11-3, 1-2 in the ACC with losses to Vanderbuilt, who are receiving votes in both polls, UNC (#17) and Louisville. Their ACC win was at Pittsburgh by 6 points. In the one common opponent Miami beat Campbell 71-66; the Hokies beat the Camels 81-46.

Miami is a very experienced team; they start 4 grad students and a senior. Their sixth player is also a senior; there are 2 freshmen in the top 8 players. The four starting grad students are all transfers, as is the sixth player. The Hurricanes do have some height with starting forwards #44 Cameron Williams at 6'3" and #21 Natalija Marshall at 6'5". they do start two 5'6" guards in #14 Haley and #15 Hanna Cavinder.

Miami should be a slower paced game than we saw at FSU since they only average 72.9 ppg while giving up 65. Interestingly their leading rebounder is 5'6" Haley Cavinder with 7.8 rebounds to go with her 18.4 ppg. The Canes shoot 46% overall and only 29.5% from beyond the arc. Another anomaly is that their best three-point shooter is 6'5" Marshall with a 42.9% average on 42 attempts. Haley Cavinder is the most prolific shooter with 70 attempts but only makes 24.3%. The Hurricanes do not seem to have the aggressive defense we faced at FSU only averaging 7.7 steals and 15.4 turnovers per game. They commit 15.9 turnovers and average 15.1 assists. Williams and Marshall average 2.6 fouls per game and Williams has fouled out once. Maybe the Hokies can work on the Miami bigs and keep them on the bench with fouls for part of the game. The Canes are a good FT shooting team with a team average of 79.5%; only Williams shoots below 75%.

This is a game the Hokies can win; but they have to dramatically reduce their turnovers. Wenzel cannot turn the ball over 11 times. If they can get the ball to Micheaux and she can get Williams and Marshall in foul trouble, the Hokies could do well. On the other hand, Rose has to control her impulses to reach for the ball on defense, so she can stay in the game. I think we might see more Nelson at point, especially if Wenzel continues to turn the ball over. With two relatively short guards for Miami, I would expect the Hokies to be able to get good looks from outside; if they can make those shots, this could be an easy win. It would great for this to be a game Hazelton and Ramiya White get some minutes.

LET'S GO HOKIES!