2025-26 Hokie Hoops Statistical Notes: Volume 5

The Men's Team

Two overtime wins, including a triple overtime thriller against Virginia followed by two collapses, getting Tobi Lawal back, and losing Dorn and Johnson for extended periods of time put the Hokies at 12-4 on the 2025-26 campaign and 1-2 in the ACC.

Some are getting a little heated with CMY, with some good reasons, but it is very important to point out that he is still doing better in conference play by this point of his tenure as head coach than any other VT ACC coach. His 54 wins through 6+ seasons is 10 more than Buzz Williams won in his five years at the helm, 1 less than Greenberg after the completion of his 7th season, and the less we talk about the tenure of James Johnson the better.

Of the four losses, they were to Quad 1 opponents St. Mary's and Wake Forest, borderline Quad 1 opponent VCU, and what will probably be Quad 2 Stanford, once ratings are updated.

Scoring

With 16 games completed on the year, the Hokies have had 65 players score in double figures, showing an exceptional level of depth scoring. When you have 4 players every night who can get into double figures, good things tend to happen. This is even more impressive when you realize that last year's top scorer has missed 9.5 of the 16 games on the season. Additionally, with Hammond's explosive night against the Hoos, of the fifteen 30-point games by ACC players this year, 3 have been Hokies.

With that outburst, Hammon led all scorers with 18.25 ppg for this edition, and he was joined in double figures by Hansberry (16.75 ppg), Avdalas (15.33 ppg), and Gurdack (10.5 ppg). Just missing out after his career night was Bedford (9.75 ppg), who led the single digit scorers, followed by Johnson and Schutt (7 ppg), Lawal (5 ppg), Pasha (3.25 ppg), and Jones (0.75 ppg).

The top scorer by edition standings are
Hansberry - 2
Avdalas and Hammond - 1

Rebounding

Now to say something that I don't think I've ever said in one of these.

The Hokies had two players average double figures in rebounds in this window, with both players playing all four games.

Hansberry led all with 12.5 boards per game, but Gurdack cleaned up exactly 10 per. The drop off is then precipitous. Johnson (5 rpg) was the top rebounder of the single digit crew, with Avdalas (3.66), Bedford and Lawal (3), Schutt (2.75), Hammond (2.5), Jones (1.5), and Pasha (1.0) wrapping up the glass cleaners.

38 total individual rpgs places this edition squarely at second most on the year.

Assists

Yuck.

If you want to know why we only went 2-2 here's where you look.

47 assists to 54 turnovers. 24 steals softens the blow, somewhat, but yeesh.

Avdalas led all with 14 assists, but he also led with 15 turnovers.

Hansberry and Hammond both contributed 11 assists, but had a combined 17 turnovers.

Nobody but Hammond consistently protected the ball.

Hansberry, Hammond, and Schutt combined for 17 steals Johnson was the only other to get more than 1.

Experience/Depth

It's been five games since we last had fewer than 2 on the injured list, and with four overtimes played, the minutes have been intense. So intense, that only Jones had fewer than 10 mpg, and he had 9.5. Only Lawal (18), and Pasha (11.75) were in the 10s, and the lone 20 mpg was Bedford (26).

Avdalas was out there the most, at 39.33 mpg, followed in the thirties by Hansberry (37.25), Johnson (35), Hammond (34.25), Schutt (33), and Gurdack (31).

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility to say that the guys were a little gassed in the last two.

Next Four

Cal (#59) starts us off as a Quad 2 opponent. They have two players at 6-10 who split time in the post, so I would say their post depth is very similar to that of the Hokies. Cal sits 10th in the ACC in scoring and 9th in scoring defense. They are, however, very dangerous from beyond the arc, as they sit 3rd in the conference at 37.4% as a team.. They are also sixth worst at defending the 3 (31.9%). Do not let them get to the stripe. They are the best FT shooting team in the ACC at 78.3%. While their post depth is similar to ours, they are nowhere near as active, as Cal is second to only Pitt in fewest rebounds, and they are dead last in offensive boards. They have the 6th best ATO margin in the ACC.

Then the Hokies travel to Houston to take on Quad 1 SMU. Here is a team that has a ton of height, fronted by 7-2 C Samet Yigitoglu. SMU is the best scoring team in the ACC, averaging over 90 a game, shooting 50.5% from the floor. They're also second worst in scoring D, allowing almost 77 a game. They shoot fairly well from range, and are middle of the pack in defending it. Like Cal, they're very good from the line. Despite their height, they're middle of the road in rebounding, but towards the top of the conference in offensive rebounds. They protect the ball well, having the second best ATO ratio in the ACC, and lead the conference in assists.

Quad 2 Notre Dame comes in with a 3 player post platoon of 6-10 or taller players and two 6-7/6-8 forwards taking up the other side of the post. The Irish are one of the poorer scoring teams in the conference, at 74.3 ppg, but they make it up by being one of the better defenses at 66.7 ppg. They are one of the better ACC schools in shooting from distance (36.9%), but they are middle of the road in defending from beyond the arc. Despite their height, they are mid-tier in rebounding, though better than the Hokies. However, they're towards the bottom of the conference in offensive rebounding. They are sloppy with the ball, having the second worst ATO ratio in the ACC. They don't utilize their height well, as they are dead last in the conference in blocked shots and they are not active, defensively, as they are also dead last in steals.

We wrap up at Quad 2 Syracuse. Blech. The Orange are limited in height, as their tallest starter is only 6-9. However, they have 4 players at that height who platoon their two post positions. Syracuse is one of the poorer scoring teams in the ACC and are middle of the road in scoring D. You would think with not having a lot of height, they may opt for more range shooting, but they are the second worst shooting team from range, and are the only team, as of this writing, to have not hit a minimum of 100 threes. Ineffectiveness from range is compounded by the fact that they are, by far, the worst ACC school in shooting FTs. They are below 62%. The lack of height also translates into being the fourth worst ACC school in offensive rebounding and 3rd to last in rebounding margin. Syracuse is toward the bottom in ATO ratio, and assists. However, don't take them lightly because of their lack of height, because they lead the conference in blocked shots, and are the only team, so far, to surpass 100 blocked shots.

Prediction

Cal's range worries me, but their poor rebounding gives me hope.

The conditioning of Lawal and the hopeful returns of any of our other injured players leads me worried about the scoring of SMU.

I have similar thoughts about the lackings of Notre Dame and Syracuse, but that thing (the Carrier Dome), that scares me.

2-2 with wins at home and losses on the road.

The Women's Team

It wasn't the best stretch for CMD to end 2025 and begin 2026. The Hokies did get a surprisingly dominant win in Tallahassee, a completely unsurprising dominant win against Radford, but then turned around and lost an overtime slugfest with Miami and then got boatraced in Louisville.

As it stands, the Hokies are 11-5 on the season and 1-3 in the ACC, and 55th in the NCAA NET Rankings. If it makes anybody feel better, those losses were against Quad 1's Louisville, Duke, BYU, and JMU, and Quad 2 Miami.

Scoring

Finishing this frame with 71.25 ppg, scoring has been extremely consistent through the last 12 games, averaging 70.83. Baker led all scorers with 17 ppg, and was joined by Daley and Nelson in double figures with 11.75 ppg and 10.75 ppg, respectively. Freelon and Wenzel both averaged 8.75 ppg, and were followed by Suffren's 7 ppg. Unfortunately, those were the only scorers who averaged more than a basket per game. Wells and Trent averaged 2.5 ppg, Swanson averaged 1.5 ppg, and Petersen averaged 1.25. Brecelj and Jenkins did not score.

Rebounding

Talk about extremes making you look better than you are. After pulling down 94 rebounds in the first two games of the frame, the Hokies only swiped a decidedly not nice 69 rebounds over the last two. Freelon averaged 9.5 boards, followed closely by Baker (7.75). Trent (5.5) and Daley (4.5) rounded out all players with at least one rebound per quarter. Suffren and Wenzel (3.5) and Nelson (3) all averaged at least one per half. Petersen (1.75), Jenkins (1.5), and Wells (1) were the only others to grab a rebound.

Assists

This was the second best set of games, so far, for assists, as the Hokies dished out 69 assists to 57 turnovers. Adjusting for steals, the AATO margin for the frame was 69:31. Nelson led all Hokies with a stellar 28 assists and a 28:9 ATO margin. Factoring in Freelon, Baker, Suffren and Wells, the five have an AATO margin of 51:8. Wenzel finished with the second most assists (14), but had the most turnovers (11).

Experience/Depth

Baker led all with 32 mpg, followed by Nelson with 31.25. Wenzel, Daley, and Freelon all averaged at least 20 mpg, to round out the starters, while the front bench was represented by Suffren's 18, Trent's 14.75, and Wells' 13.25. Mid-bench minutes were earned by Petersen (7.5), and Swanson and Jenkins (5 mpg). Rounding out all participants was Brecelj who saw one minute of action.

Next Four

Well, the train of Quad 1s will continue as the Hokies next travel to Syracuse (#42), whose losses were against Michigan and Duke. They're deep and tall. Expect three starters at 6-2 or taller, with another as the first off the bench.This is not a good shooting team from beyond the arc, almost as bad as we are, but they are very fairly effective inside. One glaring weakness is a 67.5% FT%, good for 13th in the ACC. Another is they are the 3rd most turnover-prone team in the conference, and have the 13th ranked margin. Going inside will be tough, as they have the 3rd most blocked shots and second most steals in the conference. .

Returning to Quad 4, the Hokies welcome Boston College (#249), the second lowest rated major conference team, only behind DePaul. The Eagles play only one player taller than 5-11, and have a very limited post. As such, they have the worst FG% in the conference and the worst FG% Defense. They have a bit of a pulse from beyond the arc, but that's because they've taken 111 more shots from range than we have. They also have one of the worst 3pt% defenses in conference, so we could very much see the proverbial "stoppable force meets a movable object" in this game. What they do well is shoot FTs, as they are 3rd in the conference at 76.4%.They are also at the bottom of the conference in total rebounding and defensive rebounding. Second chance points opportunities should be aplenty. In all other categories they are at the bottom third of the conference, except in turnovers, where they are middle of the pack.

Staying in the bottom Quadrant, the Hokies make the trip to Houston to take on SMU. The Mustangs are also lacking in height. Don't expect to see more than 2 players enter the game taller than 6-1. Wherever you find Boston College in the statbook, SMU isn't far away, though they are a decent shooting team from range and are in the top 4 in FT%. This is also a team that is capable in thievery, coming in at 3rd in steals, which is good, because they are the second worst in turnovers and worst in assists. .

Then the Hokies jump back up to Quad 2 to take on Clemson. The Tigers currently have the same record as the Hokies, and the two teams are very similar in the statbooks. This is another vertically challenged team, though at the end of their bench is 6-5 SR Morgan Lee, though she has been sparingly utilized. They are a good defensive team, not allowing more than 73 in any game, which is weird, as they have allowed the 3rd highest opponent FG% and the highest 3pt% allowed in the conference. They have the 3rd fewest blocked shots and 4th fewest steals,

Prediction

The Hokies should dominate the Quad 4 games. Clemson, being in Blacksburg, should be a win. I have a sneaking suspicion Syracuse is going to be ugly. It's Syracuse.