The 18-6, 8-4 Ladies host the 16-7, 9-3 NC State Wolfpack Sunday at noon. The game will be on the ACC Network. ESPN Matchup Predictor says Wolfpack 61.6%. Early post because I won't have time tomorrow morning.
The Hokies have a slightly better record; but NC State has played #6, #11, #14, #19, and #25. They lost to all of those except #19 Tennessee in the opening game of the season. They have also lost to USC, Clemson and Rhode Island. The Hokies lost to #6 Louisville and #17 Duke; and we beat Clemson. We lost to Miami and they beat Miami.
The Puppies(as Lt. Rob calls them) have 6' 6" #18 sophomore forward Tilda Trygger and 6' 2" #12 junior forward Khamil Pierre. Other starters are 5' 10" junior guard #35 Zoe Brooks, 5' 7"
sophomore guard #3 Zamareya Jones, and 6' 0" junior guard #2 Qadence Samuels. The first three off the bench are 5' 10" freshman guard #7 Destiny Lunan, 5' 11" sophomore guard #0 Devyn Quigley, and 6' 2" junior forward # 11 Maddie Cox.
The Puppies are led by Pierre with 16.1 ppg and 12 rebounds. Brooks(15.8), Jones(15), and Trygger(12) also score in double digits. No one has fouled out this season and only Jones averages 2 fouls per game. Pierre, Brooks, Jones, and Trygger play at least 30 minutes per game. Lorena Awou is listed as playing in three games this season; but she is no longer on the roster.
NC State shoots 44.7% overall, 31.7% from three and 74.9% from the line. Brooks and Trygger are the best starters from three at 39.7% and 36.0%. Off the bench, Quigley(37.2%) and Cox(34.4%) are the best from deep. As a team they average 15 assists, 11.9 turnovers and 6.3 steals. Lazy passes and careless ball handling will cost the Hokies. Maybe the home court will encourage the refs to call some of the contact on the steals in this game.
This is another game the Ladies could win if they play their best; but NC State is good and they are not going to make it easy for us.
LET'S GO HOKIES!
Comments
LETS GO
NC State offense much worse than I expected this season.
Hokies!
Wenzel and Baker need to be much more efficient offensively this game for VT to have a shot.
State lost to Clemson on the road because they didn't have Zam Jones that game.
They've lost to a lot of good teams in very close games. This is a very good team that can beat you multiple ways. VT needs to bring their A game.
Tie game 19-19 end of 1st.
Hokies 1-4 FT.
Getting killed in the paint giving them standing still layups.
We cant make layups or free throws.
2/7 on layups
1/4 on free throws
That whistle came when she was three steps from shooting but they gave her three steps of continuation
Turnovers starting to add up to
This is the same sloppy ball control that cost them at Notre Dame
Too many turnovers. Passes look lazy like against ND. Didn't learn anything from that film study.
We were up 19-12. Now down 31-23 in the blink of an eye. Wow.
Grrr Wenzel had no one between her and the basket and chooses to take a 15 foot jumper
And now takes it to rim with no defender and misses. I dont know what she does at practices.
And whiffs a complete bunny
#7 and #3 are being allowed to use a stiff arm on offense almost every trip down. Not sure what its going to take to get it called.
Hokies offense in 2nd quarter
Wenzel starts by draining 2 threes then can't do shit within 2 feet of the basket
Unfortunately that's her standard in regards 2 feet. Would love to see her shot map
8 and a half minutes without a bucket. Sheesh.
K enjoy your Sunday all, I cant watch this mess
Agreed. Had to go run some errands, so let it record since it was on the ACCN. Watched the entire first half, then skipped ahead to early 4Q, saw nothing had changed, skipped to the end, nothing had changed. So disappointing that we've gotten the same level of play from both the men and women's teams. As you said about Wenzel earlier in the thread, it really does make you wonder what in the hell the teams are practicing in the time between games. The lack of development is a head scratcher.
This has just been a lazy uninspired sloppy mess.
VT has punched above their weight this year. They've only been above 50 in offensive efficiency rating once this year - against BC.
This game is a clear example of that. The defense is good for VT, but those top 5-6 teams are a lot better.
I like Duffy, and I like the sets she runs, but if VT wants to get in the upper half of the ACC consistently, they're going to need to spend more in Women's Basketball.
You can't rely on past recent history. Brooks leaving for Kentucky should have been a wake up call that the game has changed.
State is a lot better than their record for sure, as you can see that they have multiple players who can get buckets in multiple ways.
Unfortunately, like Alum said in the men's game thread for NCSU, it's going to be a long wait for the cash to trickle down to either basketball team. Football is going to eat first for a while!
It's too early to judge Duffy. She's still playing with the scraps Brooks did not want to take with him and random pieces from the portal. Let's see if she can develop a team with players she develops.
I think Duffy is an exceptional coach. I would even go so far as to say she exceeds Brooks as a coach and a culture builder. She has nothing to work with as far as NIL. We are really hamstrung as a program in the resource department which is a shame. The pool of high end talent is so small in women's basketball that unless we can find a couple million in NIL annually, we can't be a top 25 program.
Agree unfortunately. I would also expect other teams to poach Wenzel and Baker if they haven't started already.
Not sure we need to worry too much about that. They would both be bench players on a good team.
Negative, both would be starters as a third scorer.
Baker I agree but not as confident in terms of Wenzel. She ranks 123rd of the top 150 ACC players in shooting %. She is 78th in FT%. She is about 50th in 3%. Only way I see her starting for most other teams would be if she was limited to just wide open 3s. Her defense is mid at best. Too many opponent guards blow by her to get to the rim. Her scoring stats are quantity over quality. She is 9th in the ACC in turnovers per game too.
All that leads to my thoughts that she's not supposed to be the number 1 or 2 option on a different team. I think you see all of those numbers get better if say she's the 3 in a 3 guard offense.
Unfortunately women's basketball is a net loss for VT financially. Even in the final four year, we lost money. There is no money for women playing in the 64 like there is for men.
The next time the ACC says they are scheduling us to play NC State on K-Yow day, we need to say fuck you. They don't lose on K Yow day and it seems like we get scheduled to play them every year for that.
Issue is that the portal class with the exception of an occasional good game by Freelon was a absolute bust. Daley has disappeared, Swanson doesn't play, even Peterson has regressed.
Its not as much Daley has regressed as it is Suffren surged and Duffy isn't giving Daley minutes. She is offensively more efficient than Nelson by a wide margin. Also has alot to do with Duffy playing Wenzel and Baker over 31 mpg. Only so many spots to rotate if you have two starters that rarely leave the floor.
Same story for Swanson. Her minutes are limited but she is scoring 15.4 pts/40 minutes.
Daley has the 5th highest offensive rating on the team and 3rd highest defensive rating if you exclude Brecelj, who never plays. All that but Duffy is limiting her to 7th most minutes at 16.8mpg in ACC play.
Wasn't there a Kenny Brooks recruit that stayed committed when we got Duffy? I can't remember her name, but I seem to recall everyone being really excited that she was staying. Is she not with the team anymore?
Not here anymore. Myah Hazelton.
She transferred to Rice but has not played a significant role. 23 games, getting 8.6mpg, Averaging 2.4 ppg. Rice has two senior Forwards though so that may change next season.
She had a lot of potential in her frame but was not ready for college minutes yet... She also seemed very excited about vt whoch was nice
Two things that I have wondered about as far as the potential success for this season:
1) Did we expect Sears to contribute as a true freshman? If so, that is certainly a dynamic scorer that the roster construction may have banked on but we've been without.
2) Swanson had the reputation of an outside sharpshooter. She made a couple in garbage time at the Wake game, but has struggled in limited minutes otherwise. Having a great outside shooter to stretch the defense would have helped with less than dominant bigs inside. That transfer not panning out for whatever reason I think also hurt us based on how CMD constructed the roster.
Thoughts?
1) Absolutely did. She was vital to real success this season. Would have limited Carleigh's minutes and likely we would have had Baker down low more than we have.
2) Swanson is surprisingly efficient but doesnt get minutes. I know she had a drought streak, but her time on the floor equates to 15.4 points per 40 minutes in ACC play. This is 4th highest behind Wenzel 20.4, Baker 17.9 and Suffren 17. 5th is Freelon at 14.6, then Daley at 13.2. Nelson at 10.9 is only other above 10 per 40. Not exactly great that two of your bench players are your 3rd and 4th most prolific per 40. The challenge is Swanson has only gotten 52 minutes in ACC play. The other 6 all are over 219 minutes, with Wenzel and Baker over 400 minutes.
Swanson was only 12.7 per 40 in OOC. That was 7th best and reflects why her minutes are so low but Wells is over 200 minutes and even Trent and Petersen are over 100 minutes in ACC play.
Some of Trent/Petersen is simply because Freelon gets in foul trouble but they are two of the three worst on the roster for points per 40 and both have gotten significantly worse in ACC play. Trent went down from 8.7 per 40 to 5.5 per 40 in ACC play. Petersen went down from 8.6 per 40 to 4.9 per 40 in ACC play.
I still the spark in Trent and hope that her next year is going to be better as she is freshman.
I am not sure what happened to Petersen, I could blame being kicked in the face, but sadly I think her performance has actually gotten better since that happened. Petersen at the start of the season looked great.