Hokies vs Tennessee Dec 4 in WBB

Edit to remove Lady because Fireman said that is their preference.

Putting this up early because my Sunday mornings can be busy.

The No. 9 Lady Hokies visit the Tennessee Volunteers Dec 4 at 1PM. The game is on ESPN2 with Courtney Lyle doing play by play and Carolyn Peck and Tamika Catchings as analysts. This game is part of the Jimmy V Women's Classic.

Tennessee is 4-4 and 3-1 at home. Don't assume that UT will be a pushover based on their early record; they have not played many cupcakes in the early season. Their losses are to #4 Ohio State in Columbus, Indiana at home, # 15 UCLA at home(doesn't count as a home loss because it was part of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle for Atlantis) and #23 Gonzaga, by one point, in the Bahamas. Their wins are at home against UMass(receives votes), Colorado and Eastern Kentucky and Rutgers in the Bahamas. Tennessee was ranked #23 last week and dropped to others receiving votes #31 this week.

In this game Kitley will face someone as tall as she is in #20 Senior center Tamari Key; but Key only plays 18 minutes per game. When Key is not in the game the tallest Volunteer will be #53 Hollinghead at 6'5"(11 min/game) or one of the 6'3" forwards. Tennessee plays a lot of bodies; 15 players have played this year, ten of them are averaging 10 minutes or more per game. If we have a short bench in this game, conditioning may be a factor. I could not find any info on player status; but Owusu left the game with a finger or hand injury against Nebraska and Traylor did not play in that game.

The Volunteers make about 6 threes per game on 17 attempts. Three of the starters shoot 40% or better from three. No. 21 Tess Darby is most likely to shoot a three; but #25 Jordan Horston and #15 Jasmine Powell shoot almost as often and are just as accurate. The player most likely to surprise from three is #1 Sara Puckett, who is only shooting 22% from three, but has tried 2 per game in only 10 minutes; she obviously has a lot of confidence in her ability to shoot the three.

Key only averages 4 rebounds per game; but her minutes are limited possibly because of foul trouble. She averages 2.3 fouls per game in only 18 minutes. Only #2 Jackson and #25 Powell average double digit scoring per game. Jackson also seems to be turnover prone averaging 3 per game. The team averages 15.4 assists and 18.1 TO's per game. Good defense by the Hokies may produce good results in this game.

Is this the game where the Hokies are challenged? The Volunteers have played a stronger schedule; but they have not done particularly well against that schedule. However they have the outside shooters and the height inside to give the Ladies a game. Of course, I thought the same about Nebraska. And this game is at Tennessee. The Hokies will have to play well in all facets of the game to prevail in this one. But if Amoore can continue her stellar play and Kitley has her normal game, we should be able to bring home a win.

I have not posted my disclaimer yet this year; so I will put it in here. I am not a basketball guru like Lt. Peterson. My basketball watching is mostly limited to VT games. All of my comments are based on looking at box scores and season stats. If anyone has a better perspective, please don't hesitate to offer your opinion in the comments.

LET'S GO HOKIES!