The Ladies host The South Dakota State Jackrabbits today at 5 PM on ESPN2. The Hokies are favored by 9.5 with the over/under at 128.5. I guess the gambling gurus think defense is going to be important in this game because the Hokies average 72.1 ppg and SDSU averages 78.9 ppg. On the defensive side, we average 56.3; and SDSU averages 60.2.
When I watched SDSU play USC Saturday, I did not think either team could play with the Hokies; but looking at the records, they only have one common opponent. SDSU beat Louisville at home 65-55 on Nov 21; we beat Louisville 81-79 at Louisville and 75-67 on Mar 5 to win the ACC Tournament. SDSU losses were to Creighton, UCLA, Washington State, Montana State and South Carolina. They have won 22 in a row since losing to USCe on Dec 15.
The Hokies have won 12 in a row.
Except for not having anyone to match up with Kitley, SDSU is relatively tall. Four starters are 6'1", 5'11". 6', and 6'1". The fifth starters is 5'6", the same height as Amoore.
Myah Selland, #44, averages 16.1 ppg and 6.3 rpg and was almost unstoppable against USC, scoring 29 and picking up 9 rebounds. Selland ended the game with 3 fouls. The second highest score, #21 Paige Meyer had 16 points and 4 fouls. Two other players ended the game with 3 fouls. USC was actually called for more fouls the SDSU and had a player foul out. If we get the same refs today, fouls may be an issue.
Season stats look pretty comparable; but we compiled our stats against a higher level of competition.
I am not sure where to start talking about keys to this game. Can they stop Kitley; can we stop Selland? How are the fouls going to be called? How will Meyer and Amoore play? Is TSoule ready to play? How will SDSU come back from a tough OT game on Saturday?
Just on skill, I would have to say Kitley is better than Selland and Amoore is better than Meyer; and our other starters are better than theirs. And D'asia Gregg is better off the bench than their sixth player, probably Dru. The road to the Sweet 16 should not be too tough.
We shoot about the same from three; but I think our defense will probably affect their ability to shoot beyond the arc. They were only 2 of 10 from three against USC. And I hope their defense is not good enough to affect us. They are an excellent shooting team overall at 47.6% on the season and 75% of their shots are inside the arc. I have to think Kitley is going to affect that part of their game.
I would really like to see us come out strong and win this one going away, maybe allowing us to rest Soule. Because we are going to need TSoule at full strength in the next round.
The Ladies have to take this game, and every game from here on out, very seriously. Ask Kansas and Purdue what happens when a No. 1 seed gets careless.
LET'S GO HOKIES!
Comments
LET'S GOO!!!!
HOKIES!!!!!
Anybody want a free ticket? I dropped a 1200 lb trailer on my feet last night and crutches in Cassell sound terrible. Jmecca (at) VT (dot) edu
OUCH. And I always thought smashing my shin into a trailer hitch was the worst pain ever.
Hope you have a quick recovery.
Speedy recovery jmex!!!!!!!
I don't care what sport a team plays in, what conference they play in or what their schedule is, 22 straight wins is damn impressive. Hope the ladies bring their A game. Clearly going against a team that knows how to win games.
Looking good so far on offense but looking sluggish on defense
Amore is a freaking STUD.
Thats all.
Rolling.......let's keep it up!
Ladies are killing it. Taking their big totally off her game.
Yeah they seem a little shell shocked right now
Wow.
Gotta give the South Dakota State fans credit. They travelled super well.
WBB officials are interesting to me... Let the girls all out tackle each other for a while, then tighten up and blow the whistle for ALL contact.
They make Men's officials look consistent....good even.
I have been noticing this in every game of womens bball I watch (VT and neutral) ... they let rugby occur until they randomly decide to call something ticky tack
For jackrabbits, SDSU is a pretty physical team.
Luckily, VT is very balanced.
Nice buzzerbeater.
This is amazing to witness. Such a complete team. They legit have every position locked down in a prototypical fashion. I can only imagine their adrenaline with the home crowd like this.
Is South Carolina really that much better?
They're very solid. Like you said, complete.
But it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.
Every team is beatable. Look at the mens tournament. Fucking #1 Purdue (with a 7 foot 4 center) lost to a team with nobody over 6 foot 1.
Fantastic job answering when they cut the lead down to 13. What a close out of the half!
great response to their surge leading into half
Currently 52.8% shooting with 57.1% from 3pt range
Insane
what the fuck are these 3rd quarter refs
Wow. Kitley pushed to the floor and then tripped over. Foul on kitley.
To be fair, these annoying announcers actually explained why that was a foul pretty clearly
Wow... I guess I don't know anything about WBB.
Clearly, SDSU has figured out that their path to victory is brute force, and daring the refs to call anything against them.
Kitley playing small here to start the 3rd. Teams are going to play bully ball against us. I'm sure teams watched the Louisville tape. If the refs aren't going to call stuff, you gotta start doing the same thing.
Gotta be ready for the other team to convert to "ruff-n-tumble" if the refs will let them.
And total travel into Soule and foul on soule.
That should have been a no call. Also a total miss on the elbow in the back on that block on Kitley.
I'm almost surprised they called that last foul.
Gotta keep playing your game, though.
They're going to play physical the rest of the game. Refs may or may not call fouls.
What sucks is that if we try to match their physicality we are getting whistled.
Yeah, but you can't let them get into your head.
Stay the course. SDSU is getting some fouls, and it will eventually catch up to them.
Edit: yeah, it sure looks like robbery at this point.
This team is imposing their will on the Hokies right now, it's pathetic. They can't keep them out of the lane
Because if there's a Hokie in the lane, they're getting called for a foul.
There's been a whistle on almost every SDSU possession here in the 3rd
It takes a mugging for a foul to be called on sdsu
And then a ticky tack foul on us at the buzzer.
Are you kidding me? after all the hacking on our offensive putbacks go uncalled they call a loose ball prayer as a foul?
SDSU seems to have some of the weirdest shooting motions I've ever seen.
"scrappy"
We're still up by 16.....crusing!
Should be up by more than that.
Not a bad thing to take a breather right now, and recalibrate. I'm glad they're at Cassell.
They are better at fouling/bullying us as we keep getting the whistle against us. Very physical type of play seems to be our only kryptonite.
I'm glad we have Taylor Soule.
Girls have absolutely no answer for the drive.
Stop complaining about the refs. For whatever reason they are just playing soft. I'm watching them give up free runs to the basket over and over and making bad turnovers that have nothing to do with the officials.
Kitley is the best player on the floor. If she started taking it to the rim she would get calls too.
It's partially because every time we tried to defend them for about a 5 minute stretch they kept calling fouls I think
Sure.
Because they were getting called for fouls earlier. It's almost understandable.
But you're right, they can't let them have uncontested drives.
Well just letting someone run down the lane uncontested is a higher percentage play than making them earn it at the line.
SDSU wants it more right now, and they are forcing the issue. Our ladies out playing shook right now
Yeah, I get that.
But it is a bit dispiriting that there was a run where if VT contested a shot, they were called for a foul. Eventually, you run out of those.
Well, apparently unless you're SDSU.
Honestly, I generally refrain from commenting on here about fouls, but this doesn't even look like a basketball game. Maybe we need to play more physical, but we might as well not have refs in this game.
That third quarter was a bi-polar mess by the officials. When it comes to making calls, you don't always have to be right, but you must be consistent. They let contact go, then called every touch until our girls basically quit challenging shots. The third quarter was dictated by the refs and not the players.
Yep. Also, in the first half we tried playing Kitley near the basket. SDSU was literally grabbing Kitley's arms and pulling them back so that she couldn't receive a pass and the refs ignored it. Arm extended jockeying for position is one thing but literally grabbing arms and pulling them away needs to be called. Kitley is being punished for being tall. I don't watch other teams play so I don't know if they punish other tall players simply because they are tall or not. It's ridiculous.
Kitley was getting mugged when she went to the basket again and again. Those refs deserved the "refs you suck" chants they were getting from the crowd.
After the game yesterday, I went home from Cassell and watched the replay. Most of the fouls still weren't and most of the bad calls were actually bad calls. The rabbits were getting away with a lot of the shit. We gave them lanes to the basket in the third because they called fouls on us if we were just near them.
Pretty brutal second half. A good team with this game plan will bet us pretty soundly.
Mug you and dare the refs to call a foul every single play?
Why not, it's been working for UVA for years.
It worked for Tennessee over Duke in the Mens NCAA.
The Hokies need a better plan/prep for this.
This game screams "classic VT sports meltdown". Really hope I'm wrong but it's clear which of these two teams wants this game more right now
Are you kidding? VT wants it more.
Would love to know what you've seen in this second half that suggests something remotely close to that
Taylor Soule, Georgia Amore, Liz Kitley?
If you've seen a lack of desire, I haven't.
Don't mistake their not handling the physicality of SDSU (with the refs calling ticky tacky fouls) with not wanting to win.
Or SDSU going all physical (because that's the only advantage they seem to have) with wanting it more.
The officials have been as bad as I've seen all season, but there's no excuse for the effort we are seeing on defense.
Got away with a carry?
You mean AFTER she was fouled?
Amore is awesome!
It works when they let us run 20 seconds off the clock and then Amoore buries a 3.
How sweet it is!
😎😎😎
Sweet 16 here we come!
1. Let's go!
2. Kitley has some tentacles
3. Noticed empty maroon away seats from game 1 turned into filled blue seats game 2 (just a neat crowd obs)
4. What's up with the shot clock violations?
I believe they were unused visitor seats from usc not using them on day 1 and day 2 there was only 1 game
Okay thanks, I thought Chattanooga fans would have been in those seats but I forgot how tournaments work.
Chattanooga and the Rabbits were both on the odd side during the first night.
The SDSU seats were moved from over behind the media to behind their teams seats. Roughly the same number of fans they just moved them to a more visible area. USC fans never showed up for their game.