2025-26 Hokie Hoops Statistical Notes: Volume 2

At least for the start of the 2025-26 Hokie Hoops' campaigns, basketball is once again fun in Blacksburg. I'm having fun. Are you having fun?

The Men's Team

Coach Mike Young's bunch has been a non-stop highlight reel of alley-oops, stifling defenses, unselfish play, and victory. My initial thoughts that, at best, we'd go 3-1, but likely 2-2 was more undersold than my house.

Absolute blowout wins against teams that, recently, we have not been blowing out, getting a quality win in November, and a 55 point swing in a revenge game have put CMY at 109 career wins in the Orange and Maroon, tying Chuck Noe for 3rd All-Time among Tech coaches. Only Seth Greenberg and Charles Moir stand above him in wins.

Scoring

Through four games, the Hokies are averaging a very solid 95.75 ppg, (top 25 in scoring) with a median margin of victory of 20. No Hokie has repeated as single game scoring leader, with Lawal, Avdalas, Hansberry, and Bedford all taking the honors. Five Hokies averaged double figures in scoring led by Freshman sensation Neo Avdalas' 16.25, followed very closely by Hansberry's 16, Bedford's 15, Lawal's 14, and Schutt rounding it out with 10 per game. Tyler Johnson is just outside with 9.5 ppg. Ben Hammond follows with 7.75 ppg, Gurdack, Dorn, and Pasha combine for 9.67 off the bench.

Rebounding

Lawal and Hansberry have been forces on the boards, with 11.75 rebounds per game and 8.25, respectively. The remainder of the team has a combined 20.75 rpgs, led by Johnson's 5.5, Avdalas' 3.5, Bedford's 3.25, Schutt's 2.75, Jones' 2.5, Dorn's 2.33, Gurdack's 2, Hammond's 1, and Pasha's 0.33.

Assists

I can't believe I'm about to say this. We're really really good at passing the ball, ball security, and thievery. Through four games, the Hokies have a steals adjusted ATO margin of 74:0.

74 assists, 31 turnovers, 31 steals.

Hammond has the best overall ratio at 14:-5, with Johnson (11:-5), Schutt (3:-2), and Gurdack (0:-1) joining him in the negatives. Hansberry is 10:0, Avdalas is 24:1, Lawal is 3:1, and Bedford is 6:4. In all the years I've been doing this, this has never happened.

31 steals and being in the top 40 in blocks means opponents are not having an easy time breaking through our defense.

Experience/Depth

11 Hokies got into games, though it definitely appears we have a core of 7 with 2-3 who can provide significant depth. Lawal leads all with 32.75 minutes played, while Avdalas (29.25), Johnson (29), Hansberry (27), Bedford (24.75), Schutt (21.75), and Hammond (20.25) all play at least half of every game so far. Pasha leads the deep bench with 8.33 mpg, followed by Gurdack (7.33) and Dorn (6.75). Jones rounds out all PT with 3.67 mpg. All told, we've only had 7 instances of 30+ minute performances.

I'm not super thrilled at only having a 7-deep primary rotation; I'd like to have 8, especially considering only 2 of those 7 are post players. I'd like to see one of the freshman centers start to demonstrate the trust to get more minutes to help keep Lawal and Hansberry fresh, though all three are averaging a combined 16.75 mpg.

Next Four

First up, the Hokies will be Bryant (KenPom 325) in what should be a get-right game for what is coming up. The Bulldogs are 1-3 with their lone win coming against winless Dartmouth. This is going to be a weird team to play, as they only consistently play 2 guards, but 8 forwards. Looking at the minutes, expect to see 1 guard and 4 forwards on the court, consistently. Their remaining 5 guards who have seen action have a combined 19 minutes of playing time, through 4 games, with 16 of them being from Sr SG Jakai Robinson.

Starters are Fr PF Timofei Rudovskii (averaging about 13 ppg), Fr SF Ashley Sims (8 ppg), 6-11 SR C Keegan Harvey (3.75 ppg), Fr PG Ty Tabales (7.25ppg/3.25apg), and 6-8 SR SG Quincy Adams (10 ppg), who also leads the team with 9 blocks on the season.

Expect to see bench play from Jr SF Aaron Davis III (6 ppg), So SF Khalil Williams (5.5 ppg), Fr C Daniel Akoue (3 ppg), Sr PF Lennart Weber (4 ppg), and Fr PF Ethane Bourgade (1.25 ppg)

Despite all this height, they average less than 40 rpg. Their ATO is 11:14, so expect some more thievery on behalf of the Hokies.

Colorado State (65) will be a potential Quad 2 opponent in the Bahamas, and should be 5-0 by the time they play the Hokies, though at the time of this writing they are 3-0, but winning. They score just as frequently as the Hokies, having put up 96 ppg through 3; led by Jr SG Josh Pascarelli's 18.3 ppg, followed by So PF Kyle Jorgensen's 15 ppg. The next top scorer is former Hokie Brandon Rechsteiner, who is scoring 13.3 ppg, while contributing 3.3 apg. 6-10 Jr C Carey Booth mans the boards with 9.0 rpg and 13 ppg., while SF Augustinas Kiudulas rounds out their double figure scorers with 10 ppg off the bench. SR PG Jevin Muniz leads the team as their floor general, averaging 5.7 apg, to go along with 8.7 ppg. Getting Jorgensen and Booth in foul trouble early will be critical for the Hokies here.

Depending on outcome the Hokies will play either Wichita State (97) or Saint Mary's (24). Because it's an either/or game, I don't want to put too much effort into going into too much detail except to say that the winner will likely be undefeated, while the loser will probably only have 1 loss.

Traveling to South Carolina (96) will round out this book of four with what might be a Quad 1 game by the time the season has finished. As of right now, the Gamecocks don't get a ton of production from their bigs, as their top 5 scorers are all guards. They go about 10 deep, though I would expect that to fall off as the year goes along, seeing 4 bigs and 6 guards play at least 12.7 mpg.

Prediction

Trying to not put on the O&M glasses, Bryant should be an easy win. Colorado State is a coinflip. I think we beat Wichita State or lose to Saint Mary's, then probably drop a heartbreaker in the Palmetto State.

2-2.

The Women's Team

As expected, the Hokies' Women's team started out 4-0, seeing 4 double doubles and forcing an opponent to foul out in every game, so far, which is, part of the reason the Hokies are top 10 in the nation for the most FTM in the NCAA, averaging more than 20 FTM per game. Oddly enough, the Hokies are one of only five remaining unbeaten ACC schools.

Duffy now has 23 wins, just 3 behind Carol Alfano for 4th best 2 season start.

Scoring

If I had a complaint, I would say this team is too used to shooting from range, and they're just not hitting. Hokies are averaging almost 22 3-pointers per game, but only hitting 6 per. That's 27.6%. We've expected Baker and Wenzel to be a solid pair of threats, and they're just not, right now. Combined, the two veterans are 26.67% from range, taking 51.2% of all attempts from beyond the arc.

That being said, things are looking good, scoring-wise. The Hokies have averaged 83.25 ppg through these first four games, allowing just 53.5. Five Hokies have scored in double figures, led by Carleigh Wenzel's 16.75 ppg, with a close 15.0 from Kilah Freelon in second. Others in double figures are Baker with 12.5 ppg, Mel Daley with 10.25 and Samyha Suffren with 10 ppg. Just outside is Kayl Petersen's 9 ppg and Mackie Nelson's 6.5 ppg. All 12 active players have participated, with the rest of the bench contributing 7 ppg.

Rebounding

Freelon leads a pretty capable rebounding Hokies team with 12.33 rebounds per game. Petersen is pulling down 5.75 per game, while Nelson pulled down 4 per. Getting at least 1 rebound per half were Wenzel and Jenkins with 3.5 per game, Suffren with 3.25, and Trent with 2.66. Leila Wells (1.75) and Sophie Swanson (1) round out all of the rebounding for the Hokies.

Assists

The Hokies have dished out 77 assists through the first four games, to 55 turnovers. Adjusting for steals, the Hokies had an AATO of 77:19. Three Hokies have negative ratios, with Suffren's 5:-5, Baker's 4:-1, and Freelon's 3:-1. Mackie Nelson has been the top overall passer, with a 29:5 AATO, followed by Wenzel's 19:6. Only Sophie Swanson has an AATO below-water, at 1:3.

Experience/Depth

All 12 active players saw action, as previously stated. No Hokie surpassed 30 mpg, though Wenzel and Baker came as close as possible, at 29.75 mpg. Nelson (25.5), Freelon (25), Suffren (22), and Daley (20) joining them in the 20+ club. Petersen (19.75) just missed out, with Wells (14.25) and Trent (10.33) also got at least five minutes per half. Swanson (9.67), and Jenkins (8) all averaged multiple minutes per quarter. Brecelj rounded out the experience with 5 minutes played.

Next Four

Up next is Niagara (0-3), competing for who will be our lowest ranked opponent at the end of the season (Barttorvik 356), The Purple Eagles' size disadvantage should be our main focus of attack for the games, as they don't have any players over 6-1. This is a very poor scoring team, only averaging 53 ppg. Scoring-wise, the only real threat is 5-7 Fr G Chasity Wilson, who has 14.5 per game, followed by 5-10 Sr F Talia Dial's 8.5, 5-7 Fr G Jisca Bila's 7.0, 5-11 So F Jordyn Williams' 5.0, and 5-11 Fr G Katarina Valjovic's 5.0. The lack of height has also hindered Niagara on the boards at only 30.5rpg. They have an absolutely horrendous 8.5:22.5 ATO ratio. Improving that would be nice, but they're only shooting 33.9% from the field and 62.1% from the line.

The first real test of the year is also our first road game and first Quad 1 opponent in JMU (58). This might be a game where attacking the rim will be critical, as all three players 6-2 or taller play every game. JR PG Zakiya Stephenson leads the team with assists at 5.5 a game and contributes 8 ppg. Along the wing, expect to see top scorer, Sr G Peyton McDaniel (19.6 ppg) and Jr G Bree Robinson (11.6 ppg), Post scoring is led by Sr F Ashanti Barnes (14.8 ppg). Outside of those 3, JMU doesn't have too many other scoring threats, as the rest of the team barely contributes 20 ppg.

BYU (56) will be the Hokies' first opponent in the Paradise Jam and should be coming in 6-0. This could very well be a Quad 1 game by the end of the season, as the Cougars might be in the top 50 by tipoff. This isn't a deep team, only consistently playing 6 for over 20 minutes per game, and none of their midbench getting more than 14 mpg. BYU runs through So G Delaney Gibb, who leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg) and second in assists (6 apg), though she can get in trouble ballhandling, also leading the team in turnovers at 4.5 per game. 6-3 Sr F Lara Rohkohl will be a menace down low, averaging a shade over 9 per game, but also a shade under 10 rebounds per game. 6-1 So F Brinley Cannon can also be a threat down attacking the boards, getting about 6 rebounds per. Jr G Marya Hudgins can be the wildcard, as she is also averaging about 8 per, but is pulling down almost 6 boards from the guard position. Splitting the PG duties with Gibb will be Fr G Sydney Benally, who averages about 6 assists per game while adding about 7 points. First off the bench will be Fr G Olivia Hamlin, who is averaging about 15 per game and is not afraid to grab some rebounds (about 5 per game). All of the midbench are post players. They combine to represent about a full player's worth of minutes, 11 points, and 10 rebounds.

Vandy (28) or Oregon State (91) will be the final opponent in this edition, depending on how we play. Vanderbilt has played some solid defense, not allowing more than 65 in any one game, but they also haven't scored more than 75 against anybody higher than 250. Oregon State hasn't allowed more than 59, but they haven't scored more than 64 against anybody in NCAA Division 1. Both teams have one scorer putting up 20+ per game, and 1-2 putting up 10-12 ppg. Tech will not have a height advantage down low against either team.

Prediction

Niagara will be an easy win. Hopefully we get a good enough lead that the bench can get the majority of the minutes during the second half, allowing fresh legs for the stretch. I can't imagine our frigid start to the year's 3-point shooting will continue. The open looks are there. The two teams that have beaten JMU this year have shot 40%+, both about 10% above their average for the year. I'm putting the O&M glasses on for the win here. I think coming east will hurt BYU, allowing Tech to advance to take the winner of Vandy/OSU. Of the 2, I think OSU could hang with us in a fast-paced game. Vandy plays a lot of guards, but I think their lack of depth will hurt them in the post.

I'm cautiously calling it 4-0, moving to 8-0 with 3 potential Quad 1 wins to start the year. In case anybody is asking, New Belgium Trippel is what I've been drinking.