Virginia Tech Women Pass Test Against Coastal Carolina - A Deeper Dive

Virginia Tech looked like it was going to roll early against Coastal Carolina, setting a blistering pace with a 30-point first quarter. However, an ugly third quarter reared its head, giving the Hokies a test that they passed 82-59 to go 4-0 to start the season.

Coach Duffy summed up this game, “I felt like we played two basketball games. What a frantic pace. We were very concerned today just because of the way Coastal Carolina plays. Very well coached. They have some talent. They can bomb threes and they can get downhill. So. I was very proud of the resilience of our team. Obviously, we started off well, had a great first quarter, but all we kept talking about in timeouts was that it was a game of runs, and they are going to make their run. We had to stick to the game plan. We had some up and down moments. Obviously, the third quarter wasn't exactly what we intended, but I thought our response in the 4th quarter to handle their run and their momentum, to make a final push to blow it open a little bit was really good for our team. I am proud of them for that.”

SIX THOUGHTS AFTER THE GAME

Two (Three)-Headed Monster at Guard

Early in the season, the Hokies have what appears to be a three-headed Cerberus at point guard. Virginia Tech features different combinations of multiple guards on the court at the same time, which brings versatility, stable ball-handling, and means any one player can shine on a given night. Carleigh Wenzel leads the team in scoring again. After getting extensive experience last season, Mackenzie Nelson has moved into the starting spot, which has brought an extra play-making dimension to the lineup and allowed Wenzel to move off the ball more. Nelson’s eleven assists against Loyola (MD) were followed by 12 points and 4 assists against Coastal Carolina. Wenzel had a double double against Coastal with 23 points and 10 assists.  Samyha Suffren adds quickness and speed off the bench and seems to make several defensive plays per game that change the momentum in Virginia Tech’s favor. Indeed, Suffren is averaging 10 points and 3 steals a game.  Leila Wells and Mel Daley, who brought the ball up the court several times, just add more ball-handling and shot making to the mix.

Coach Duffy praised the top three guards, saying,  “I think Carleigh was really happy with her 10 assists. I thought she shared the ball well. She got people a lot of different shots. Her and Mackie are doing a great job of that. I thought Samyha was very good with sharing the ball too.“

Having two point guards on the court definitely helped against Coastal Carolina’s pressure, and their chemistry will be important when facing ACC foes. Nelson considered having Wenzel on the court together a “blessing”, saying, “It’s awesome, especially in a game where they press almost 80% of the game. Just having two people to handle the basketball and knowing she can take it, I can take it up, keeping the other team not knowing what we are going to do is awesome.” Wenzel echoed this trust in saying Nelson “is somebody I trust the ball in her hands 90% of the time, if I am the other 10% of the time. It has been. It is nice to have someone to compete and to feed off.“

Speaking of assists, there is an assist leader board competition going on between Nelson and Wenzel. Against Loyola, Wenzel acknowledged that Nelson won the assist competition that game, but she claimed, “I think I won the day. She won the last one. That is something we kind of compete on in practice, games…. A little bit of competition going with each other for the betterment of the team.” 

Carleigh Wenzel

Carleigh Wenzel posted a game high 23 points and tied her career with 10 assists for her first double double of the season and third of her career.  She was a three-level scorer in this game, scoring via layups, three point shots, and free throws. When asked what her scoring performance meant to her, Wenzel said, “It goes back to stuff you are working on in the summer. I have been in the gym a lot, getting up a lot of shots. I shot a lot of threes, but it is something that I have been working on trying to stay consistent with that, so you go back, get back in the gym, go back to the drawing board to see what I can do different, better. Then being able to dish out to my teammates and be able to knock down shots makes it feel like you are putting people in the right positions. Continuing to do that.”

Free Throws: Another critical dimension to Wenzel’s game is her ability to get to the free throw line. Last year, she led the team in free throws attempted with 171. The next closest player only had 79 attempts. Wenzel was fourth in the ACC in free throws made with 133 (the next closest player on Virginia Tech’s team only had 60 makes). She was the one player on the team who could consistently get to the line, even shooting double digit free throws in four games. Her ability to knock them down was key to closing out key wins last season against Miami and Georgia Tech, and will be crucial this year.

Wenzel has already attempted 30 free throws four games into the season and, at this rate, will shatter last season’s mark. After an uncharacteristic 5-for-10 showing from the charity stripe against Gardner-Webb, Wenzel was back to her reliable self, making 8-of-9 against Coastal Carolina.  When asked about shooting so well, Wenzel explained the work they have to put in during practice, “Our assistant makes us “swish”, specifically me and Mack. We have to go from 5 to 10 to 20 swishes every day in practice. Straight free throws and, if you don’t, you have consequences for that. So, I will give all credit to Coach Nee. Something we work on everyday. Me and Mack specifically have to do swishes, so it is something I expect every day. I wish it was 9-for-9, but it is what it is.”

Coach Duffy made a point of emphasizing the free throw makes by both Wenzel and the team overall, "Carleigh is going to be happy she made her free throws too. She was a little bummed a few games ago with a couple of misses. She puts herself to a high standard in making those, but, overall 19-for-22 in a game that was very physical. There were a lot of loose ball fouls. I thought we handled that well.”

Poise and Defense: Duffy, however, pointed to Wenzel’s poise and desire to be a defensive stopper as a key to winning the  game.  She said, “Carleigh’s poise is the greatest thing about her right now. Even tonight, she had some streaks of her scoring and her facilitating, but she was really good on Grady tonight (Coastal Carolina’s Tess Grady played the most minutes for her team - 37 minutes). We put her on her for most of the game and held to only 6 points, and that was Carleigh being focused and locked in. She wants to be a two-way player. We are pushing her on some different matchups to do that. I am most proud of when a game like today happens. Yes, she scored and she facilitated, but then you can say her defense was the best part of what she did today, and that is a huge testament to Carleigh’s focus and her work. She had a quick film session individually from a previous game. I thought she improved tremendously. I love that about our team; it is the relentless growth. We are coming in hungry to get better. As the scouts change a little bit and opponents change, someone like Carleigh who is a huge leader in our program to show that I am the defensive stopper today. I am very proud of her for that."

Mackenzie Nelson 

Nelson worked hard in the off-season and was rewarded with a starting role. She said, “I rely on my preparation. This all starts back in the spring when there are no more games, no film, there is no preparing for an opponent. You are working on yourself. So, it started back then: getting shots up, working on my craft. Being rewarded with being a starter is awesome and working to continue to keep that spot.”

Coach Duffy had talked about Nelson’s point-producing ability whether as an assist maker or shooter earlier in the season, but echoed that Nelson put herself in position to start: “Mackie got some valuable minutes last year. She has a tough job. She is running the point and helping Carleigh with it. There is so much growth when you first step on the court for big minutes. She is coming off the bench. Now, in a new year, she deserves every second of that starting position. She is working hard. She is getting more resilient and tough with all different things within the game whether that is me challenging her, Coach Nee challenging her, whether that is being able to guard another team’s best player, hitting shots when she needs to versus facilitating. I think she is doing all the right things, and I think the good thing about her is that she is staying steady with every process we are going through. I am proud of the way she is growing. She is being coachable.”

Another thing to note: we talk about Suffren being fast. Nelson is FAST! She got a pass from Suffren to start a fast break, sped down the court, finished the layup under duress, and then was the first player back on defense!

Emerging Hydra → Three Point Threats

Coming into this season, Wenzel and Baker were the main players on the roster who consistently shot and made three pointers. Leila Wells also showed the ability to make threes in her limited time last year.  Sophie Swanson transferred in with a reputation for being a sniper from distance. In previewing the basketball team, I noted that Nelson, Suffren, and Mel Daley were not known for the three, although for the Hokies to take the next step, someone else needed to develop their long distance shot.

It appears that Virginia Tech may have an emerging multi-headed Hydra from the three. Mel Daley has a great mid-range pull up jumper, but nailed her one three point shot against Gardner-Webb. Suffren shot 2-for-5 from distance against Gardner-Webb and nailed a key three against Coastal Carolina.  One minute into the Coastal game, an open Nelson rose up and nailed the first three of the game. She hit the first one for Virginia Tech in the second quarter as well…both shots were off assists by Wenzel!

When asked about taking the shots, Nelson said, “I think that is half the battle, deciding to shoot them. You ask my teammates, my coaches…they want me to shoot them, so it's just the confidence to go out there and take them. I play my role. I take the open shots and hopefully they will continue to go in.”

Coach Duffy talked about the players not necessarily known for their shooting from beyond the arc, “I get the luxury of watching them every day. Both {Nelson and Suffren] can make threes. It is just a matter of Mel settling in.  She has a great mid-range game. She is sneaky without how she can get her shots off. Mackie much improved from last year. As a freshman, she was just trying in some ways to figure it out and run our team. So, she is more confident to shoot both her pull up and her three. She does not maybe get as many just because of the way our offense is flowing, people getting a few more shots. It is really good when a couple of people get cold. Samyha, Mackie, Mel, Leila, Sophie, we got people who can hit them. We have to keep encouraging them to shoot them because we are going to need that as we move forward in this season.”

Indeed, if those players can continue to develop their three point acumen, the Hokies will have at least seven players who are threats from deep…

The Hokies Continue to Roll Double Doubles

Virginia Tech might need to schedule a trip to Vegas as “doubles” might be the theme of the year. . The Hokies have five players averaging double digit points (Wenzel, Baker, Freelon, Daley, and Suffren). Freelon is averaging 12.3 boards per game. Nelson notched her 11 assists earlier in the season. 

Amazingly, the Virginia Tech women have already have three double-doubles this year.  Kayl Peterson and Freelon shared double-double honors against Towson, and Carleigh Wenzel posted 23 points and 10 assists against Coastal Carolina. In fact, Freelon was close to another one against Coastal but finished two rebounds shy. The way the Hokies share the ball, knock down shots, and attack the boards, look for more "Hard 4s" this season.

Yes, The Third Quarter Was Ugly

The third quarter was indeed ugly. Virginia Tech led the Chanticleers 53-29 to start the third. The Hokies were 2-for-18 (11.1%) from the field, 0–9 from three, and missed 4 layups. The team didn’t shoot a single free throw. Virginia Tech scored a 2-pointer jumper by Nelson at the 8:49 mark and then a layup by Wenzel in transition at the 6:00 minute mark. That was it - 4 points in 10 minutes of action.  It gave up 6 turnovers and committed 7 fouls. By the end of the quarter, that 24 point lead was whittled down to 16. Coastal Carolina, fortunately, was only 4-for-10 from the free throw line or the lead might have been smaller.

What happened? Missed shots. Turnovers. Fouls that put players like Nelson, Baker, Freelon, and Peterson in and out of the lineup. Half of the shots were from three point land, so it felt like there was a limited effort to go inside. The typical analysis would say Coastal's defense "held VT to 4 3rd quarter points", but most of the problems for Virginia Tech were self-inflicted.

Wenzel agreed, “It wasn’t really them. It was us. We were taking the same shots.  Could we have gotten a little “shot happy”? I think yes, but it wasn’t anything they were doing. I think we were taking open shots, stuff that we can hit and knock down. It happened to not fall. That is something you go back and get into the gym. Keep shooting.”

Coach Duffy pointed to some letdowns, saying, “We talked about how focused we needed to be in the beginning of the 3rd quarter.I thought we had a couple of lapses with our press offense. They got a couple of little steals of some poor decisions by us. We were taking care of the ball pretty well early. We just had some letdowns. I think we had some really good shots that we made in the first half and they didn’t go in. I thought we got a little down on ourselves, so we were trying to stay steady, pump each other up. We are going to eventually make our run. They were pressuring at times. I will look at the film and see whether it was Xs and Os, was it lineups, was it something Coastal Carolina was doing to see how we can fix and prevent that 3rd quarter.”

The 4th quarter didn’t start much better with a foul and turnover one minute in, but the Hokies showed perseverance, poise, and grit. There was more of a concerted effort to go inside to Freelon. For example, Wenzel drove baseline, drawing an extra defender, and dropped a pass to Freelon for an easy layup.  Daley, Baker, and Freelon were relentless on the offensive glass. Then Wenzel started attacking the lane in transition resulting in layups and fouls, and Baker finally hit two crucial threes. The first one stretched what was an eleven point lead to fourteen, and the second one resulted in Baker letting out an explosive reaction as if in relief that the lid on the basket was off!  In the end, amongst all the angst about the third, Virginia Tech scored 82 points for the game, which matches its season average so far.

When asked about the response in the 4th quarter, Wenzel said, “I think just staying confident. Everybody says basketball is a game of runs, so understanding that is going to happen. We are going to have dips but seeing how we can bounce back. I think we did a good job of that today. Going back and figuring out why we were so low in that third quarter.  That is obviously not something you want to do. Everybody was aware. We knew the shots we were taking were not anything different. It is something we work on every day.”

The Defense Picked Its Poison; Still Good

Let’s emphasize that Virginia Tech won by 23 points. It only gave up an average of 14+ points per quarter. Coastal Carolina came into the game hot from three so that was going to be a point of emphasis. In addition, the Hokies faced deceptive backdoor cuts and dangerous drives off of screens from the top.

The Hokies had a read on what Coastal Carolina was doing and held up: they got hands on passes and their half-court intensity forced passes to no one including a pass for a backcourt violation.  The threesome of Daley, Wells, and Suffren also provided full court pressure.

When asked about their defense, Nelson said,  “It was part of the game plan. We knew that they were hot from the three point line in the beginning of the season and their backdoor cuts. So, we had to take that away and just knowing - we call it “teeing up” - just being aware. Obviously, we scouted some plays and sometimes they do it randomly. But, Coach says it all the time, being ready to play. That is all it took: Ready to play. Guard the three point line. Guard their back door cuts. That is how we were successful today.”

Even with the disappearance of the offense in the third quarter, the defense still held during that stretch, capped by a block by Baker on a backdoor cut at the buzzer.  Coach Duffy agreed, emphasizing, “They only had 12 points.” 

The Hokies did give up 18 points in the fourth quarter, the most it has in any quarter so far this year. The Chanticleers only hit one three pointer but were able to score several layups typically off screening action that resulted in either a pass to a rolling  screener or a drive off the screen. 

Coach Duffy lived with this. She described how the Hokies chose to prevent Coastal Carolina from going off from three, even if it meant giving up scores inside. Indeed, Duffy said, “I think the big key is they were 5-for-12 from three. They were coming into the game averaging almost 30 threes a game. With the quick turnaround and just a one day prep, with a team like this, we might have to give up a couple of twos and a couple of easy buckets to make sure that we are high on their shooters. Grady was bombing some in the first four games of the year. She can really stroke it, and Crystal Williams is a kid who can get hot in different ways. So, I thought no matter what was going on from some of our mistakes and they got a few points in the paint, we were still guarding the three point line and sticking to our game plan, which I thought was great discipline by our team today.”

Preparation, the Quick Turnaround, and the Scout: 

All teams prepare for games, but it feels like this coaching staff and players are very good at preparation. First, the first several opponents represent varying styles that will help the team prepare for ACC play. From everything the Coach Duffy and the players communicate, the coaches create excellent scouting reports, and the players buy into the scout. 

When asked if she was getting what she wanted out of the slate of opponents, Coach Duffy said, “I knew they were different styles, but I didn't think we would have to be so locked into a zone team the other night, the chaos of Coastal Carolina, we will figure out what the next game is going to be like. It is really great to be able to focus on these scouts and try to take away certain things.There are plenty of times  these first four games that we haven’t taken away some things we needed to. Just the growth of their IQs is so critical in ACC play because that margin of error and few mistakes can win or lose the game. Don’t watch the scoreboard, watch the 4-5 minutes that we are playing. How do we lock into small things?”

The Quick Turnaround and Scouting: The Coastal Carolina game was intentionally scheduled with a quick turnaround to help the team focus and adapt to future quick turnarounds, including in the Virginia Islands and tournament play. Duffy pointed out that,  “We had a quick turnaround against a really good team, and Coastal is going to win a lot of games, especially in their league. We were on them pretty good after the Gardner-Webb game to really stay focused. We were walking through some things, whether we were full live in practice. We kind of squeezed in a couple of different film sessions that we normally do over 2-3 days.  We fit them in the day, with one practice and a shoot-around. I thought our focus was good. The first quarter we came out, I thought like we executed what we wanted to, It doesn’t always happen like that, but, I thought overall the carryover into the prep of Coach Isi’s scout and teaching me very quickly what we needed to do, and the communication to our team was very solid.

Fatigue a Factor?  When asked if the quick turnaround caused fatigue, especially in the second half of the Coastal Carolina game,  Coach Duffy indicated that, “I am always concerned about that when you play a team like Coastal. We want to play fast and up temp, and they probably want to play faster than us in some ways. You are always watching to see if it is a substitution pattern that can help? Do I call timeout? We got in some mini-foul trouble, people picking up their third foul, Mackie picked up her fourth. Yeah, I was concerned that it could be a little bit of fatigue especially since it is so early on in the season, we are not used to playing a lot of minutes. Carys and Carleigh played the biggest minutes of the season, a little bit shorter on the bench today, but that is ok relative to how the game was going.”

Nelson didn’t think that fatigue was a factor, saying, “No, not at all. We have a good support staff with us. We were all in the cold tubs, hot tubs, Norma Tech. Recovery was the number one key. Practice was shorter than normal yesterday, but being able to pick up on the scout was the most important part of it. At the end of the day, basketball is basketball. We purposely did this game so that when we go down to the Virgin Islands, we are ready for that.”

The Scounting Process: Coach Duffy enjoys the scouting process. She said, “It is such a fun process. It is wild. It is Crazy. Itoro Coleman has the scout as soon as we finish with Gardner-Webb. We are in the office talking about it, putting the game plan in. She teaches me the game plan, and what Coastal is going to do, and I make some adjustments. You are obsessed with making sure you have your team prepared. The girls were very focused on the scouts, knowing the keys to win, locked into their film session”. 

Next Up

Virginia Tech looks to go 5-0 against Niagara on Thursday, November 20. Based on the start to the season, the Hokies are building confidence and chemistry that they are going to need with the upcoming slate of James Madison, BYU and other teams in the Virgin Islands, and then, ultimately, Florida and Duke.

Youtube Video - Condensed Game