Virginia Tech Women’s Basketball Fall 82-62 to NC State - A Deep Dive

After a disappointing loss to Notre Dame this past Thursday, the Hokies faced a tall task with the ACC 3rd place NC State coming to town. Unfortunately, after a hot start, the Hokies fell apart in the second quarter and could not keep up with the Wolfpack. Even though Tech played NC State tough in the second half, Tech could not overcome that second quarter and lost, 82-62.

Head Coach Megan Duffy’s initial reaction, “Overall, disappointed with our defense. We knew we had to have our best defensive effort of the season. NC State has five elite level players who can score at a pretty high clip,, and I thought we were a step slow on our scout and just had too many breakdowns. I thought we had some good moments throughout the game as it went on but overall not enough defensively to stop really their big three.”

GAME SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER - FAST START

Virginia Tech came out hot in the first quarter. After NC State struck first, Tech point guard Mackenzie Nelson made the Wolfpack's star guard Zoe Brooks pay for a tight overplay on a pass and drove down the lane for a layup to knot the score up 2-2.  Carys Baker defended a drive by Khamil Pierre, and Nelson passed ahead in transition to Carleigh Wenzel who went up immediately to splash a three. On Tech’s next offensive possession, Baker missed a mid-range turnaround but got her own offensive rebound, dished to Wenzel for her second three pointer. Wenzel came right back and drove from the wing, was fouled on the layup attempt, and made one of two free throws to put the Hokies up 9-4.

After a NC State offensive rebound and putback got the Wolfpack within three, Baker hit a turnaround fadeaway jumpshot, and then Leila Wells finished a tough driving layup to put Tech up 13-6. The Hokies had made  5-of-their first seven shots and had NC State on its heels.

However, NC State didn’t go away. Their game plan was clear: go inside. Khamil Pierre faked a handoff on the wing and drove for a layup. Pierre then posted up and scored on a drop step to bring NC State back with 13-10. The Hokies defense forced misses at the rim and even airballs. On offense, Wenzel made another tough pull up, Freelon scored on a driving layup and then again on an offensive rebound to put the Hokies up 19-12 with 2:17 left in the first quarter. 

The Wolfpack went back to work. Pierre hit a turnaround jumpshot, Destiny Lunan poured in step back three, Zamareya Jones drove for a scoop score, and then Books drove the lane and passed to Pierre for a layup. During this same stretch, the Hokies missed five straight shots, and the first quarter ended, 19-19. 

2ND QUARTER - NEED A PULSE CHECK

The second quarter was disastrous, but you would not have known it was coming at first. Both Mel Daley and Samyha Suffren hit pull-up jumpshots for the Hokies to make the score 23-21 in favor of the Hokies. 

Then that was it….. Starting at the 8:54 mark, the Hokie offense became unglued. 

• Moving post-screen on the perimeter - turnover
• Travel on a drive into the lane - turnover
• Rushed, wild shot that had no chance and went long off the rim
• Wild drive early in the possession against 2-3 defenders
• Another bad drive straight toward the baseline with an awkward throw up at a tough angle
• Fumbled pass into the high post - turnover

Tech’s offense had no ball movement, three turnovers, and two straight bad shots that had little chance of going in. Meanwhile, NC State just attacked to pace a 10-0 run and pull ahead 31-23. Coach Megan Duffy called a timeout to stop the bleeding, and, on the ensuing Tech possession, Wenzel was fouled on a pull-up jumpshot. She hit the two free throws to close the game to 31-25 at the 5:56 mark.

Unfortunately, even though the Hokies began to run better offense, their field goal scoring drought continued. The Hokies missed 9 straight baskets until Wenzel hit Wells on a transition pass for a layup at the 1:05 mark. At the same time, the Wolfpack's efficient onslaught continued with their scoring runs. The first half ended with NC State up 44-27.

SECOND HALF

To Virginia Tech’s credit, the Hokies did not fold: they fought tenaciously on defense and improved their offensive efficiency and shooting percentage. After shooting a disastrous 18.8% from the field in the second quarter, the Hokies shot 44.4% in the second half. Tech played NC State even in the second half. However, the damage done by that second quarter was the story of the game that ended 82-62.

SIX THOUGHTS AFTER THE GAME

THE SECOND QUARTER - WHAT HAPPENED?

The Hokies lost this game in the second quarter. After the initial baskets by Daley and Suffren, Tech fell off a cliff. Against one of the top teams in the ACC, the Hokies needed to play their best, but momentum swung dramatically in favor of the Wolfpack.

• Before the Tech timeout around the 6 minute mark, the Hokies had little ball movement. After that timeout, the Hokies moved the ball better and took good shots; the shots just did not go in.
• Virginia Tech went 8:23 without a field goal and missed overall 11 straight attempts, including several poor shots that short-circuited the offense.
• Virginia Tech committed three turnovers
• NC State had two separate 10-0 and 11-0 runs
• NC State shot 8-for-13 (61%) from the field, including 6 for 10 from around the basket.
• NC State outscored Virginia 25-8

When asked what happened in the second quarter, Coach Megan Duffy said, “The run was fast and quick. They went downhill. They went 1-on-1. They don’t run a ton of complicated stuff but they are very good at what they do. Their quick ball screens. The one on one attacks. That run was huge. I think we were back on our heels too much instead of being the aggressor in that moment and different moments throughout the game.”

From the player’s perspective on what happened, Carleigh Wenzel said, “They kind of just switch everything and blow it up,” Wenzel said. “You just have to make reads. I just don’t think we did that to the best of our ability. I think that we were trying to get downhill and be aggressive, and I think we had a lot of kicks out of the paint to wide-open players for them to make reads.

“Just sharing it a little bit better. I don’t think we did that to the best of our ability, and I think that came with how they were jumping things, but that’s something you work on in practice. That’s not anything that we weren’t ready for. It just didn’t kind of go in the way we wanted it to go today.”

NC STATE GOES INSIDE

NC State’s game plan was clearly to go inside to their two forwards.  6’2 Khamil Pierre had 25 points on 11-17 shooting and three free throws. Her 6’6 inside partner Tilda Trygger had 8 points. In addition, guards Zoe Brooks and Zamareya Jones continually drove into the lane forcing the action. While Brooks was only 6-for-14, she drew fouls and went to the line for a 13-of-14 clip. 

• NC State had 44 of their 82 points in the paint. 
• NC State took 10 of its 13 shots from inside the pain in that second quarter that decided the game, and shot 60% (6-of-10).

HOKIE DEFENSE NEEDED TO BE BETTER

Coach Duffy said during the pregame interview with Evan Hughes that Virginia Tech needed to play its best defense of the year in order to defeat NC State. Unfortunately, she “felt like we did not do a lot of what we wanted to do,” especially inside against NC State’s Khamil Pierre.

When referencing Pierre, Duffy said, “Pierre, coming over from Vandy, just again plays at her pace. I thought we didn’t do what we wanted to do in the beginning of the game. She didn’t feel enough pressure on her. She was just very comfortable with her ability to get to her spots. Once she gets to her spot, she can shoot the 15 footer, she can get to her Sikma game, She has a lot in her bag. Just her efficiency from the field was not good enough. Because she got easy stuff early, then some of the difficult ones she ended up making, which you can live with those a little bit. I thought Kilah had a couple of really good possessions on her and she made them. It is those simple ones that she cut in front of us and we didn’t give her any resistance that really hurt us.”

Duffy was complimentary of NC State guards Zoe Brooks and Zam Jones. She said Brooks is a  “Phenomenal player, one of the best players in the country.  She just plays with great pace. You can see her handle. The way she can shift and change directions. Once she gets in the paint, she is like a pro from the standpoint that she can create space. She can stop on a dime. She can go off one foot. You can cave in a little bit with her physicality but her physicality is under control. She has a really good touch to score.” Regarding Zam Jones, Duffy said, “Zam Jones made timely baskets. I thought overall we did a pretty good job on her and then late shot clock, even when we made a run on the second half, it is 5 on the shot clock and she does a little step back to create space and bangs a three. Those were just daggers for us.”

Tech found it difficult to keep both Brooks and Jones out of the lane, which led to fouls but also scoring opportunities for Pierre.  For example, there was a play in the second quarter in which Jones drove the left wing. Freelon came over to help, but Jones dropped a pass to Pierre on the weakside for a layup as a Tech defender was slow rotating down to cover behind Freelon.  The slow rotation is example of the discipline that Coach Duffy talked expecting her team to better at.

Overall, Coach Duffy emphasized the need for an improvement on defense after giving up 82 points. Duffy said, “That is the reset I am talking about: The will it takes to defend, all five people doing it. When we make adjustments, how much better can we get? I think, first and foremost, we have to start with that, our rebounding and our hustle and those things and we build from that into our offense.”

GREAT EFFORT BY FREELON

Kilah Freelon finished the game with 14 points and 18 rebounds, including 9 offensive rebounds. It was her fourth double double of the year and seventh game with double-digit rebounds. Her 18 rebounds was 3 shy of the Virginia Tech program record held by Liz Kitley.

Freelon started off the game strong. She had 7 rebounds in the first quarter alone, including 3 offensive rebounds - one of which resulted in a putback for two points. She also had a nice block that preserved the 19-19 tie at the end of the quarter.  Freelon continued to try to keep the Hokies in it during the second quarter with another offensive rebound, 2 steals, and a block.

She came out in the second and seemingly played like a woman on a mission. Freelon scored 10 points and had 9 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds., in the second half. She was so relentless on the boards that she had two straight offensive rebounds and putbacks in the fourth quarter!  What is additionally amazing about her effort on the offensive glass is that NC State came into the game as the top defensive rebounding team in the ACC at 32.0 per game.

When speaking about her performance, Kilah said, "A lot of it came from,, honestly, wanting to be more aggressive than they were for myself and not allowing myself to be in those low numbers and not getting extra shots for my teammates and myself, because I want us to have as many opportunities as possible.”

Coach Duffy said, “I thought Kilah had a really nice game today. I thought she was pretty hungry after the ND game as to what she wanted to do out there. Her rebounding was tremendous. I thought she had some great defensive plays. Overall, I thought she really improved from our last game to this game, which is a good sign. She always has a great voice and is hungry for us. Hopefully, her energy will continue to be contagious.”

VIRGINIA TECH NEEDED OTHER PLAYERS TO STEP UP

Carleigh Wenzel scored 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting, including 3-for-6 from three and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. She also grabbed 2 defensive rebounds and dished out 3 assists. She did have 5 turnovers from trying too hard to make plays, but it was her sixth straight game with at least 17 points. 

After Carleigh Wenzel and Kilah Freelon, no other Hokie scored in double figures. Virginia Tech only made four three pointers (out of 18), so the rest of the team only made one.  After Wenzel’s first two threes to start the game, Tech only made TWO more the entire game. 

Carys Baker had an off shooting night, going for 4-for-16 and 0-for 6 from three. Ultimately, she scored 8 points, with 6 of those coming in the second half. Baker also contributed 9 rebounds,  including 3 offensive, as well as 2 assists, and a steal. 

When asked how she thought NC State was defending Baker that led to her shooting issues, Coach Duffy thought it was less about the Wolfpack defense. She said, “She got off 16 shots. I thought a few of them were rushed.  We tried to move Carys around to different spots and a couple of good looks wasn’t her best efficient game today. It is my job to help her find those easier baskets, maybe  get to the free throw line. Give her more space to work. Get back to the drawing board with helping her find those different ways to score.”

Mackenzie Nelson scored 6 points on 3-of-5 shooting (0-of-1 from three), grabbed 1 defensive rebound, and drew yet another charge to lead the team with 13. However, she only had 1 assist and 3 turnovers.

Samyha Suffren, who has been scoring consistently lately, was 1-for-6 and had 5 turnovers. To her credit, she also had 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Leila Wells scored 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting (0-of-2 from three) to go along with 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, and 1 turnover.

Mel Daley had 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting and 1-of-2 from the free throw line. She also added 1 defensive rebound.

Aniya Trent got in for 2 minutes and had 1 assist and a turnover.

Kayl Petersen played 3 minutes and grabbed a defensive rebound.

Nelson, Suffren, and Wells are showing the confidence and willingness to shoot more from outside this season. Although Suffren has developed a consistent mid-range jumper, all three guards remain a work in progress when it comes to outside shooting. 

SWANSON PROVIDED A SPARK

Junior transfer Sophie Swanson came in at the 10:00 mark of the 4th quarter and provided an immediate spark. After missing her first three point attempt, Swanson nailed her next shot from beyond the arc.  She missed another three but then came right back and stole a pass from NC State’s Zoe Brooks and made a driving layup. Swanson did relatively more in 10 minutes than what some other players did in more extended play.

TIDBITS + POSITIVES

• Virginia Tech held NC State to 8 total offensive rebounds despite the Wolfpack having Pierre and Trygger.
• Tech committed 16 total turnovers but only allowed 16 points off those turnovers
• The Hokies grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and had 19 second chance points to NC State’s 10.
• Tech only shot 8 free throws. Wenzel shot 4. The rest of the team shot 4. Given how much Freelon worked inside, it is noteworthy that she didn’t go to the line at all.
• While NC State had 44 points in the paint, Virginia Tech had 36.
• NC State only outscored Virginia Tech only by 3 points over three quarters of basketball. One quarter made the difference.

At the end of the day, the main positive is how the team continued to fight in the second half and, as Kilah Freelon put, the team “played really hard at the end and that is our identity and that is what will come out of us after today.”

WHAT IS NEXT - HER MESSAGE TO THE TEAM

After losing two straight games to Notre Dame and NC State, Coach Duffy’s message to the team was that, “I think the Notre Dame loss was disappointing down the stretch in a little bit of our execution within our zone offense. This [NC State game] was a completely different game. What I just told them in the locker room, we have to really flip the mirror, look at ourselves from coaches to players. We have to reset ourselves with our effort. We can get better at the basketball part. Maybe it is good to get on the road, head out to the West Coast and see what we are made of out there.”

The program’s culture and mantra is to focus on that relentless growth, the process of improvement. Tech now embarks on a 2-game road trip to play Stanford on Thursday, February 12 and then California next Sunday, on February 22. 

Both teams represent opportunities to show that growth and rebound from these losses. With five games left, Coach Duffy said, “The whole rest of the year there is going to be great opportunitues…..My biggest goal for our team is to really dive into ourselves, to dive into the effort, dive into our process. One of the things we talked about, it is one of our core values, is our relentless growth. Even when you are in February, you got to be so hungry to continue to improve on small things. That’s the margin of error as you play really good teams down the stretch. I think this team has proven  to me that they can do that, and that’s my job to rest them and lock into the small things. This one doesn’t feel good, especially on our home floor, but to respond and get on the road will be good to see what we are made of.”

ACC WATCH

Here are the results from the ACC games on Sunday, February 9:

• #7 Louisville defeated Syracuse - 84-65
• #17 Duke defeated SMU - 95-36
• #25 North Carolina defeated Wake Forest - 84-56
• California defeated Pittsburgh - 95-80
• Virginia defeated Notre Dame - 81-70
• Florida State defeated Miami - 87-70
• Georgia Tech defeated Standord - 74-52
• Clemson defeated Boston College - 83-59

Here are the updated standings as of Sunday, February 8. Virginia Tech sits tied for 7th place with Clemson, with both teams sporting 8-5 conference records. 

Three of Tech's losses have been to Duke, Louisvillle, and NC State, the top three teams in the conference, which shows the gap between it and those teams.  The Tech women are a far different team than the inconsistent group they were last year.  They have largely won the games they should have. The Hokies now have five games remaining in regular season conference play, all of which are winnable. See the article “And So It Begins” for what those five games look like.

The final three weeks of the regular season will see the six teams bunched between 4th and 9th in the standings jockey for position. All six teams face tough games. Even California sits lurking just behind that group.  If Virginia Tech can regain momentum to close out the season, it can move back up in the standings going into the ACC tournament and position itself well for a post-season bid.

UNC - The Tarheels play Duke twice, UVA, as well as Virginia Tech. The head-to-head matchup with the Hokies will be important for Tech’s standing, but UNC faces a tough four tough games to close out the season.

Syracuse - Three of Syracuse’s final five games are against Notre Dame, NC State, and Clemson

UVA - UVA’s win against Notre Dame helped its cause but it faces a challenging final stretch with games against Stanford, Cal, Louisville before capping off the regular season against Virginia Tech at home.

Clemson - The Tigers play Syracuse, Duke, Stanford, and California. Even its game against Georgia Tech is not a guaranteed win.

Notre Dame - After defeating the Hokies, Notre Dame lost to UVA. Its final stretch includes games against NC State, Louisville, and Syracuse.

Youtube Condensed Video of the Game