Tempo defined the night for Virginia Tech as the Hokies pushed the pace all night in the opening game of the second year of the Megan Duffy era. Tech's approach worked well at least in this opener as the Hokies flew to victory this evening.
Virginia Tech beat Towson 100-56 to open their season 1-0. The Hokies will take on Loyola MD next on Sunday in what is a very tame opening couple weeks of the season prior to their road trip to JMU and their trip to the Caribbean to face BYU and either Vanderbilt or Oregon State.
With Megan Duffy having another year to make roster moves and implement her style of basketball further, it became clear tonight that the plan is for the Hokies to be an up-tempo team committed to getting the rim with great regularity. That showed with how many possessions there were in this game and how VT rarely let the shot clock get below 10 without getting a shot off. Tech finished the night with 76 total shot attempts and 87 total possessions, an insane number that shows how much tempo Tech played with.
Virginia Tech's offense wasn't the most efficient in the first half, but got rolling in the second half on their way to their first 100+ point performance in regulation since a 105-36 victory over Houston Christian on November 16th, 2023. They did this despite the fact that they will be a team that is offensively built around slashing and getting to the rim given how only nine of their 76 shot attempts came from beyond the arc. While Megan Duffy said part of that was a byproduct of the matchup, this team is built more to be an inside-out, get-to-the-rim first type of offense.
Tech indeed dominated the paint in this game, outscoring Towson 58-20 in that area while also getting to the free-throw line regularly and seizing their opportunities, going 23-30 from the FT line. Despite not having much size, they also were great on the glass with an 18-8 offensive rebounding edge that became a 21-7 edge in second chance points.
Kayl Petersen had the best statistical performance of her career as she had career-highs in both points (17) and rebounds (11) for her first career double-double while shooting 5-7 from the field including 2-2 from three-point range plus 5-5 from the free-throw line.
Texas Tech transfer Kilah Freelon had a strong debut for the Hokies with her fifth career double-double, having 15 points and 11 rebounds plus two steals, one block, and one assist. Northwestern transfer Mel Daley also had a productive VT debut with 11 points on 3-5 shooting from the field and 5-6 from the free-throw line.
Carleigh Wenzel stuffed the stat sheet in this game with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, three steals, and two blocks while Mackenzie Nelson also was effective running the show with nine points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Samyha Suffren was the fifth Hokie in double figures tonight with 12 points plus four rebounds and three steals in her return from a season-ending injury last season while Carys Baker added eight points and seven rebounds.
Sophie Swanson had five points and two rebounds in 12 minutes with Wenzel noting after the game that she's currently on a minutes restriction as she recovers from injury. Leila Wells had an efficient seven points and one assist off the bench.
Tech's three healthy freshmen had relatively quiet debuts as Aniya Trent had five rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal in 10 minutes while while Amani Jenkins had two points and two rebounds in seven minutes and Spela Brecelj played two minutes at the very end.
Tempo defined this night for the Hokies with it starting to become clear that Megan Duffy teams moving forward will play with lots of pace and tempo. While the amount of tempo that the Hokies played with tonight may not be the average, Tech wants to be a team that runs their opponents out of the building just like they did tonight.
