WBB vs Miami Jan 11

The #11 Ladies host Miami(RV 8) tonight at 8 PM in Cassell. The game will be televised on the ACC Network. Miami is 11-3 and 1-2 in the ACC.

Their losses are to #4 Baylor, #15 Louisville, and Boston College. Their ACC win was a dominant beating of Wake Forest by 30, in which they set a school record for blocked shots with 13 and two players set personal records: Oldacre with 6 and Lattimore with 5. This is the same WF team the Hokies struggled to put away in Winston Salem; Miami had them in Coral Gables. Their only notable win was at then #21 Mississippi State (now RV 3).

They start a sophomore, 6'6" forward Oldacre, three juniors, (5'10" guard Roberts, 5'6" guard Day-Wilson, a Duke transfer, and 5'9" guard Williams)and a grad student, 5'10" guard Patrick, a Columbia transfer. They seem to primarily play 4 guards and a forward with Oldacre, Spearman and Lattimore trading off as the bigs. Until the Wake game 5'6" junior guard Lashae Dwyer was a starter. Williams replaced her as a starter against Wake, but she still played 16.5 minutes and scored 9 points.

Only Roberts averages double figure scoring at 11.5 ppg; but 7 players average 6.6 to 8.9 ppg. Five guards play 22 to 27 min/game. Oldacre plays 19 mpg, Spearman 17 and Lattimore 11. Hylton with 19 and Stedman with 11 mpg finish out the minutes in a 10 man rotation. They have about 40 more TO's than assists; but they have caused 100 more TO's than assists allowed. They have won the rebound battle by about 5.5 per game and have outscored their opponents by about 16 ppg.

With a 10 player rotation, it's not likely that fouls will impact their player availability. Miami is not an NC State caliber team; but they are not the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Ladies will have to play with intensity to win this game. A let-down after the big win on Sunday could be fatal. I look for Kitley to bounce back from her (I hesitate to say disappointing because she scored 27 points) less than typical shooting performance against NC State. Amoore will continue to be Amoore. And King, Wenzel, Michaux, Ekh and company should provide enough support to make this a comfortable win.

It would be good if Amoore especially could play less than 40 minutes. I will be a little surprised if she comes back next year and we need to develop someone, Wenzel?, to take her place at PG. I think Strack is developing as the next center; but we need to develop the supporting cast. We are going to be very young next year unless the portal provides experience.

LETS GO HOKIES!