WBB hosts Baylor Mar 24 at 8PM

The #4 seed Hokies host the #5 seed Baylor at 8PM tonight on ESPN. The Hokies are currently #13 in the AP poll; Baylor is #19. This game will be a much tougher test than Marshall. Baylor is a little taller and has played a much tougher schedule:

Baylor does have 6'7" freshman #25 Lety Vasconcelos from Brazil; but she has not played in their last few games. So, when Strack is on the floor, she should have a big height advantage. Again, we will be taller than Baylor at most positions. Baylor does not put as many players in the game as Marshall; but they do have 8 players averaging 16 or more min/game and two more average 8 min/game.

Baylor comes in at 25-7, 6-4 on the road. They were 5-6 against opponents that are currently ranked or receiving votes. One of the five wins was against current #3 Texas at Texas on Dec 3. They also easily defeated Miami 75-57 on Dec 16 at home. We beat Miami 76-52 at home on Jan 11 and again 55-47 in the ACC Tournament on Mar 8. They lost to Kansas 69-61 on Feb 21; we beat Kansas 59-58 on Nov 24. So we should win tonight by between 5 and 9 points.

Their leading scorer is #44 Edwards, who has started 25 of 32 games but has not started their last couple of games. She only played 10 minutes against Vanderbilt; but she played 23 minutes and scored 17 points in their loss to Iowa State in the quarterfinals of their league tournament. Three starters average 9.9 to 11.1 ppg and 4 other players average about 8 ppg.

Baylor is a more methodical, slower paced offense than Marshall, scoring only 75 ppg while only allowing 59.7. They shoot 44.6% overall and 33.6% from three. Baylor has five players shooting over 30% from three; they make about 7.5 threes per game. Their three-point defense has been excellent, only allowing opponents to shoot 26% from beyond the arc. If Strack can play well in the paint, Baylor is going to struggle to cover our shooters from beyond the arc; I don't think they can guard Strack one on one. And if they try to help down low, our long-distance shooters are going to have room. If King, Ekh and Amoore can shoot well from out there, we should do well tonight.

Baylor could have some issues with fouls. They ended the Vanderbilt game with two players with 4 fouls and three players with 3. How the game is called could have a big impact on who can keep their players on the court.

Stats:

The Hokies at 16-0 at home this year and have won 26 in a row. I think they have a good shot at making it 17 and 27 tonight, if everyone plays their game. If our taller guards can stay with the Baylor guards, we should be able to limit their scoring and if our shooters play like they did against Marshall, we should be moving on the the Sweet Sixteen.

LETS GO HOKIES!