Virginia Tech's experience shines in beatdown of Miami in ACC quarterfinal
By Jack Brizendine
Staff Writer
March 3, 2023
Virginia Tech advanced to its second straight ACC tournament semifinals on Friday evening. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
GREENSBORO, NC — Maturity and experience are things you can’t teach — they have to be earned.
Kenny Brooks’ team displayed both virtues in excess during Virginia Tech’s (25-4, 14-4 ACC) methodical 68-42 beatdown of Miami (19-12, 11-7) in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Friday night.
“We’re extremely mature,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said to reporters following the win. “They do a tremendous job of policing themselves, talking about it, communicating where they need to be, and they’re as connected as any group that I’ve ever had on both ends of the floor.”
Two of Tech’s most experienced players — Elizabeth Kitley and Taylor Soule — both collected double-doubles against the Hurricanes. The pair combined for 35 points and 20 boards.
They weren’t the only Hokies keeping the glass spotless, though. D’asia Gregg contributed to the count with 13 rebounds — a portion of VT’s 50 boards in the game.
“We controlled the narrative,” Brooks said. “They [Miami] did a really good job speeding us up in the first game [this season].”
Virginia Tech fell to Miami in its first meeting this season in Coral Gables nearly two months ago, 77-65. Seeking revenge Friday night, the Hokies were the aggressors from the opening tip against the Hurricanes, jumping out to a 20-5 lead in the first ten minutes of the game. Miami never got within 10 points of the lead for the rest of the night.
“Just a very, very immature, poorly played first quarter by us,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said after the game.
The Hokies didn’t shoot the ball all that well in the opening quarter, but were able to make up for it by hauling in offensive rebounds and knocking in second-chance buckets.
Dominance on the offensive glass continued throughout the night for Virginia Tech, as Kenny Brooks’ squad pulled down 19 offensive rebounds — which converted into 25 second-chance points.
VT opted for a bigger lineup against Miami at times, leading to the lopsided rebounding numbers.
“We’ve actually gone to [that lineup] out of necessity, but we like that lineup,” Brooks said. “It allows us to do a lot of different things. D’asia Gregg, her versatility allows us to play big and she can step out on the perimeter. She knocked down a couple threes tonight, which really extends the defense. She’s a really good passer from that area.
“And then they have to pick their poison which smaller guard is going to guard Taylor Soule. It allows us to have some mismatches, but our offense still flows extremely smooth regardless of whether we have a smaller lineup, a traditional lineup or even a bigger lineup.”
The larger lineup paid dividends on both sides of the ball for Tech, as the Hokies held the Hurricanes to just 42 points on 14-for-58 (24.1%) shooting from the field and forced 11 turnovers.
The 42-point performance was Virginia Tech’s best defensive effort since November — and it’s a direct result from VT’s aggressive approach on both sides of the ball.
“A lot of people say they want to be physical and they just talk about the defensive end,” Brooks said. “We talked about that right as we started the win streak. We want to be physical on both ends, not only the defensive end, but the offensive end as well.
“We actually simplified our defensive schemes. This group is the smartest group I’ve ever been around. They will come to me and they will talk about different ways, and I’m listening to them because they’re on the floor. They’re talking about different ways to cover, different ways to do certain things. And we simplified our scouts because they’re so smart, they were trying to take away everything.
“We get to a point where we’re going to take away some stuff, but then we’re going to guard, and they’ve been guarding the last month, and that’s what’s made us really good.”
Despite using its newly-installed larger lineup against Miami, Virginia Tech didn’t play all of its cards Friday night. Much of the Hokies game plan against the Hurricanes was simplistic and plain, saving a few things for Saturday’s semifinal matchup with Duke.
“We kept everything vanilla today,” Brooks said. “No offense to anybody, but we didn’t run a whole lot of the plays today that we’re going to run tomorrow. We know they’re [Duke] scouting. We know they’re watching. We’ll have some wrinkles.”
Virginia Tech went 1-1 in the regular season, losing in Durham on Jan. 29 (66-55), before embarking on its current nine-game winning streak — one of those victories coming against the Blue Devils in Blacksburg (61-45).
Tech will run some different schemes versus Duke than it did against Miami. But if the Hokies bring the same level of physicality they did against the Blue Devils, they’ll have a good shot to advance to their first ACC championship game in program history.