When the Virginia Tech women's basketball team opened ACC play for the 2025-26 season against Duke on Sunday afternoon, they faced a Blue Devils team that was much better than its record indicated. The numbers didn't tell the whole story.
Duke entered 3-6, but their losses were to Baylor, South Florida, West Virginia, LSU, UCLA, and South Carolina. That's a daunting schedule for any team to begin a season, especially when you have a roster that has had a lot of turnover.
Duke came into Cassell Coliseum and sent a message to the rest of the ACC that the record is no indicator of how good they are. The Blue Devils played a suffocating defense on the Hokies. Virginia Tech made just 17 of its 64 field goal attempts in a 70-54 loss.
Virginia Tech, which fell to 7-3, had just one player in double figures, Carleigh Wenzel with 15 points. The next closest was six points scored by Carys Baker, Kilah Freelon, and Samyah Suffren. Incredibly, Duke finished with 24 turnovers and the Hokies 17. Tech had 22 points off the Blue Devils' turnovers and still lost by 16 points. The Hokies went nearly eight minutes in the second half without a made field goal.
“I thought we got punched pretty good at times,” Duffy said. “It was kind of an ugly first half, but just overall disappointed with a little bit of our execution and how we came out today.”
Virginia Tech returns to the court on Wednesday night
The good news for Duffy and her team is that they return to the court on Wednesday night looking to erase the memories of Sunday's loss when they host Presbyterian, which is 2-8. They will then host East Tennessee State on Sunday, before a trip to Florida State on Dec. 18 for another difficult ACC game.
This was a frustrating loss for the Hokies after a big win over Florida in the ACC/SEC Challenge last Thursday night. Things will pick up schedule-wise moving forward as Duffy's team, as conference play will begin in full after the New Year.