A Sitdown With Evan Hughes: Looking Back at Virginia Tech Women's Basketball's 2023 Final Four Run

Seven points. That's what separated Virginia Tech women's basketball from a trip to the 2023 national championship to face Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Yet, to many, the game wasn't what mattered. As the old saying goes, "it's not about the destination, it's about the journey".

Yesterday, I sat down with Evan Hughes, the Assistant Director of Broadcast Services and voice of Virginia Tech women’s basketball and baseball, to discuss the run, which took place in Hughes' second season broadcasting for the team. Hughes won the 2021 Jim Nantz Award as a senior, being tabbed as the nation's top collegiate sports broadcaster. That August, Hughes was named the radio voice for the women's basketball and baseball teams in Blacksburg.

In his second year, Hughes watched as the women's basketball team went on a historic run, one that marks the apex of the program.

"I think for me, there are couple of moments I look back on," Hughes said when asked about the first time he considered that Tech could be a Final Four team. "Number one, I remember going to my first practice, the first one that I went to was June of 2022 and I remember walking in the gym knowing about Taylor Soule and remembering her play at Boston College, and how key of a piece she was there, and just being immediately blown away by how vocal she was on the floor in her leadership style, like it was off the charts, incredible. And so, I remember thinking, 'Wow, they really got, you know, a key contributor, not just her play, but her leadership style.' And I think T-Soule was such a huge piece on that team and I think really kind of showed [Elizabeth Kitley] and [Georgia Amoore] and [Cayla King] how they can kind of come out of their shell a little bit and kind of be more vocal."

The Hokies went an undefeated 17-0 that year in non-conference games up to their eventual loss in the semifinals. Among those games, Hughes highlighted Tech's performance in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in The Bahamas, where it took down Kentucky and Missouri by a combined 24 points.

"Then that first test was [No. 5] Notre Dame in December, and that was a pair of top 10 teams that came up short there," Hughes said. But then, I think, like, the turning point was January, they lost a game to Duke, and then that was when they won 15 straight. And so, I mean, it's tough, it's tough to answer that question, because, you know, you're so focused and that sound cliche on the next game that's ahead, you're not really thinking about the big picture of it [of] 'Could this team go to the Final Four?'

"But... [then] they won every game of the month of February. And when they were beating [No. 22 North Carolina] and [No. 9] Duke at home, and they just, they were one of the hottest teams in America. You knew at that point that they were going to be really, really good. However, your mind is so focused on the ACC, you're thinking about seeding for the ACC Tournament. Then you get there, and you win a couple of games, then you win the whole thing, not to get too far ahead, and then it's like, 'Oh, wait, there's the NCAA Tournament'. And now, the granddaddy of them all, if you will, is that tournament. So, I think that again, I look back on that the season defining moment was the loss to Duke in Cameron [Indoor Stadium] in January. And from that point on, that team flipped a switch and went from really good to one of the greatest Virginia Tech teams in any sport that we've ever seen."

That 15-game streak continued through the ACC Tournament, where the Hokies captured the conference title with a 75-67 victory over Louisville. It was Virginia Tech women's basketball's first-ever ACC title.

"Well, I tell you what. You know, winning the ACC championship, it was such a big moment. You're playing Louisville, Hailey Van Lith and you find a way to win that, your first one, and you're on such this, this high and then I think it really dawned on everybody, like there was such as focus to want, I think the fans, everyone's so caught up in winning the ACC championship."

Coach Kenny Brooks wasn't, insisting that the team would be focused on the NCAA Tournament. Even still, the atmosphere around the team was a buzzing one.

"Even before the tournament, the selection show that we hosted for the public at Castle, you had 1000s of people there, and I think at that point, everybody felt pretty good about tech being a one seed."

Virginia Tech did claim the No. 1 seed for their regional, having won 11 straight going into the Big Dance.

In the NCAA Tournament's opening round, the No. 1 seed Virginia Tech drew Chattanooga, led by former Hokies associate head coach Shawn Poppie. That game, Amoore set the program record for single-season triples in a 58-33 victory.

Onto the Round of 32. Virginia Tech next drew South Dakota State, a program that Hughes remarked was a "powerhouse among mid-majors" and that had won the Summit League championship. No matter. Amoore drained a career-high seven triples and Kitley set the program record for blocks in a 72-60 triumph. Now, the Hokies were one of the final 16 schools left standing in the quest for a national title.

"You're playing, you know, a powerhouse in the history of, you know, collegiate athletics in Tennessee, Lady Vols, women's basketball," Hughes said. "And earlier in the year, Virginia Tech had played Tennessee in a non conference game in Knoxville."

In that game, Virginia Tech narrowly held on for a 59-56 victory after forward Jordan Horston missed a potential game-tying three with one second remaining. This time, the Hokies leapt out an and early advantage, leading by as many as 18.

"I think this is a game that doesn't get talked about enough," Hughes said. "Virginia Tech came out of the gates hot... And then Tennessee came roaring back. Got within two points with about five or four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and they had all the momentum on their side."

With just under six minutes left to go, guard Kayana Traylor went to the rim for an and-one bucket to push the advantage to four. At the 3:45 mark, the lead was up to nine. And that was enough for Tech to claim its first-ever ticket to the Elite Eight.

"I think it was the biggest punch back that Virginia Tech had all year to be up [18] in the Sweet 16, and for Tennessee to come all the way back and [for the Hokies] to never relinquish the lead the way they did, that was a huge win at the time," Hughes said. "It punches the first-ever ticket to the Elite Eight in school history. And so that, I mean, to beat Tennessee twice in a year, once in Knoxville, once in the Sweet 16. Those are two marquee wins in itself, right there."

And in the Elite 8, Virginia Tech did it once again. The Hokies took down Ohio State 84-74, despite trailing early in the first game.

"You know, that was a Monday night," Hughes said. "The rest of the other regions have been decided. That was the final Elite Eight matchup. And, you know, you try to tell yourself when you're in those moments to drink it in, but it's so hard, because you are so go, go, go, and focused on the next.

"But there was such a buzz and anticipation that day. You've got a chance to go to Dallas and to go play for a Final Four... I told myself, the final 30 seconds, the final possession, I actually stood up from my chair. I wanted to stand and to say the words, 'For the first time in program history, believe it Hokie Nation, Virginia Tech to the Final Four!'. The magnitude of those words, and being an alum who grew up a Hokie to be the one, what a privilege, what an honor to be the one. To say those words is something that still gives me goose bumps and chills to this day, and as long as you know I'll I'll be broadcasting, it'll forever be one of the most memorable moments of my life. So, that was just an incredible honor to have the privilege to say those words and to document that iconic moment. And that was the word I kept saying. And I kicked myself when I go back and listen to it sometimes, I said, iconic, like three times in 40 seconds, but part of me also looks back on it in that, that was the word. It was iconic, a one-seed, an ACC championship, to go to the Final Four, all of it. It was iconic. It had never been done before, and it was a moment that Tech fans will remember for decades and decades to come."

I then asked Hughes about how the moment helped him grow as a broadcaster.

"I think it's funny," Hughes said. "It was my second year out of school, and you just don't, you do know, in the moment, but it's so hard to process how incredible of a moment that stuff just doesn't grow on trees. It is hard. It is, you know, there's, there's so many things that go in to make a season go and so I think that the Final Four run, I think, helped me as a broadcaster, and that it helps me understand moments more. You know what? What win in January or February could be a season defining win that could catapult a team to new heights, I think also understanding the gravity of 'Okay, what's it like to host an NCAA Tournament game? What's it like to be a one seed? What's it like to interview coaches and players on the biggest stages of their careers when their game gets elevated, right?' And they're at the height, you kind of have to elevate with them in the moment. And so, nothing really prepares you for covering an event of that magnitude, but your work that you've been putting in since the summer gives you the confidence to go and do the job, and that was cool. The moment never felt too big, even though it was because of how confident I was in my preparation and that I'd been there every step of the way, and it was just another game, even though there was so much going on around it. But I think, when I look back on it all now, I think that I just understand games and moments and situations even better, because I've seen one of the greatest stages in all of North American Sports, and that is the Final Four."

The squad was anchored by Kitley and Amoore; the former was a three-time ACC Player of the Year and the latter made First-Team All-ACC in 2023 and 2024. When asked about what stood out about their leadership, Hughes spotlighted how they led by example and diligently worked on their craft.

Thus, the Hokies entered their inaugural trip in the Final Four to take on No. 3 LSU. Going into the final frame, the Hokies led the Tigers by nine. But then, the fourth quarter. A 29-13 stretch over the last 10 minutes of gametime pulled LSU ahead of Virginia Tech, sending the Tigers to the national championship and eliminating the Hokies from title contention.

My last question to Hughes was what he thought the 2022-23 team's legacy would be not only at Virginia Tech, but in terms of women's college basketball, as a whole.

"I think it's even relevant now too, because this year, we're celebrating 50 years of Virginia Tech women's basketball," Hughes said. "When we look back on the final 14 decades from now, I I will think about how it took a special group of people to take a chance on a program that was up-and-coming."

Hughes spotlighted the commitment of Aisha Sheppard, the first five-star commit to ever come to Virginia Tech, and

"Even though we don't have the wins, a top-25 record, the championships, the groundwork is being laid. So I think for me, what I will remember is that it took a lot of people believing in the vision of Coach Brooks and the coaching staff that it was going to lead to what it did... But it took a Liz Kitley saying, 'You know what, I'm going to come to Virginia Tech. I want to build it'. It took a Georgia Amoore saying, 'I'm going to come Virginia Tech, I'm going to build it'...

"And then I also think that we'll look back on that we saw two of the greatest athletes in the history of Virginia Tech sports play at the same time together in Liz Kitley and Georgia Amoore. What a treat tech fans had to see those two go from making the NCAA tournament as underclassmen to an ACC championship to Georgia Amoore making the most threes in the history of the AC tournament and an NCAA tournament. I mean, just unconscious..."

Hughes then ruminated on how special he thought that the Kitley-Amoore pairing was.

"How cool is it that we saw two of the greatest athletes in Virginia Tech sports played at the same time together?" Hughes said. "That's pretty remarkable. Not different generations, same team, same year, same goal. And I think that Final Four team, that group, they've helped lay the foundation. Look at what [current Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy] and her staff, they're able to do in year one and to keep the momentum going off of those teams, hopefully we're talking about many more championships and banners to come, and I think that is the trajectory that this program is on."

Before he parted, Hughes had one more thought to contribute about the 2022-23 team, one that marked the zenith of the program.

"It was that 2023 team that took Virginia Tech women's basketball to heights it hasn't been before," Hughes said. "And now that's the goal. It's been done before, and now let's get back there and do it again."

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