UVA Women's Basketball Falls to Virginia Tech 87-62 | Takeaways

Virginia women's basketball (12-13, 4-9 ACC) suffered an 87-62 loss to Virginia Tech (16-8, 7-6 ACC) in the Commonwealth Clash on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five key takeaways from UVA's second-straight home loss.

Another bad defensive showing leads to Hokie offensive explosion

With the utmost respect to Florida State and Virginia Tech, who are talented, well-coached teams with potent offenses, Virginia's defensive performances over the last two games has all the markings of a potentially catastrophic downward spiral. On Thursday, the Cavaliers gave up 101 points to the Seminoles, marking the first time since 2019 that an opponent scored 100 points against Virginia. On Sunday, UVA allowed Virginia Tech to shoot 12/19 from beyond the arc (63.2%), shoot 31/53 from the floor (58.5%), and score 87 points, second-most for the Hokies in an ACC game this season. Four different Hokies scored in double figures and Carleigh Wenzel was the performer of the game with 16 points and nine assists, while Carys Baker was a perfect 5/5 from three. Virginia Tech shot the cover off the ball, but Virginia allowed the Hokies an overabundance of wide-open attempts.

Johnson's early fouls spell trouble for Virginia

Momentum is a curious thing. Maybe the Hokies were always going to come into John Paul Jones Arena and outplay the Cavaliers to the effect of a 25-point win. But early in the game, it seemed we were headed for another instant classic like the game between these two teams last year in Charlottesville. Both teams made some tough plays early on and there was a lot of energy in the arena in those first few minutes. Then, Kymora Johnson picked up her second foul at the 6:48 mark of the first quarter and exited the game. Virginia Tech went on a 14-2 run from that moment to build a nine-point advantage. The Cavaliers narrowed the gap to five in the second quarter, but the Hokies were hot by then and pulled away to lead 46-28 at the half. At that point, the game was essentially over.

Virginia can't find a rhythm offensively again

The way Virginia Tech was shooting the ball, Virginia was going to need a near-perfect showing on the offensive end in order to keep up. The Cavaliers fell well short of that mark. The first quarter went awry the moment Johnson went to the bench with her two fouls, but even when she came back on the floor, Virginia struggled to find a rhythm offensively. While the Hokies had 26 assists on their 31 made field goals, the Hoos had just 11 assists and turned the ball over 18 times. UVA shot 40.4% from the floor and an abysmal 2/16 from three-point range. Over the last two games, which the Cavaliers lost by a combined 58 points, they shot 38.1% from the floor and 6/35 (17.1%) from beyond the arc. That won't cut it against many teams in college basketball, much less some of the better squads in the ACC.

Latasha Lattimore bottled up

After Latasha Lattimore scored 24 points to lead UVA to a win at Virginia Tech back on January 16th, the Hokies were able to keep a lid on her this time around. Lattimore scored just eight points and attempted only seven shots overall. After scoring in double figures in nine-straight games, including games of 25 and 26 points against Miami and Syracuse, Lattimore has scored only eight points in each of the last two games. When Coach Mox was asked if Virginia Tech adjusted their defensive approach against Lattimore from the first meeting, Mox answered, "We just didn't compete."

Big Picture

This defeat, which was UVA's sixth loss in the last seven games, all but eliminates the Cavaliers from contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. At 12-13 overall and 4-9 in ACC play, Virginia still isn't even guaranteed a spot in the ACC Tournament, which will exclude three of the 18 teams in the new-look Atlantic Coast Conference. With only five games left in the regular season, the Cavaliers must get their hands back on the reins before these two blowout losses snowball into a full-blown collapse and find a way to pick up a couple of wins down the stretch to secure their spot in the ACC Tournament. Only then can they start to think about going on a run in Greensboro.

Bonus: Commonwealth Clash

The Virginia Tech victory earns a half-point for the Hokies in the 2024-2025 Commonwealth Clash, which Virginia now leads 5.5-3.0.

Up next, Virginia has no midweek game and will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers on Sunday, February 16th at 2pm ET and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.