Everything From Virginia Tech HC Megan Duffy After Boston College Win

Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy spoke to the media after the Hokies' 78-56 victory over Boston College. Here's the entirety of what Duffy had to say:

On if the diversity of guard play is what Duffy had in mind:

"We've been working on it for really the last week or so. I'm very happy with just the progress we made this week. I think when we put this team together, we talked about how we have a lot of versatile guards and they can do different things at different points. I thought we weren't hitting the mark on on showcasing that. And for us in this program now, it doesn't matter who's starting. It doesn't matter if it's 10 minutes you get to play or 30 minutes to get to play. You have to be producing for us and whether that's getting a rebound like Carys [Baker] was mentioning, whether it's being a defensive stopper, hitting a big basket. And I think we were all in a little bit of our own selfish, selfish world with that. And this game is too hard to do it if you're only doing it on your own. And so, I'm very proud. Obviously, Mackie [Nelson] and Carleigh [Wenzel] are leading us in that back court, but then you you sprinkle in Mel [Daley], Leila [Wells], Samyha [Suffren], you know, Sophie [Swanson] hit a three today. The more we can think like that, to Carys' point, it's difficult to guard and has nothing to do with threes. It's positive plays and just getting them to believe in that, being a little bit more stern with that. We really talked about the discipline of this team. Like any team in the country, the more players you can help contribute, the better you'll be. And I think they've taken it to heart. I think even our scorers are looking at their games a little differently, too. It's not just I'm shooting shots. I want to take a better-quality shot. I can turn down a three to get to my pullup or I can shoot the three on this one because the energy of the ball moving. That's where Carys and Carleigh and even Mackie and Kilah [Freelon] and her role have all dug in a little bit deeper on that and they they look more confident doing it. So, again, numbers and percentages are one thing but the way they're evolving as players is the most important thing and so, I'm happy with that from our week. At the same time, this is a humbling game, and it can change quickly. So, you have to be so in tune with staying focused on that and staying hungry to do that regardless of our opponent in the league."

On the status of Kilah Freelon:

"She rolled her ankle and we could have put her back in the game, but just decided [not to]. As you know, we got the lead pretty handily, it wasn't worth it. So, just a tough play out in transition, hit somebody's foot. So, she'll enjoy the rest for the next day and a half and then hopefully be ready to go."

On if the mentality switches after a foul-heavy game:

"Yeah, I thought the game was called a little bit different tonight, which is okay. I talked to our team after the game of like you have to learn how to adjust to that. They shot a ton of free throws. We did as well and like you know two nights ago when we were at Syracuse, I mean, it was a slugfest. Just bodies on bodies and again, they let us play and they called certain fouls and then today, a little bit of a change of style. Was more five-out and some cuts and some different things. And so, that's really when you really have to lock into your discipline of, you might not be able to hit as hard. You still have to be really good defensively, but they're calling it a certain way. We saw more travels than we've seen in a long time. And it's hard for players because they're going to get frustrated with that, but we're trying to all preach together of like, drive your pivot foot down, one more half-second and put the ball down early and prevent. If they call two of them, let's not make it a third and fourth. And so, I definitely think we can get better at that. And it reminds me a little bit of non-conference, where different styles are changing in personnel and you have to be ready to adapt to it. So, to our defense, we made our free throws which was good. We just gave them way too many."

On the status of Kayl Petersen:

"Kayl took a hell of a hit at Syracuse and got popped in the face, as you can see with her bruising. And so, we're just literally going day-by-day with her and she's feeling pretty good. We just got to make sure everything structurally is good. But God love her, I haven't seen a hit like that in a long time. And she's been a champ and a great teammate. She's a little Coach Petersen yesterday at practice and great on the bench today. So, hopefully, she'll be back soon."

On the importance of entering SMU with a two-game winning streak:

"Our women I've just mentioned, it's rest now. They've given a lot of effort in this last week and I love them for that. They're fighting, their grit. They've been coached hard. They've risen to the challenge. Even in the game today, we challenged them again and they got it going. So I'm very proud of them. So, it's rest, recovery, watch some games today, watch some football, whatever it is. And then like Carys said perfectly, like we'll get back to work on Tuesday and get better and really lock into what we didn't do great today. And then focus in on SMU. I know they have a lot of new players this year, so I'll be learning them and bringing the toughness on the road. It's hard to win on the road and hopefully, the Syracuse mindset we had will give us um some confidence going into Carleigh's home state in Texas."

On noticing unselfishness:

"Yeah, I think when we got into some trouble in those two games [against Miami and Louisville], the ball was sticking, and we weren't fluidly sharing the ball. We got some players on our roster that are three-level scorers, and I think we were getting a little one-dimensional. You could see them trying so hard to make the perfect play and so, in some ways, we've been more disciplined. But we've also tried to open it up to like, there's different ways you can be successful. You guys harp on the three-point shooting and we're the opposite. We're harping on really good quality plays and [the question of] when do we need to get it inside, what our shot selection looks like and that's what we're talking about and you could see even today the ball. When we didn't turn it over, I guess the ball was moving and people were getting good quality shots off of it, which was super positive."

On if Duffy can tell whether the team is doing certain things better:

"Yeah, I mean, I got to watch after today. I think there was still a lot of positive plays. Just that second half was just not a lot of flow, but I thought there's some good moments in the first half for sure. And a lot of people got some minutes, which was also positive."