Everything From Virginia Tech HC Megan Duffy After Presbyterian Win

Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy spoke to the media after the Hokies' 92-36 win over Presbyterian. Here's the entirety of what Duffy had to say:

Opening statement:

"I really liked our focus tonight. I thought we were ready to play. Liked our bounce back from the Duke loss. It was great to see everybody get in the scoring column and put some great minutes on the board for us. Overall, just a great team effort."

On Leila Wells' performance in her first career start (13 points, five assists and five steals):

"I thought Leila was great. Her stat line, 13 points, five assists, five steals, zero turnovers, was awesome. And I think the greatest thing about Leila is [that] she just continues to buy into the selfless attitude of like whatever my team needs, she wants to defend. She'll play whatever position on the floor we need her to. It was only a matter of time before she started hitting some of her threes. I thought her floor game was good, her defense was good. Completely poised out there. She was connected with me when we were calling some plays. Just overall great performance by Leila."

On Kilah Freelon (13 points, seven rebounds):

"Yeah, Kilah was a little upset after the last couple games, so I think she took it out on Presbyterian. But very efficient with what she was doing. Got some great rebounds, always the hustle kid that we have and was able to finish around the rim. So, overall, good night for her, as well."

On Mackenzie Nelson's unavailability:

"Yeah, Mackie wasn't feeling too good, so we kind of made a call at the last minute to keep her out. But nothing serious."

On five players tallying career-high point totals:

"I just thought we shared the ball well. It was great to see our freshman really be aggressive when they were out there, between Amani [Jenkins] and Aniya [Trent]/ Just some great minutes overall. Finishing around the rim and it was just great to see them really contribute today."

On Samyha Suffren (17 points today):

"I just think overall, we have to get some different kinds of bench production and between Samyha, Leila, Sophie [Swanson], we really need them to step up in different ways. And Samyha is still growing into her role and getting minutes on the court. I thought she was very good with her decision-making, getting downhill when she could, shot her pull-up. Defensively, she was ball hawking and in the right spot. So, the more we can get her confidence to do what she does, the better we'll be. And I think that's the key to help our starting group find those people off the bench and build that chemistry. I thought Samyha did a great job today."

On the mentality that Duffy wanted to see from her offense tonight:

"Our response after Duke was really good. It gave them an extra day off. I thought we really got after it yesterday at practice. They were focused. We're talking a lot about the standard we want to bring every day. Any person who steps on the floor, the intensity we have to bring and so, I thought we had some nice growth there. This is a big stretch, meaning we have finals and papers and exams, still trying to play college basketball at the same time. So, the way our team handled today, the way we have to kind of keep moving day by day, this is a little bit different than the normal season. But I told them they got to take care of their school business and then we'll get back to basketball."

On how much of a confidence booster the game can be for some of the program's younger players:

"It was a gauntlet the last week and a half or so. I think the biggest thing we've been talking about is how connected we have to be. We were pretty disappointed after the Duke game, the way we performed. Just really tried to stay together and talk through some of the mistakes we made and how can we respond emotionally together. I thought that was really good tonight and everybody did their part to help contribute and I'm proud of them for that."

On the team tallying 62 points in the paint and 26 free-throw attempts, and the team's ability to attack downhill:

"I thought it was as a key. We thought we could get in the paint a little bit more, share the ball and I think the best part about tonight was, it was multiple people doing it. We didn't have to settle for outside jumpers. We shared the ball, move the ball. We knew we had a size advantage. It took us a little bit of time to get settled into that, but I thought we had some nice high low looks, whether that was against their zone or man. And again, anytime you can get to the free throw line, we're going to be back in the gym tomorrow shooting some free throws. But overall, I thought that the fact that we were aggressive was pretty good."

On what Duffy thinks of how her defense played in transition:

"Overall, it was a little better. We're turning people over, which is good, and doing it in a lot of different ways. A little bit sometimes in full court, sometimes in the half court. And then again, when you turn people over, you got to capitalize on it. And I think that was one thing against Duke we did not do a great job of. Once we did turn them over, we didn't get enough points off that. So, thought it was a little better, a little better today."

On the 49-28 rebounding margin and 23-2 margin on second-chance points:

"I thought Carys [Baker] and Kilah set the tone with our rebounding. They were in position, grabbed the ball, just had a tenacity about themselves. And I thought very efficient with what they did. Again, we thought we had the size advantage and really wanted to capitalize on that, trying to get extra possessions. I thought overall was pretty good."

On what Duffy is looking to take away from the ETSU game on Sunday:

"Yeah, we are working one day at a time. Like I said, it's about getting back in the gym tomorrow, getting a little rest and recovery, getting them locked into their finals and studying and finishing up strong. When you get to this point in mid-December, it is literally one day at a time and keeping everybody healthy together, taking care of their bodies, taking care of their mental side. We'll be back on the practice floor as the next thing."

On the defense limiting Presbyterian to only 49 shot attempts:

"I think we wanted to get in the gap a little bit more in this game. They had some really aggressive downhill drivers and we worked on just being in the right position in the right spot. So, it made them difficult. I thought we communicated pretty well on our ball screen coverage and rotation which led to just more bodies around those kids."

Q: Shot 80% as a team in the third quarter. What was the halftime message to make sure the team remained aggressive for the final 20 minutes?

"I think the biggest thing with our group is we're just talking about the standard we need to bring every day. Whether that's from opening tip, coming out of the locker room, trying to be the same every day with our intensity. That was probably the biggest thing we talked about from Duke before we got into any basketball things, the heart and hustle and intensity it takes every possession we're on the floor and and really representing what's across our chest. So, that was our biggest goal to come out fighting regardless if it was after a timeout, beginning of a quarter. We substituted. We're trying to get that that collective mentality of everybody's ready to go and fight."

On the team's 17-3 assist margin:

[Editor's note: Duffy remarked to me, "Thomas, you got one more? Golly."]

"I thought we shared it fine. I thought a little bit was more one-on-one and the way we moved the ball and then, a couple people got downhill. So, I always look at assists per made basket. I don't think it was a crazy high percentage, but that was a little bit because we were getting out and creating ourselves and getting out and in transition off of their turnovers."