Everything From Virginia Tech HC Megan Duffy After The Hokies' Win Over Coastal Carolina

Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy spoke to the media after the Hokies' 82-59 win over Coastal Carolina. Here's the entirety of what Duffy had to say:

Opening statement:

"Felt like we played two basketball games. What a frantic pace. We were very concerned about this game today just because of the way Coastal Carolina plays. Very well coached. They got some talent. They can bomb threes and they can get downhill. So, I was very proud of the resilience of our team. Obviously, we started off had a great first quarter. But all we kept talking about in timeouts was it's the game of runs, they're going to make their run. We had to kind of stick to the game plan and had some up and down moments. Obviously, the third quarter wasn't exactly what we had intended. But I thought our response in the fourth quarter to handle their run and their momentum to make a final push to blow it open a little bit was really good for our team. Proud of them for that."

On the team's four-point third quarter and the team's subsequent response in the fourth:

"It's interesting. We talked about how focused we needed to be in the beginning of the third quarter. I thought we had a couple lapses with just our press offense. They got a couple little steals off some just poor decisions by us. We were taking care of the ball pretty well early. Just had a couple letdowns and then, I thought we had some really good shots that we made in the first half. And they didn't go in and [I] thought we got a little down on ourselves. So, we were just trying to stay steady, pump each other up, and like we said, we're going to eventually make our run. Where they were pressuring at times. So, I'll look at the film and really see was it X's and O's? Was it lineups? Was it something Coastal Carolina was doing? [It'll help] to see how we can kind of fix and prevent that third quarter."

On the defense in the third quarter:

"Yeah, they only had 12 points and I think the big key, they were 5-for-12 from three. They were coming to the game averaging almost 33 threes a game and with the quick turnaround of just a one-day prep, with a team like this, you're kind of like, 'Okay, we might have to give up a couple twos and a couple maybe easy buckets to make sure we're high on their shooters.' And [Tessa] Grady was bombing some in the first four four games of the year. She can really stroke it. And Kristin Williams is a kid who can get hot in different ways. And so, I thought no matter what was going on some of our mistakes and and they got a few points in the paint, we were still guarding the three-point line and sticking to our game plan, which I thought was great discipline by our team today."

Q: You wanted a game with a quick turnaround. How do you feel you guys handled that challenge?

"Yeah, we had a quick turnaround against a really good team and Coastal is going to win a lot of games, especially in their league. We were on them pretty good after the Gardner-Webb game to really stay focused, whether we were walking through some things where we were full live in practice. You kind of squeeze in a couple different film sessions that you normally do over two or three days. We fit them into kind of the day, one practice and a shootaround. So, I thought our focus was really good. The first quarter, the way we came out, I felt like we executed what we wanted to. It doesn't always happen like that, but I thought overall, the carry over into the the prep of Coach IC [Itoro Coleman], scout and to teaching me very quickly what we needed to do and to the communication to our team was was very solid for an early game."

On if Duffy felt like the team got weary in the second half:

"I'm always concerned with that when you play a team like Coastal. We want to play fast and be up tempo and then, they want to probably play faster than us in some ways. So, you're always watching that with like, is it a substitution pattern you can help? Do I call a timeout? We got a little bit in some mini-foul trouble with people picking up their third. Mackie [Nelson] picked up her fourth. So, yeah, I was concerned like there's a little bit of fatigue, especially early on in the season, when you're not used to playing a lot of minutes. But, the fact that Carys [Baker] and Carleigh [Wenzel] played the biggest minutes of the season. A little bit shorter bench today, but that's okay, I think, relative to how the game was going."

Q: Carleigh had a double double and Mackenzie had 12 points and four assists. Is this kind of a sign of what you had envisioned with the combination of of having those two side by side there?

"I think Carleigh was really happy with her 10 assists. I said, 'Congrats on 23 points.' And she kind of looked at me. Then, I said '10 assists' and she was very happy. So, yeah, I thought she shared the ball well. I thought she got people a lot of different shots. I mean, her and Mackie were doing a great job of that. I thought Samyha [Suffren] was very good with sharing the ball, too. So, overall, I know Carleigh's going to be happy she made her free throws. She was a little bummed a few games ago with a couple misses. She puts herself to a high standard of making those. But overall, 19-for-22 in a game that was pretty physical and there was a lot of loose ball fouls. I thought we handled that well."

On the work Nelson, Suffren and Mel Daley put into their three-point shots:

"For Mackie especially, and Samyha, I get the luxury to to watch them every day. They both can make threes. It's just a matter of, Mel's settling in. She has a great mid-range game. She's sneaky with how she can get her shots off. Mackie, much improved from last year. As a freshman, she was just trying to [figure] it out and run our team. So, she's more confident to shoot both her pull-up and her three. She doesn't maybe get as many just because of the way our offense is flowing with a few other people getting a few more shots. But it's really good when a couple people get cold that Samyha, Mackie, Mel, Leila [Wells], Sophie [Swanson], we got people who can hit them and we got to keep encouraging them to shoot them because we're going to need that as we move forward in this season."

On how Wenzel has grown as a scorer (season-high 23 points) and as a leader:

"I think Carleigh's poise is the greatest thing about her right now. Even tonight, she had some streaks of her scoring and her facilitating. But she was really good on Grady tonight. We put her on [Grady] most of the game, held her to only six points. And that was Carleigh being focused and locked in. She wants to be a two-way player. We're pushing her on some different matchups to to do that. And so, I'm most proud of when a game like today happens. Yes, she scored and she facilitated, but then you can say, 'Man, I think her defense might have been the best part of what she did today.' That's a huge testament to Carleigh's focus and her work. She had a quick little film session yesterday individually from the previous game. Thought she improved tremendously. And I love that about our team. It's the relentless growth that we're coming in hungry to get better as the scouts change a little bit and opponents change, somebody like Carleigh, who's a huge leader on in our program to show like 'I'm the defensive stopper today.' So, very proud of her for that."

On 27 turnovers and what Duffy liked about the team's defensive pressure:

"I think we did it a couple different ways. I think we got our hands on some balls. We got a couple tips, deflections. That's 27 potential less possessions that they had in a very up-tempo game. So, I think that helped us. Some of those turnovers allowed us to get a few more shots maybe than they did, which is always a good a good stat in the books."

On losing the rebounding battle but tallying 11 second-chance points:

"Not a ton, really, of rebounds. The 11 offensive rebounds was good. I mean, we can outrebound a team by 15 and we look at the film and we're like, 'Dang, that was not a great rebounding game.' So, this one, I don't know, we'll look at it. I think we had to get a few more people back in transition just because of how Coastal played. But overall, hopefully when we go back and watch the film, we have people doing their jobs on the glass."

On 27 turnovers, 31 points off them:

"Yeah, it was huge. Maybe another big stat of the game other than our three-point percentage defense, but keeping that other stat at a really high level. That was good. I'll take that."

On Nelson starting this year:

"Mackie got some valuable minutes last year. And she's got a tough job. She's running the point. She's helping Carleigh with it. There's so much growth when you first step on the court for big minutes. She was coming off the bench. And now in a new year, she deserves every second of that starting position. She's working hard. She's getting more resilient and tough with all different things within the game. Whether that's me challenging her, Coach [Sharnee Zoll] challenging her, whether that's just being able to guard another team's best player, hitting shots when she needs to versus facilitating. And I think she's doing all the right things. And I think the good thing about her is she's staying steady with every every process we're going through n this day-to-day. And I'm just really proud of just the way she's growing. She's still a pretty young player in a lot of ways. And I just I'm I like what she's doing. She's being coachable. She's just really a joy to grow with her in this process."

On the variety of opponents in the four-game slate:

"When we schedule, sometimes, they're scheduled really far back, almost a year. Sometimes, it's last minute. I knew they were different styles, but I didn't think we would have to be so locked into an all-zone team the other night, [then] the chaos of Coastal Carolina. We'll figure out what the next game's going to be like, but I think it's really great to be able to focus in on these scouts and try and take away certain things. And there's plenty of times in these first four games we haven't taken away some things we needed to. So, just the growth of their IQ's and growing, it's so critical when you get into ACC play down the road. Because that margin of error and a few mistakes can win or lose you a game. So, to to see some of that regardless, we're talking a lot about 'Don't watch the the scoreboard.' Watch the four or five minutes that we're playing. Watch after a timeout. How do we lock into the small things instead of looking at the scoreboard whether you're up or down?"

On Coastal's Tracy Houston, who scored 21 points:

"Tracy was awesome. That girl had a game today. She was tough, she was physical, she got to her spots. I think they did a great job of finding her inside in a couple different ways. Like I said, we had a decision to make to guard that three-point line or potentially give up a couple twos like we did. But kudos to her. I thought we've had a couple breakdowns, but I thought she had a really nice game."

On the quick turnaround and how beneficial that experience will be for the tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands:

"It's such a fun process. I can't tell you now. It's wild. It's crazy. Itoro Coleman had the scouts as soon as we were finished with Gardner-Webb. We're in the office talking about it, putting the gameplan together. She teaches me the game plan and and we know what Coastal is going to do and then I make some adjustments and you're up really late. You're not sleeping a lot in that quick turnaround. We practiced at 11:00, so the Gardner-Webb game into an 11:00 practice when you got one day prep. It's not quite an all-nighter, I wouldn't say that. But you're just really obsessed with making sure you're going to have your team prepared. The girls' job is to relax and get some sleep and fuel and recover. I thought they were very focused on the scout, knowing the keys to win. Locked into their film session. We have the ability through JustPlay [Sports Solutions] to send them the scout so they can watch the video, even after the day is over yesterday. And it's key, we're going to have some quick turnarounds even the MTE. You have to really be selective with the things you give them as a coach, as well, so you're not overloading. So, they focus on two or three things and let's go execute it and then we make adjustments in the game. But for an early season, it's good to kind of get that with that one-day prep."