Full Game Preview and Score Prediction for Virginia Tech WBB vs. Oregon

For the first time in 726 days, Virginia Tech women's basketball is playing in March Madness.

Worked for this. 🔥

The NCAA Tournament starts 𝙉𝙊𝙒! pic.twitter.com/toXMBysVgc
— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) March 20, 2026

The Hokies (23-9, 12-6 ACC) — the No. 8 seed in the Fort Worth (3) regional — take on ninth-seeded Oregon in five and a half hours' time, with top-seeded Texas almost assuredly looming in the second round.

This season, Virginia Tech has enjoyed a welcome boost from year one under second-year Hokies head coach Megan Duffy. Tech, which was the first team out of last year's NCAA Tournament, put up five additional wins and finished sixth in the final ACC standings with a 12-6 record. The Hokies won five of their last seven games, with the two defeats in that stretch both coming at the hands of North Carolina.

This year at neutral sites, Virginia Tech is 2-2, having split its two-game slates both at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands (lost to BYU, beat Oregon St.) and the ACC Tournament in Duluth, Georgia (beat Georgia Tech, lost to North Carolina).

The Hokies' second-year surge under Duffy can be attributed to two players in particular: redshirt junior guard Carleigh Wenzel and junior forward Carys Baker. Both have seen NCAA Tournament action before, having played on the 2023-24 unit that was bounced in the second round. That year, Virginia Tech claimed the ACC championship, but was dealt a late blow by center Elizabeth Kitley's torn ACL. This time around, the Hokies lack a go-to All-ACC First Team-esque option, though Baker and Wenzel have combined to pose a formidable threat for Oregon.

In league play, Wenzel and Baker averaged 16.4 and 14.9 points per game, respectively, with Baker also accumulating 7.1 rebounds a contest.

Though Baker and Wenzel have not been the primary options of an NCAA Tournament team, neither is fazed heading into the tournament. For them — at least by their pre-game press conference words — it's business as usual for the tandem.

"I don't really think that there's like any added pressure for us," Baker said during the team's pre-game press conference Thursday. "I think we're just going to come in. We know that we've put the work in all season. So, I don't think the stage is any different. Obviously, we're in the NCAA Tournament. It's really exciting. We've worked for this all season.

"I think for me and Carleigh specifically, we just know what we have to do together. ... So, I don't think there's any sort of pressure. We've been here before... So, it's just more fun for us and exciting, and we're really excited to be in different roles this year, obviously. But we get to do it with the team, which we're really excited about."

'I think we're both just a lot more comfortable now," Wenzel said in response to the same question. "We've been through it for a couple years now. So, just using the knowledge we know, spreading that to the people, [for] who may be their first time this time around. I think we're confident. We're comfortable.

"We're prepared. So, I think we're just looking forward to it."

Virginia Tech has its work cut out for it, though it gets a favorable draw. The Hokies avoid drawing two potent offenses in Iowa State or Oklahoma State. The Cyclones are led by Audi Crooks, who is averaging 25.5 points per game, second-most in the nation behind only Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes (27.0). Per barttorvik.com, Iowa State boasts the No. 9 adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 5 effective field goal percentage in the nation, while Oklahoma State stands at No. 23 and No. 16, respectively.

In contrast, Oregon offers up a more manageable task to deal with on the offensive front, ranking No. 36 in offensive efficiency and No. 42 in effective field goal percentage (50.7%). Though the Hokies' offense has been pedestrian, clocking in at No. 183 in effective field goal percentage (45%) and No. 53 in adjusted offensive efficiency, their defense has been a key pillar this season.

"We're going to have to play a really good basketball game to beat Oregon," Duffy said. "The last three or four days, we've been talking about that. We don't have to play a perfect game, but we have to do the small things we've honestly been talking about all year."

Virginia Tech currently sits No. 31 in the nation in effective field goal percentage allowed (42.1%) and No. 19 in two-point shooting defense (40.6%).

Here's my final score prediction for the contest:

Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CT); the contest will be carried on ESPN2.