Hughes: Virginia Tech Women's Basketball Shooting Struggles Exacerbated by Relative Lack of Post Presence

The Hokies shot 0-for-16 against No. 13 Louisville tonight.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech women’s basketball lacks a true interior counter. Without a post player capable of matching size with taller, more athletic frontcourts, the Hokies often operate without a reliable option to collapse the defense, placing added strain on an already inconsistent perimeter attack.

FINAL | Tech 60, No. 13 Louisville 85

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) January 4, 2026

Virginia Tech's tallest starter is 6-foot-2 forward Carys Baker. Baker, while imposijng and tall for a collegiate basketball player, appears to be more of a 'stretch-four' archetype, one that can space the floor but doesn't rely on intensity inside. For Baker, her archetype isn't one that anchors the paint. The same applies to Freelon, who feels to me like is a stretch four that can shift over to the five and occasionally counteract on the rebounding front.

On the glass, that often works against smaller defenders. However, not so much against larger defenders. Laura Ziegler and Anaya Hardy combined for 17 rebounds; though Baker notched nine rebounds while Freelon and guard Samyha Suffren grabbed seven boars, those came about as defensive rebounds off the occasional miss from Louisville. 10 of the three's combined 23 rebounds came in the second half when the game was already rendered out of reach. In addition, the Cardinals rendered Freelon a non-factor in the second half; the Texas Tech transfer logged only two points with no shots and one rebound in the final 20 minutes of game time.

That issue of lacking a true post player with the size to contend down low is exacerbated by the issue that Virginia Tech's shooting woes reached a new low point Saturday. The Hokies missed all 16 of their looks from deep against the Cardinals; that marks the first time since Dec. 21, 2015 vs. Radford that Virginia Tech has failed to log a single made three-pointer.

While it was able to fight in spurts against No. 13 Louisville, those spurts came few and far between and made minimal impact on the final score, a 17-point affair at halftime that stretched as far as 31 in the third quarter before settling as a 25-point margin.

Though the Hokies are unlikely to nab another player like Elizabeth Kitley any time soon, landing a player close to her size with a solid post presence could aid Virginia Tech women's basketball in the years to come. In the interim, the Hokies rely on a style of small-ball that primarily works if the shots are falling, especially from long range. On Saturday, no treys were splashed.

Virginia Tech women's basketball's next test comes against Syracuse on Thursday, Jan. 8 as the Hokies travel up to New York. The contest will be carried on ACC Network Extra.