Virginia Tech Women's Basketball: ESPN's BPI Favors The Hokies Comfortably In Today's Second-Round Game

After winning convincingly in the first round of the WBIT against NC A&T, Virginia Tech is back on the court tonight and hoping to make it to the quarterfinals. This afternoon, they will host Texas Tech, the fifth meeting between the two programs in their history.

Virginia Tech is 2-2 all-time against Texas Tech in women’s basketball with the most recent meeting taking place on Dec. 20, 2005, in Cancun, Mexico. All four meetings have come in a multi-team event, including the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas, the NCAA tournament in 2001 and the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. This season the two clubs had two common opponents in Florida State and SMU. The Red Raiders lost both games, while the Hokies went 1-1 with a victory over SMU. The last Big 12 opponent VT faced was Baylor in the NCAA tournament in 2024.

The 61-45 victory over the NC A&T Aggies was the second this season with the Hokies scoring 61 points. It is the fewest points scored in a Hokie victory since Tech beat Miami while scoring 55 points at the ACC tournament in 2024. The win was the second this season when shooting below 40% from the field.

VT is now 14-1 this season when holding opponents to 69 or fewer points. Texas Tech averages 63.6 points per game. Kayl Petersen registered five blocks, it was the first time that a Hokie recorded five since Elizabeth Kitley did so vs. Kansas in the Cayman Islands (Nov. 24, 2023). Mackenzie Nelson recorded her third double figure scoring game in the last four outings. In those games she is averaging 9 ppg, shooting 53% and has a 16-3 assist-to-turnover ratio. The only two games this season in which the Hokies have had two or fewer athletes score in doube figures have been the last two (1-1). The Hokies held NC A&T to single digits in the second quarter. It was the first time that the Hokies’ defense had accomplished the feat since the Wake Forest game on Jan. 12. Tech then did it again in the third quarter.

It is not a surprise that Virginia Tech is favored as the No. 1 overall seed in the WBIT and ESPN's BPI gives them a 79% chance to defeat the Red Raiders today and advance to the quarterfinals.

But what is BPI? Here is how ESPN describes it:

"The Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team's W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day's rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections. Numbers update daily."

Additional Links

How to Watch and Listen: No. 1 Virginia Tech vs Texas Tech In the WBIT Second Round

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