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Teams: Syracuse Orange (9-10, 3-5) vs.Virginia Tech Hokies (15-4,5-3)
Day and Time: Thursday January 30, 8 p.m. ET.
Location: The Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Where to Watch: ACC Network
Virginia Tech Blog: Gobbler Country
Current Record: 7-6, Syracuse
Last Meeting: Syracuse won a thriller 75-73 in overtime last season in Blacksburg. Tiana Mangakahia scored 27 points.
Head Coaches: Syracuse - Quentin Hillsman (14th season, 297-154 at SU) | Virginia Tech - Kenny Brooks (4th season, 80-44 at VT)
Coach Bio: Kenny Brooks has been a head coach in the women’s game for almost 20 years. He started at James Madison, where he served as an assistant for the men’s team from 1998-2002, then became an assistant for the women’s team for the 2002-2003 season. In 2003, he was named the head coach at James Madison, a position he held until 2016. He made a postseason tournament in his last 11 seasons with the Dukes, including four conference championships. After accumulating over 300 wins, he took his talents to the ACC, and took over as head coach for the Hokies. He has taken them to the WNIT in the past three seasons, but this looks like the year they’ll make it to the Big Dance.
Last Year: The Hokies were a pesky squad last year. They stumbled pretty bad out of the gate in conference play, losing their first seven games. However, they ended up finishing with a 22-12 record, as they were able to right the ship and went to the WNIT before they were bounced by Brooks’s old team, JMU.
Last Game: The Hokies took it to Clemson at home, winning by a score of 71-50.
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Elizabeth Kitley is a 6-foot-5 freshmen who is already starting to look like a problem the ACC is going to have for the next couple of years. She has the ability to put up a double double every time she plays, and her mid range game is only getting better. She averages 11.4 points a game, and is a candidate for freshman of the year. Kitley is going to be a handful for the Syracuse bigs tonight.
If Syracuse Wins: This would be a really good win for Syracuse, and one they desperately need. They are well on the outside looking in with regard to an NCAA Tournament bid, so they need any kind of momentum they can get.
If Syracuse loses: A season that began with a good bit of promise is crumbling game by game. It would be a shame if Syracuse wins the ACC tournament in Greensboro and sneaks in, huh?