In its first game in Blacksburg in two weeks, Virginia Tech beat Florida 68-64 in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Thursday night.
Unlike their recent losses to James Madison and BYU, the Hokies (7-2) executed well down the stretch to close things out against the Gators (8-2).
“So proud of our team,” Tech head coach Megan Duffy said. “I thought our grit, our toughness to finish out the game against a really good, physical Florida team was tremendous. A ton of people contributed, we had an awesome water fight in the locker room after the game, so everyone’s feeling good.”
Their defense was particularly impressive. As expected, Florida was paced by star guard Liv McGill, who entered the contest averaging 26.3 points per game and dropped 30 against Tech.
However, she did so on 26 attempts, converting 11 of them. She also turned the ball over 10 times and the Hokies slowed her down as the game went on. After starting 5-for-8 in the first quarter, she was 6-for-18 the rest of the way, mostly with Carleigh Wenzel defending her.
“It was one through five,” Tech guard Mackenzie Nelson said of the defensive effort on McGill. “Everyone on the court, whoever came in the game, whoever was on the court, it was a one-through-five effort, and she ended up with 30, but it wasn’t an easy 30. It was hard. We worked all week on just being able to make her shots difficult and take contested shots, nothing easy, and obviously, it’s a game of basketball.
“She had a couple, but Carleigh had great possessions down the stretch. We talked about it at the end of the game. Samyha [Suffren], Leila [Wells] coming off the bench, being able to give a different look, Mel [Daley] with length, it was just an all-around effort, and even the post players — gapping, switching, getting a couple blocks, frustrating her. At the end of the day, that’s what made us successful today.”
Duffy, previously the head coach at Marquette, has known McGill from her playing days at Hopkins High School in Minneapolis, Minn., the same place that produced Paige Bueckers. She knew her Hokies were in for a battle against the McGill-led Gators, but they executed the scouting report as a group.
“I thought at times we were doing really well,” Duffy said, “and then you look at the stat sheet and she’s got 19 at the half. I think the thing that helped us a little bit is her turnovers. We tried to put as many bodies around as we could to try and frustrate her, but she’s also a tremendous passer, so I thought it was a collective effort, whether that was our primary defender on her or a few other people trying to build a wall.
“I’ve watched that kid since she was in seventh, eighth grade when I was at Marquette, and she was from Minnesota. She just keeps getting better and better, and we knew we had a tough task to try and slow her down. I guess we did enough to make her take a high volume of shots, so we’ll take it. I’m proud of our effort with it.”
On the flip side, Carys Baker produced a double-double for Tech with 23 points and 10 rebounds. It was her second straight 20-point outing and the first time in her career she’s accomplished it in back-to-back games.
Most impressive: that came on the heels of some tough offensive performances to start the year. The junior’s best output through the first seven games was 17 points vs. Loyola (Md.), where she was 7-for-14. Outside of that, she was 24-for-68 (35.3%) and was limited to a combined 17 points in defeats to JMU and BYU.
She’s responded well — first with 20 points on 8-of-13 in the Oregon State win, then her 23 points vs. Florida on 10-for-16 shooting. She’s also 5-for-10 from behind the arc in the last two games after a 9-for-29 start (31%).
“I had a stretch of time where I think mentally, I was just not having it, like I think I was a little bit frustrated with what I was doing,” Baker said. “I sat down, I talked to Coach Duffy — I mean, that’s someone I talk to a lot when I have stretches of moments, and it’s basketball, it’s a game of ups and downs, it’s going to happen. So I sat down with her and I talked about it, and I’ve just been talking with my teammates, and they’ve been encouraging me to keep shooting.
“Mackie is someone who is always in my ear about shooting the ball, whether or not it’s going in, and I just think them having that confidence in me has helped a lot.”
While Baker was the headliner against the Gators, she was surrounded by some important performances on both ends. Daley had 12 points and four boards while Wenzel and Nelson racked up eight points apiece. Wenzel also posted six assists, five boards and a block while Nelson chipped in three dimes.
The surprise performance of the night, though: Aniya Trent. The 6-foot-3 true freshman from Springboro, Ohio, added seven points and five rebounds off the bench in 16 minutes — crucial moments where starting forward Kilah Freelon was in foul trouble (and eventually fouled out in 10 minutes). Trent didn’t shy away from Florida’s physicality, corralling three offensive rebounds and drawing two fouls.
“Aniya’s going to be really, really good, and she’s only a freshman,” Baker said. “She’s not even reached the surface of her skill yet, and so to come into that game, that’s a lot of pressure. When I was a freshman, I was terrified, and I don’t even think Aniya looked scared out there. … I’m so, so proud of her and I just hope it builds her confidence even more.”
It was a neck-and-neck game from the jump, where the biggest lead was eight points by the Hokies through the first four minutes, forcing the Gators to call timeout. They ripped off their own 8-0 run after that to knot it up, and it stayed close for the remainder of the game.
Tech finally pulled away after the game’s 12th tie when Daley converted two foul shots with 5:38 to play before her layup 30 seconds later provided a four-point cushion. The Hokies also forced a turnover after the following media timeout and turned it into points as Wenzel threw a full-court pass to a wide-open Baker, who beat the Gators’ defense down the floor for an easy layup.
McGill responded with a 3-pointer, and after a crucial second-chance basket by Trent on the other end, Florida pulled within 65-62 with 1:40 remaining via a Laila Reynolds layup.
Still, Tech played tough defense on McGill, and she picked up her final two personals and fouled out with 15 seconds remaining. Free throws from Daley and Nelson iced the Hokies’ victory after that.
It was an improvement in late-game situations for them after struggling to close out wins over the Dukes and the Cougars. Nelson said they’ve preached it in practice lately, and those lessons paid off against the Gators.
“Just a lot of reps,” Nelson said. “We do it all in practice, getting people in the right spots. I think in a couple other games we’ve had, we’ve run the correct play, but the right people weren’t in the right spots, so we were able to do that today. The point guards specifically are working on talking to Coach Duffy more at the free throw line … just to communicate what’s going on.”
It’s the second straight win in the ACC/SEC Challenge for the Hokies, who had a fourth-quarter comeback in Athens last season to beat Georgia. Moreover, combined with the men’s basketball team winning at South Carolina on Tuesday, Virginia Tech is just one of two ACC schools to sweep the SEC in this year’s event, joining Syracuse.
Duffy & Co. have another big-time test on Sunday when Duke ventures to Cassell Coliseum to open league play. The Blue Devils are 3-5 this year and have struggled after winning the ACC Tournament last March. Tech’s won the last four meetings in Blacksburg.
“It’s a long season, there’s going to be up-and-down days,” Duffy said, “and I’m just really proud of the way they handled themselves these last few days since we’ve been back from the [U.S. Virgin Islands] and getting locked back into school and basketball. They’re doing the right things, and we had a fun time in the locker room, and then you’ve got to turn the page pretty quickly.”
Box Score: Virginia Tech 68, Florida 64
Lot of thoughts from the #Hokies’ 68-64 win over Florida in the ACC/SEC Challenge: pic.twitter.com/2JNXH92LoT
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) December 5, 2025