By Elizabeth Scanland

The Louisville Cardinals will go on the road to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.

After making taking their program to new heights, Virginia Tech has a very different feel this year. With Elizabeth Kitley getting drafted to the Las Vegas Aces and both Georgia Amoore and head Coach Kenny Brooks leaving for Kentucky, the Hookies have had a seismic change.

New look, old rhythm

Carleigh Wenzel leads the charge of the new look Hokies, averaging 14.1 points a game. She shoots 38.2% from deep and 36.8% from the field. Her lack of hesitation and ability to knock down deep shots could create an issue for the Cards, so all five defenders will need to keep their heads on a swivel whenever she touches the ball.

Luckily for Louisville, her quick thinking is often too hastily for her own good. She gives the ball up four times a game, which is more than her team-leading 3.5 assists a game. If the Cards can limit her scoring and turn her into a pure facilitator, then Wenzel might just take the Hokies out of contention herself.

Rose Micheaux is the standard big who doesn’t dare step outside of the paint, and for good reason. She averages 12.9 points off of 58.2% shooting from the field with no outside attempts. Micheaux also leads her team with a nice 8.6 rebounds a game, which ranks 76th nationally.

Like Wenzel, Micheaux can be a bit careless with the ball and averages 2.3 turnovers a game. Because she’s limited to playing inside, the approach might be to just double her in the post and try to force her into bad decisions.

The two other top options for VT are Matilda Ekh and Carys Baker, getting 11.5 and 11.3 points a game, respectively.

One of the biggest threats of this Hokies offense is how efficient they are as a team. They shoot 47% as a team, which is the 27th best mark in the country. They get good looks far more often than not and capitalize off of them. If Louisville wants to slow them down, they need to have a great team performance with no weak links defensively, especially off the ball.

If the Cards can get a bunch of steals and deflections on a team that already has turnover issues (16.3 a game), then VT will have a much tougher time playing within themselves and getting to their spots.

Worse than it looks

Despite a flourishing offense, this Hokies team has some difficulties on defense.

They’ve given up an average up 66.4 points a game, but that number jumps to 78.5 points in conference play. They allow opponents to shoot 42.9% from the field, and in all but one conference game their opponents have exceeded that amount by a substantial percentage.

Virginia Tech doesn’t gather a lot of steals (6.3) or block a lot of shots (3.7), so Louisville should have a relatively easy time putting the ball through the hoop on Sunday.

However, Syracuse was a team with a solid offense and a bad defense, but that turned into a slugfest Thursday night.

Louisville can do either, but they’ve been better when they can get out and run with teams.

Despite some close wins, the Cards have been riding high on a seven-game winning streak. But turnovers, getting trapped in zone defense and giving up big leads has been an issue all season for the Ville which could present a problem on Sunday if it can’t be controlled.

Elizabeth Kitley’s jersey is set to be retired, so the game is sold out. This could create a major disadvantage for the Cards and their young core.

Louisville does have what it takes to pull off a win, though, and keep their streak alive. 

Tip-off is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m.

Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, Louisville Athletics