No. 9 Virginia Tech Women’s Basketball Faces Kansas, Tulane In Cayman Islands

No. 9 Virginia Tech women’s basketball is in the Cayman Islands ahead of two games against Kansas on Friday (5 p.m. ET) and Tulane on Saturday (11 a.m. ET) in John Gray Gymnasium in George Town. Both games will be streamed on FloSports and broadcasted on the Virginia Tech Sports Radio Network.

The Jayhawks (2-1) are the reigning WNIT champions while the Green Wave (3-1) has made three consecutive WNIT appearances.

“Kansas is a great opponent,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said. “They’re hungry, they’re trying to prove they should’ve been in the NCAA Tournament last year. We would be a notch on the belt, so we have to make sure that we go out and we’re the aggressor. It’s going to be a great game.

“… It’s going to be a great test for us, and we need to go down there and it’s going to be more of a mental test than a physical test. We’re going to have to go and play … at five o’clock and then turn around and play the next game at 11.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the two sides and what the Hokies (3-1) can expect:

Kansas

Record: 2-1
Conference: Big 12
Coach: Brandon Schneider — 9th season
Series history: First meeting
2022-23 record: 25-11 (9-9 Big 12)
22-23 final NET ranking: 30

Starting five:

Wyvette Mayberry (5-7, Sr.): 13.0 ppg
Zakiyah Franklin (5-8, Sr.): 9.0 ppg
Holly Kersgeiter (5-11, Sr.): 18.7 ppg
S’Mya Nichols (6-0, Fr.): 12.7 ppg
Tiayanna Jackson (6-6, Sr.): 14.7 ppg

The coach:

Schneider is in his 14th season at the Division I level, the 27th overall. He was very competitive in Division II at Emporia State (12 seasons; 306-72, .810) and won the D-II national championship in 2010 with a 30-5 record. After spending five seasons at Stephen F. Austin, he took the Kansas job in 2015 — ironically, he took over for former Virginia Tech head coach Bonnie Henrickson — so he’s had a similar path to the highest level like Kenny Brooks.

He’s 111-137 (.448) with the Jayhawks but has led the program to two consecutive 20-win seasons and was named 2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year as a result. Kansas was 37th in the NET rankings on Selection Sunday and barely missed the cut for the NCAA Tournament.

What to know:

This is an excellent Kansas squad that will provide a really good benchmark for the Hokies. The Jayhawks have four starters back from last year’s team and have a talented freshman in Nichols that complements them well. Franklin and Jackson were preseason All-Big 12 selections, and Jackson’s the big name to know — just like Elizabeth Kitley, she’s on a number of watch lists, from the Lisa Leslie and Nancy Lieberman awards to the Naismith Player of the Year and Wooden Award.

She’s a good defender who holds KU’s single-season blocks record (109) and had 23 double-doubles last season. She’ll be the first XXL test this season down low for Kitley, a preseason All-American. While Kitley is averaging 24 and 11 this season, Jackson’s averaging 15 and 13. She’s not as much of a scorer as Kitley, but she’s a machine on the boards.

The Jayhawks have a solid trio in the backcourt of Mayberry, Franklin and Kergsteiter, each of whom is capable from outside. Kergsteiter is the biggest threat — she’s 11-of-20 this season and has 219 for her career, which would rank fifth at Tech behind Cayla King’s 235. She’s shooting at a 60 percent clip to start the year and has played 119 games in her time in Lawrence.

Franklin is experienced, too. She’s the all-time minutes leader at Kansas with 4,000 and counting. She was the Jayhawks’ leading scorer last season but is off to a cold start — 9-of-25 (36%) — through three games in 2023-24. Meanwhile, Mayberry is in her second season at KU after an All-AAC career at Tulsa. She and Franklin play well off each other and combined for 215 assists last year. (For comparison, Georgia Amoore and Kayana Traylor had 279.)

The other piece is Nichols, a freshman from Overland Park, Kan. A five-star prospect and McDonald’s All-American, she’s coming off a 17-point performance (6-of-10 FG) against Kansas City. She plays the four for the Jayhawks but is a bit undersized at just 6-0.

Kansas isn’t an extremely deep team, but those who play are experienced. It’s a similar vibe to last year’s Tech team that had a short bench but was veteran laden. Ryan Cobbins (6-0, Sr.) can come in and score, as can North Alabama transfer Skyler Gill (5-11, Jr.). Danai Papadopoulou, a 6-foot-4 center from Greece, provides KU with some depth inside.

Final thoughts:

Though Iowa was tough to play against due to the challenge of guarding Caitlin Clark, Kansas might be more of a well-rounded test. How the Hokies start will go a long way. It’ll be important for Matilda Ekh and King to stay out of foul trouble on the wing, too, or else Tech’s going to have to really throw freshmen to the fire. Expect Tech to gut out a close one against an NCAA Tournament-caliber opponent.

Tulane

Record: 3-1
Conference: American
Coach: Lisa Stockton — 30th year
Series history: 18th meeting; VT leads series 9-8
Last meeting: Feb. 1995 in Blacksburg, Va.; VT, 77-65
2022-23 record: 18-14 (7-9 AAC)
22-23 final NET ranking: 96

Starting five:

Kaylah Rainey (5-6, Gr.): 5.0 ppg
Kyren Whittington (5-9, r-Jr.): 15.5 ppg
Marta Galic (6-0, Gr.): 13.3 ppg
Hannah Pratt (6-1, Gr.): 13.0 ppg
Irina Parau (6-1, r-Sr.): 11.0 ppg

The coach:

Stockton’s first season with the Green Wave was 1994-95, the last year of the Metro Conference. Amazingly, she coached against the Hokies twice that season, the last time these two programs met. She’s had quite a career since, racking up 582 victories and 11 NCAA Tournament appearances at Tulane, along with six conference titles. Including her time at Greensboro, her 645 career wins over 33 seasons places her 14th nationally among active head coaches.

Tulane’s been good in the last decade, but not great. It last went to the Big Dance in 2014-15, though it’s come close since and has made five WNIT runs. Its last conference championship was in 2010. The Green Wave dominated Conference USA under Stockton but have only finished better than fourth once (2022) in the American.

What to know:

Tulane’s tallest player is 6-3. It’ll be a much different look for Elizabeth Kitley down low after facing a physical Kansas team and Tiayanna Jackson on Friday. In terms of the level of competition, think of this as Tech playing a middle-of-the-pack ACC team like Wake Forest or Clemson. It’s a fine program, one that played some good teams close last season — Alabama, LSU — but lost to Nicholls, who finished 353rd in the NET in 2022-23, in the second game this year.

Rainey, a Northwestern transfer, leads a starting lineup that has a combined 485 games played at the Division I level. For comparison, the starters for Virginia Tech have played in 476 games, so the Green Wave has a leg up in that aspect. Four of the five starters are transfers, too.

Rainey is more of a distributor. She came on for the Wildcats last year and had 93 assists but averaged just five points per game. Rather, the other four starters are the scorers, led by Whittington’s 15.5 points per game. She’s 106 points away from 1,000 and averaged 15 points per game two years ago at Louisiana Monroe. She can shoot it from outside but is very turnover prone; she had more miscues (166) than assists (94) between the last two seasons.

A Croatian, Galic has a similar build to Ekh of Tech. She spent two years at San Francisco where she scored almost 400 points, which translated to 12 points per game with the Green Wave in 2022-23. She’s a 34 percent 3-point shooter and knocked down 74 last season.

Pratt transferred from Columbia in the offseason and has had an immediate impact, averaging 13 points and seven rebounds through four contests. She’s the team’s leading rebounder and can knock down the occasional trey on the offensive end.

Parau is the only starter that has spent every minute of her college career in New Orleans. She’s more of a scorer now in her fifth season; after averaging just four points per game in 2022-23, she’s up to 11 through the first four outings.

Tulane went eight deep to start the season against lesser competition, but the duo of McKenzi Carter (6-1, r-Jr.) and Chiara Grattini (5-9, r-Jr.) is pretty experienced while Amira Mabry (6-0, So.) enters her second year. True freshman and McDonald’s All-American nominee Joy Madison-Key is another name to watch, though she just made her collegiate debut in the team’s win on Sunday over Mercer.

Final thoughts:

The second game should be a notch easier for Virginia Tech after playing Kansas, though it’ll still provide a challenge. Tulane doesn’t have much size so it’ll play more of a five-out style, similar to a team like Florida Gulf Coast. The Green Wave hit a school-record 213 treys last season, meaning it’s a capable group from the outside. The Hokies might be able to get some of their freshmen like Clara Strack and Carys Baker more minutes in this game, which could be beneficial down the road.