No. 12 Virginia Tech To Host ESPN’s College GameDay vs. North Carolina

On Sunday, ESPN announced No. 12 Virginia Tech women’s basketball will host College GameDay for the first time ever on Sunday, Feb. 25, ahead of its game vs. North Carolina.

The one-hour program will air at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN live from Cassell Coliseum ahead of the 2 p.m. ET clash between the Hokies (21-4, 12-2 ACC) and Tar Heels (16-9, 8-5).

Elle Duncan will anchor the show from Blacksburg alongside Andraya Carter, WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike and Hall of Famers Carolyn Peck and Holly Rowe. Jenn Hildreth and Kelly Gramlich are on the call for the game (2 p.m. ET, ACC Network).

Blacksburg is the show’s third site of the season — and seventh ever. Virginia Tech joins UConn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Iowa and LSU as women’s basketball programs to host the show. The Hokies join the Volunteers and Tigers as the only schools to ever host College GameDay for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.

The Huskies, in the midst of their 99-game winning streak at home that spanned five years, were the first to welcome the show on Jan. 16, 2010. The program traveled to Knoxville on Jan. 15, 2011, for a doubleheader with the men’s and women’s teams, the latter of which was led by the legendary and late Pat Summitt at the time.

After a brief hiatus, College GameDay got back on the road again in 2022 with a trip to South Carolina. It ventured to Tennessee, Iowa and the SEC Tournament final (between the Gamecocks and Vols) in 2023. So far in 2024, it’s made stops in Baton Rouge, La., and Columbia, S.C., and has two more shows planned.

While it’s the first time Virginia Tech women’s basketball has made an appearance, the men’s basketball program has done so twice. Rece Davis, Jay Bilas and current North Carolina coach Hubert Davis hosted the show inside Cassell Coliseum on Feb. 26, 2011, ahead of the team’s game vs. then-No. 1 Duke, which it won 64-60. Seven years later in Charlottesville, it spoiled the College GameDay party for No. 2 Virginia in a 61-60 overtime victory.

On the gridiron, the Hokies have a long history with the show. They first welcomed the production on Oct. 16, 1999, in Lane Stadium vs. Syracuse, the first of College GameDay’s six appearances in Blacksburg. It last stopped in the New River Valley on Sept. 30, 2017, for Tech’s top-15 showdown with then-No. 2 Clemson.

Virginia Tech women’s basketball currently owns the fourth-longest home winning streak in the country at 24 games, which dates back to Jan. 1, 2023, vs. North Carolina. It’s beaten 16 ACC foes in that span by an average margin of 14 points per game. Only five of the 24 games have been decided by single digits, too. What’s more, it’s 4-0 against ranked opponents over that time with an average margin of 8.5 points.

After an ACC Tournament championship and a Final Four berth in 2022-23, Virginia Tech has sold out five regular-season games this season, including Sunday’s game vs. North Carolina. It did not have one in the program’s previous 47 years. Tech is averaging 6,153 fans per game in 2023-24, which ranks third in the ACC and 15th nationally. It’s a 69 percent increase from last season’s 3,637. That mark has grown by 255 percent since the 2021-22 season (1,730).

The Hokies are currently projected to host an NCAA Tournament regional, per the selection committee — it listed them as the No. 10 overall team on Thursday, good for a No. 3 seed. They sold out both games they hosted in the Big Dance in Cassell Coliseum last season. With that in mind, combined with their sellout vs. UNC, they’re projected to finish with a final attendance of 112,914 and an average of 6,642 — both program records.