Thursday, December 4
Blacksburg, VA
5 p.m.
Florida Gators
at
Virginia Tech
Women's Basketball Makes Its Way to Virginia Tech, Thursday, for ACC/SEC Challenge
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 | Women's Basketball
BLACKSBURG, Va. โ The Florida Women's Basketball Team remains on the road this week as the Gators travel to Virginia Tech, Thursday, for a 5 p.m. EST tip as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. A Florida victory would be its ninth of the year, and tie the program record for most wins at the start of a season through 10 games.
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Liv McGill is coming off a weekend performance at the Grand Cayman Classic that led to her being named the tournament's most outstanding player. In wins over Memphis (74-60) and Georgia Tech (65-56), the preseason All-SEC selection averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4,0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
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Through games of Sunday, Nov. 30, McGill is third in the nation in scoring average (26.3 ppg), tied for 21st in assists (6.0 apg), and tied for eighth in steals (4.00 spg).
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Teammate Me'Arah O'Neal has four double-doubles on the season, and brings per game averages of 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.67 blocks into the week. Laila Reynolds is Florida's other double-figure scorer as she averages 14.2 points per game.
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The Hokies (6-2) won their first five games of the season before dropping a 65-56 decision at James Madison, and a 64-60 result vs. BYU. They ended their brief losing skid on Saturday, Nov. 29 with a 78-67 victory over Oregon State.
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Virginia Tech uses a balanced scoring attack with six different players averaging between eight and 16 points, led by redshirt junior guard Carleigh Wenzel's 15.9 points per game. Senior forward Kilah Freelon is averaging 10.9 points and 10.1 rebounds this season, making her one of just 25 players in the nation averaging a double-double on the year. Freelon is also connecting on 50.9 percent of her field goal attempts in 2025-26, second on the team to graduate student guard Mel Daley's 56.3 percent.
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The Gators are 3-1 all-time against Virginia Tech, but they haven't squared off against the Hokies since Dec. 1, 2014 in a 73-44 victory. Cassie Peoples scored a team-high 19 points in the win, and Kayla Lewis added 15, while the Florida defense held Virginia Tech to 31.3 percent shooting from the field, including 1 for 18 from distance.
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Florida is undefeated in the ACC-SEC Challenge having beaten Clemson a year ago, 77-64, and Georgia Tech, 68-58, during the 2023-24 season.
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Georgia Tech (6-2)
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PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS
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GATOR BITES
HOKIES QUICK HITS
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Liv McGill is coming off a weekend performance at the Grand Cayman Classic that led to her being named the tournament's most outstanding player. In wins over Memphis (74-60) and Georgia Tech (65-56), the preseason All-SEC selection averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4,0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
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Through games of Sunday, Nov. 30, McGill is third in the nation in scoring average (26.3 ppg), tied for 21st in assists (6.0 apg), and tied for eighth in steals (4.00 spg).
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Teammate Me'Arah O'Neal has four double-doubles on the season, and brings per game averages of 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.67 blocks into the week. Laila Reynolds is Florida's other double-figure scorer as she averages 14.2 points per game.
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The Hokies (6-2) won their first five games of the season before dropping a 65-56 decision at James Madison, and a 64-60 result vs. BYU. They ended their brief losing skid on Saturday, Nov. 29 with a 78-67 victory over Oregon State.
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Virginia Tech uses a balanced scoring attack with six different players averaging between eight and 16 points, led by redshirt junior guard Carleigh Wenzel's 15.9 points per game. Senior forward Kilah Freelon is averaging 10.9 points and 10.1 rebounds this season, making her one of just 25 players in the nation averaging a double-double on the year. Freelon is also connecting on 50.9 percent of her field goal attempts in 2025-26, second on the team to graduate student guard Mel Daley's 56.3 percent.
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The Gators are 3-1 all-time against Virginia Tech, but they haven't squared off against the Hokies since Dec. 1, 2014 in a 73-44 victory. Cassie Peoples scored a team-high 19 points in the win, and Kayla Lewis added 15, while the Florida defense held Virginia Tech to 31.3 percent shooting from the field, including 1 for 18 from distance.
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Florida is undefeated in the ACC-SEC Challenge having beaten Clemson a year ago, 77-64, and Georgia Tech, 68-58, during the 2023-24 season.
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Georgia Tech (6-2)
- Date: Thursday, December 4
- Time: 5 p.m. EST
- Site: Cassell Coliseum
- Listen: wruf.com/listen-live/
- Watch: ESPN2
- Live stats: FloridaGators.com
- Improve the Gators record to 9-1 on the year, tying the program record for most wins to start a season through 10 games.
- Improve Florida's record against Virginia Tech to 4-1.
- Improve Florida's record in the ACC-SEC Challenge to 3-0.
| Florida | Virginia Tech | |
| 79.8 | PPG | 76.0 |
| 56.9 | OPP PPG | 55.6 |
| +22.9 | SCORING MARGIN | +20.4 |
| 45.4 | FG % | 40.9 |
| 36.0 | OPP FG% | 37.6 |
| 25.6 | 3 FG% | 27.1 |
| 26.6 | OPP 3 FG% | 30.1 |
| 4.7 | 3FG/G | 5.4 |
| 71.4 | FT % | 75.3 |
| 42.1 | REBOUNDS/G | 41.6 |
| 35.8 | OPP REBOUNDS/G | 32.9 |
| +6.3 | REB MARGIN | +8.7 |
| 13.3 | ASSISTS/G | 16.6 |
| 14.9 | TURNOVER/G | 14.1 |
| +0.90 | A/TO RATIO | +1.17 |
| 11.1 | STEALS/G | 10.1 |
| 4.44 | BLOCKS/G | 4.86 |
PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS
| No. | Ht. | Pos. | Class | Hometown/Previous School | |
| Me'Arah O'Neal | 8 | 6-4 | F | So | Houston Texas |
| Alexia Dizeko | 9 | 5-11 | G | Gr. | Sion, Switzerland |
| Laila Reynolds | 13 | 6-1 | G | Jr. | PG County, Md. |
| Caterina Piatti | 14 | 6-4 | F | Fr. | Scandiano, Italy |
| Liv McGill | 23 | 5-9 | G | So | Minneapolis, Minn. |
GATOR BITES
- Through games of Monday, Dec. 1, Florida is tied for 11th in the SEC this season in points per game (79.8), 11th in scoring defense (56.9), 10th in scoring margin (+22.9), 12th in field goal percentage (.454), ninth in field goal percentage defense (.360), sixth in three-point field goal percentage defense (.266), eighth in steals (11.1), and sixth in turnover margin (+6.78).
- Liv McGill just missed out on her second career triple-double with a 26-point, 9-rebound, 9-assist effort vs. North Florida on Nov. 3. She came up two rebounds shy in the Gators following game against Chattanooga on Nov. 6 with 38 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds.
- Liv McGill became the first player in Gators women's basketball history to be named a US Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 11. She averaged 27.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.00 steals while connecting on 40.9 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in Florida's three wins. She also was named the SEC Player of the Week for her performance during that same stretch of games.
- Liv McGill was named the most outstanding player of the Grand Cayman Classic over Thanksgiving weekend when she averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4,0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
- Since the 1999-2000 season, only two players in the SEC have recorded three or more games of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five stealsโLiv McGill (three in the first six games this season) and Ole Miss' Armintie Price (four)
- Me'Arah O'Neal has four double-doubles this season after recording one in her freshman campaign.
| No. | Ht. | Pos. | Class | Hometown / Previous Schools | |
| Kilah Freelon | 0 | 6-1 | F | Sr. | Denver, Colo. / Texas Tech |
| Carleigh Wenzel | 1 | 6-0 | G | RS-Jt. | San Antonio Texas |
| Nelson Mackenzie | 3 | 5-8 | G | RS-So.. | Greenwich, Conn. |
| Carys Baker | 10 | 6-2 | F | Jr. | West Hartford, Conn. |
| Mel Daley | 21 | 5-11 | G | Gr. | Hastings, N.Y. / Northwestern |
HOKIES QUICK HITS
- Virginia Tech made the NCAA Tournament for four straight seasons from 2020-2024, advancing to the semifinals in 2022-23 before falling to LSU. Last season, they were 19-9, but just 9-9 in conference, and did not make the NCAAs.
- The Hokies are undefeated at home this season (5-0), and 61-10 in Blacksburg since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
- Through games of Monday, Dec. 1, Kilah Frelon is tied for 16th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (4.1), and tied for 28th in rebounds per game (10.1).
- Through games of Monday, Dec. 1, Mackenzie Nelson is tied for 13th in the nation in assists per game (6.4), and 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.64).
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