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I was pretty sure State was going to beat Georgia before the game, when they led by 4 with 57 seconds left in the game and when they led by 3 with three seconds left in the game. After Georgia made the big three to tie at the end of regulation and also scored the first points in OT, I no longer felt that way. Despite State's loss, it was an exciting game. Next game for Sate is the team's second conference game which is a home game against Virginia at 4p.m. on the ACC Network.

Virginia, I think, is the only "old ACC" conference team that State does not have a winning record against. State is 38 and 40 against Virginia. State lost 15 in a row from March 5th 1990 to February 9th 1997. I am sure Dawn Staley had a lot to do with some of those losses. State is 7-3 in the last 10 games against Virginia.

Taking a look at warrennolan.com, one sees that State is 10-2 overall; 1-0 in conference; has a Live RPI of 3; has a NET of 3; has an ELO of 5; and has an SOS of 1. With the loss to Georgia, State's quad one record is 3-2. State's best win is still that at Indiana. No bad losses.

Again from warrennolan.com, one sees that UVA has an overall record of 3-7; has not played a conference game; has a Live RPI of 187; has a NET of 217; has an ELO of 132; and has an SOS of 93. UVA's quad one record is 0-1. UVA has 2 quad two losses, 3 quad three losses and one quad four loss. That is not good.

Nolan likes an 87-52 State win while Lobo's Look at "herhoopstats" gives State in Raleigh a 99.7% probability of a win. State's "herhoopstats" rating value is 43.9 and State's rating rank is 2/356. Virginia's rating from the same site has a value of -9.5 and their rank is 256/356.

With regard to UVA Tina Thompson remains their head coach. In the 2019-20 season, Tina's first, UVA had a record of 13-17 overall; 8-10 in conference. In Tina's second season, the 2020-21 season, UVA only played 5 games all of which they lost. It is not hard to conclude that Tina's teams have not fared that well.

For UVA five-ten grad student Amandine Toi is averaging 12.6 ppg while six-two junior Camryn Taylor is averaging 14.2 ppg. Camryn Taylor also leads the team in rebounds with 6.4 rpg. Assist wise five-seven junior Taylor Valladay averages 4 per game. Virginia shoots 392 from the floor; 255 from the arc. Toi is the team's volume arc shooter hitting 276 from the arc.

One can guess that State's bench will get a lot of playing time in this one.

My Christmas wish for women's basketball is that all teams remain covid free so that covid does not interrupt play and so that all players remain healthy.