UVA is a 1.5-point underdog in the matchup with the Pack, which is playing its ACC home opener.
AFP editor Chris Graham leads our live coverage of the game from the home office in the icy Shenandoah Valley.
Buchanan in the starting lineup
Blake Buchanan is getting the start at center for Virginia. Not a big surprise there. State’s big man, 6’9″, 275-pound DJ Burns, would be a tough matchup for Jake Groves, a 6’9″, 211-pound perimeter shooter.
OK, that’s actually a better start
A modest 5-4 lead at the first media timeout is not usually anything to write home about, but … it’s not 13-0 or 13-1 in the negative.
Both teams are 2-of-6 from the floor.
I like the way this one feels four minutes in.
This one is going to be a slog
And that’s a good thing.
Virginia leads 11-9 at the second media timeout.
Isaac McKneely is being aggressive: six shot attempts, two makes, one from three.
Hanging in there
Third media timeout: Virginia 19, State 15.
The offense is getting good looks in the lane: 5-of-7 at the rim.
UVA is 3-of-11 on jumpers: 1-of-5 from three, 2-of-6 on twos.
TB timeout
State on a mini 8-2 run, fueled by a tough-break end-of-shot-clock three by Dennis Parker.
It’s 23-21 State at the 4:29 mark.
A rare TB run-stopping TO there.
State gets hot late
Opening 10 minutes: State was 4-of-14 from the floor.
Next 10 minutes: State was 11-of-16 from the floor, 4-of-8 from three.
The Pack leads 35-28 at the half.
Five of the makes were layups. State started slipping the double-teams on the hedge and getting big guys alone at the rim.
Reece Beekman has eight points and five assists.
Ryan Dunn has seven points and five boards.
Virginia is 1-of-8 from three.
Second-half adjustments
- Going to need to double the post to help Buchanan on Burns, who has six points (3-of-5 FG) and three assists (one TO) in 13 minutes.
- Groves and iMac are a combined 3-of-13, but they need to keep shooting.
- The guards are allowing State to pressure them into starting the offense too far out. Going to need to try to make them pay for being overaggressive.
State has taken control
The lead doubled in the first four minutes from seven to 14. State is hitting everything it throws at the rim, it seems: 4-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-4 from three to start the half.
Virginia is 1-of-3 with two iMac free throws, two Buchanan free-throw misses, and two turnovers.
State continues to assert its dominance of Virginia by pushing out the offense well beyond the three-point line.
There have to be opportunities for dribble-drives and cuts with the D that extended.
Damn
It’s 59-39 Pack at the under-12 media timeout.
If the wild three at the end of the shot clock in the first half was the turning point, here’s what we’ve seen from both sides since.
State is 17-of-26 from the field; Virginia is 7-of-20.
It’s been 44-20 State since that play.
Of course, it was just coincidence
It can’t be that a bonkers three changed the game that much.
State is making a lot of contested shots, but on the other side, Virginia is not.
UVA, down 64-44 at the under-8 timeout, is 17-of-42 from the floor: 3-of-11 from three, 10-of-18 at the rim, 4-of-13 on two-point jumpers.
They can run offense at JPJ; can’t run offense anywhere else.
Edging back toward being in it, but too late
A 7-0 Virginia run has it at 67-53 State at the under-4 timeout.
Funny how it works out – State has missed five of its last six shots after making everything there for a long stretch.
All done
State wins 76-60. Postgame coverage upcoming.
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