Virginia had to beat NC State twice on Wednesday at JPJ – dominating the first 30 minutes, leading by as many as 14, then surviving a late State rally that forced OT.
That 59-53 win was a lot more fun than it needed to be, is what I’m saying here.
This was UVA (14-5, 5-3 ACC) getting back to what it does best: goading opponents into rock fights.
How it played out
The Pack (13-6, 5-3 ACC), which won the first matchup between these two, 76-60, in Raleigh on Jan. 6, and came in averaging 77.3 points per game, scored all of 15 points in the first half, on 6-of-24 shooting.
But Virginia struggled on its end of the court as well, shooting 12-of-34 (35.3 percent) and committing seven turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Still, an 11-1 Virginia stretch, spanning the final 6:34 of the first half, sent the ‘Hoos into the locker room up 12, at 27-15.
The strategic tweak at halftime from NC State coach Kevin Keatts was to try to pump the ball inside to big man DJ Burns, who was held to three points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half by stout defense from Jordan Minor.
Burns got shots on State’s first four second-half possessions, and made three tough paint shots over and through Buchanan.
But even with the adjustment, Virginia still led by 12, getting the margin to 37-25 on a Blake Buchanan driving layup with 11:43 on the clock.
This is where things turned. UVA missed nine of its next 10, had a couple of sloppy live-ball turnovers, and the Pack pounced, taking the lead, at 41-40, on a Michael McConnell jumper with 4:27 to go.
Virginia had a chance to close things out late in regulation after going up 47-43 on an Isaac McKneely jumper at the 2:21 mark, but State chipped away at the lead, getting another Burns shot through Minor with 57 seconds to go got the deficit to two, and after a Reece Beekman miss in the lane, and a Ryan Dunn miss on a follow-up dunk, the Pack had the ball with a chance to tie or win.
The ball went into the post to Burns, who missed with nine seconds left, but McConnell, of all people, the point guard, got the follow bucket to tie the game, and ultimately send us to the OT.
Virginia scored the first six points of the extra period, on a Minor post make, a Dunn free throw and a Taine Murray three.
State, on two occasions, cut six-point leads in half with made threes by DJ Horne.
Murray made 1-of-2 at the line with 28 seconds left to push the UVA lead back to four, and Horne, on State’s next possession, missed a contested three.
Minor got the board, and Murray found Dunn all alone on the other end for an emphatic throwdown that sent the fans home happy.
Game Notes
This one was about the rock fight. Dunn had 13 points, 12 rebounds and six (!) blocks to lead the way, and Minor had 10 points and nine rebounds in a season-high 30 minutes.
Minor, you may remember, was barely getting garbage-time minutes as of a couple of weeks ago; in his four starts, he’s averaging 11.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Beekman had 11 points, six assists and three steals.
Murray might be the MVP. The 6’5” junior didn’t even check in until the 6:28 mark of the first half.
He ended up getting 19 minutes off the bench, and scored 11 points, with a pair of threes, including the one in OT that created the separation.
Murray also had a team-best plus-minus of +19.
One last guy to mention here: McKneely.
I keep saying and writing about how iMac needs to shoot more.
Well, he shot more tonight – 16 times, in fact.
Only made four, but he made a couple threes, and finished with 10 points, and was on the floor for 42 of the 45 minutes.
Inside the Numbers
- Virginia dominated the boards – 54-32, with 20 of the boards coming on the offensive end.
- State connected on 10-of-28 from three in the win in Raleigh earlier this month; tonight, the Pack was 4-of-14 from three.
- Virginia had a most uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, but State wasn’t able to translate that into much of an advantage. The ledger shows both teams scoring 14 points off turnovers.
- The win moves Virginia into a three-way tie for fourth in the ACC at 5-3 with NC State and Wake Forest.
Share
Chris Graham
