Quick hits from NC State's 66-65 OT loss to Virginia
Quick hits and notes from NC State’s close-but-no-cigar 66-65 overtime loss to No. 3 Virginia in front of 18,211 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Tuesday evening.
Play of the game
Virginia junior guard Kyle Guy is one of the best shooters in the country. Coming into Tuesday, Guy was shooting 46.0 percent from three-point range and had made at least one three in every game. Yet at the end of regulation, Guy had not made a three-pointer.
He did finally connect though, and it came at a very significant point. He took a huge step-back after catching a pass on the baseline to position himself for an open three in the corner and drained the shot with 2:00 left to put Virginia up for good at 64-61.
Highlight of the game
You have to give Virginia sophomore post player Jay Huff some props. The promising big man from Durham showed some hops with several dunks, including one where he seemingly took off from beyond the block with a flat-footed jump to jam it through.
Player of the game
The number of players that struggled in this game was high. Neither team operated at high efficiency, but NC State did receive a surprising performance from redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker. Virginia coach Tony Bennett made it a point to credit him in his postgame press conference, calling Walker “a man on the glass.”
Walker finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. That was a season-high in scoring and rejections for him. This one was one game after Walker was held scoreless for the first time season.
Yet another close ACC game
This is a repeat of a note from the Clemson game but it bears bringing up again. NC State has played eight game conference games, and thus far all the affairs have come down to the final minutes and in cases seconds:
• At Miami, NC State rallied from down 10 in the second half to take the lead at 75-74 with 6:34 left, and the Pack’s lead was just 81-78 with less than a minute left.
• Against UNC, Bryce shot a three that would have cut a four-point Heels lead down to one with just under a minute left but misfired.
• Versus Pitt, fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett broke a tie with a pair of free throws with 5:00 left.
• In a stunning loss at Wake Forest, NC State rallied from 22 down to tie the game late in the second half, and Wake’s lead was just one at 67-66 with less than 1:30 to go.
• At Notre Dame, the Pack needed redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels to calmly make a pair of free throws with 11.3 seconds left to take a four-point lead and put the contest out of reach.
• At Louisville, NC State had the ball down two when it turned it over with 46 seconds left.
• Of course the Clemson contest literally came down to the last shot.
• Then the Virginia game goes into overtime.
Offense slows down for second straight game
The 69 points scored in the thrilling win over Clemson had been the second lowest total of the year for the Pack, ahead of only the 67 it had in a stunning loss at Wake Forest. The 65 points through overtime versus Virginia obviously sets a new low.
The Pack scored at least 82 points in its first three ACC games and had 80 points or more in 13 of its first 16 contests on the season. In its last five games it had failed to reach 80 and been below 70 three times.
The Virginia game brought a new season-low in field goal percentage (34.4 percent) and field goals made (22). The second fewest made baskets came in NC State’s previous game, its last-second triumph over Clemson.
Defense steps up
Yet NC State had a chance to win this game because it defended Virginia well. The Cavs are capable of scoring a lot of points but do not necessarily do it on a nightly basis. That said, the 55 points Virginia had the end of regulation was just two off its season-low points total of 53 in a seven-point win over Wisconsin in the Bahamas.
Virginia also committed 16 turnovers, nearly twice as many as its nation-leading 8.4 average per game. The Cavs ranked third in the country in an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.72 but had a negative ratio against NC State with 15 assists.
It is only the second time this season Virginia had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio and matched its season high in turnovers. NC State had eight turnovers, giving the Pack the largest turnover margin win over any Virginia opponent this season. That led to a 17-10 advantage in points off turnovers for NC State.
Spotted at the game
Former Pack player Ben McCauley was behind the Wolfpack bench. Also there were the top student athletes who were honored at halftime.
Scoring between official timeouts
This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:
First half
20:00-15:44: Virginia 6, NC State 5
15:44-11:54: Virginia 7, NC State 3
11:54-7:24: NC State 9, Virginia 4
7:24-3:45: Virginia 5, NC State 0
3:45-Halftime: NC State 6, Virginia 5
Second half
20:00-15:42: Virginia 8, NC State 1
15:42-11:57: Virginia 7, NC State 4
11:57-6:40: NC State 15, Virginia 7
6:40-3:51: Virginia 4, NC State 3
3:51-Final: NC State 9, Virginia 2
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Daniels +13 (32 minutes played)
• Junior guard Markell Johnson +6 (31)
• Walker 0 (30)
• Freshman guard Blake Harris 0 (1)
• Freshman forward Jericole Hellems -1 (12)
• Fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn -2 (33)
• Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk -3 (14)
• Lockett -4 (14)
• Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce -6 (24)
• Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly -8 (34)
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Walker: 14.2
Johnson: 10.3
Daniels: 7.6
Beverly: 4.9
Dorn: 4.8
Bryce: 3.1
Harris: 0
Funderburk: -1
Hellems: -1.5
Lockett: -1.6
What the loss means
The Pack is 16-5 overall on the season and 4-4 in the ACC. Virginia is 19-1 and 7-1. The Pack leads the all-time series 82-66, but Virginia is now 8-7 all-time at PNC Arena against NC State and has won six straight in the series there.
NC State falls to 14-2 at home, 8-5 in night games (tips after 6 p.m.). It is 7-5 on weekday contests, including 1-3 in the ACC. It is 1-4 when trailing at halftime.
The game was broadcast on ESPN2. The next four games are all back on Raycom, where NC State had just played five straight. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- Raycom: 3-2
- ESPN2: 2-2
- ESPN: 0-1
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-4
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• Virginia won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Pack 32-24.
• The Pack had a 14-2 win in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had four blocks and eight steals. Virginia had two steals and six rejections.
• Virginia’s overall rebound advantage was 39-35, but State won the offensive glass 16-11. Both teams had 13 second chance points.
• Virginia’s bench outscored the Pack’s reserves 16-12.
• NC State led for just 18 seconds at the start of overtime, Virginia for 39:14 and the game was tied for 5:28. The largest lead for State was three and for the Cavs it was 14.
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