Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 76-56 lost to No. 2 Virginia during the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte on Thursday afternoon.
Play of the game
NC State was leading 31-27 two minutes into the second half and Virginia, with the exception of junior guard Kyle Guy, seemed to be needing a spark. It got one from the most unlikely place: fifth-year senior center Jack Salt. He scored on a baseline move and reverse layup while being fouled, and the career 44.2 percent free throw shooter converted from the charity stripe for a three-point play.
NC State answered with a three from junior guard Markell Johnson, but that would be the last salvo for the Pack. Virginia went on a 27-7 run after Johnson’s three to turn a competitive game into a rout.
Highlight of the game
Player of the game
Salt is the fun story of the game (if you are a Virginia fan), but the true player of this game was Guy, the first-team All-ACC sharpshooter. He carried Virginia until he finally got some help from Salt and redshirt sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter in the second half.
Guy made 10 of 13 shots from the field, including 7 of 9 three-pointers, and finished with 29 points. Guy is a prolific shooter from long range who made 8 of 10 threes in a game at Syracuse earlier this year, but this was still a banner performance even by his high standards. He was one off his career high in points, made field goals and made threes.
Ironically Guy was not much of a factor when Virginia beat NC State in overtime earlier in the season. He scored 10 points in 40 minutes and did not make a three until overtime.
Salt was a big deal, too
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts could not help but smile a tad when asked if he had to game plan for Salt. The truth is that Salt probably did not factor into NC State’s planning at all, and for good reasons.
He has scored in double figures just four times in 120 career games before Thursday and had not scored in his previous five contests. Yet he made 7 of 8 shots from the field and 4 of 5 free throws to finish with a career-best 18 points in 25 minutes, Salt’s most playing time since he played 28 minutes at Duke on Jan. 19.
Salt also set a career-high for field goals made and tied his personal best for most made free throws in a game.
Anatomy of a run
For 25 minutes this game could have gone either way, but then Virginia blitzed NC State to pull away for a lopsided victory. How did it do it? Three key factors figured into the equation.
• The Cavs had three and-ones in a 3:31 stretch to start the run. Salt did it twice, and then Guy had a four-point play with 14:23 left to give Virginia a 41-36 lead.
• Free throw shooting did NC State in as well. NCSU missed its first five free throws of the second half and finished just 8 of 16 after the break. While the Pack missed its first five free throws, Virginia was building that 41-36 lead.
• Virginia got hot from threes, making 6 of 10. Guy was 4 for 5 in the second half, and Hunter made 2 of his 3 attempts. NC State meanwhile went 3 of 12 after intermission. Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly continues his slump. He exits the ACC Tournament missing all nine three-pointers he attempted.
In three of his last four games, Beverly went a combined 0 for 16 on three-pointers. He did make 3 of 7 in the regular season finale at Boston College.
Others for NC State need to get back on track
Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce was arguably NC State’s most consistent, best player for much of the ACC season, but in six of his last seven games he has not scored in double figures. In those six contests, Bryce is shooting just 9 of 34 from the field, or 26.5 percent, and 2 of 13 on three-pointers.
Bryce had scored in double figures in 10 of State’s first 14 ACC games and was the Pack’s leading scorer in conference action at that point.
Redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels also struggled with his offense in Charlotte, continuing an inconsistent year for him. He made 4 of 15 shots, including 2 of 8 three-pointers, and was just 1 for 4 at the line to score a combined total of 11 points at the ACC Tournament. One of his made threes also came with 6.0 seconds left against Virginia.
Now what?
It’s a long wait till Selection Sunday. For a cheater’s guide of who to pull for and against:
For:
• Buffalo, Nevada, Washington and VCU to win their respective conferences, all leagues that will have one or two at-large bids at best.
• Penn State to win a game or two in the Big Ten Tournament to provide a boost to NC State’s NET.
Against:
• Fellow bubble teams like Alabama, Arizona State, Creighton, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio State, St. John’s, TCU, Texas and Utah State. Indiana losing to Ohio State likely keeps the Hoosiers below the Pack on the bubble.
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
20:00-14:51: Virginia 8, NC State 4
14:51-11:52: Virginia 10, NC State 6
11:52-7:25: NC State 14, Virginia 3
7:25-3:55: Virginia 1, NC State 0
3:55-Halftime: NC State 5, Virginia 5
Second half
20:00-15:46: NC State 5, Virginia 5
15:46-10:28: Virginia 19, NC State 6
10:28-7:35: Virginia 8, NC State 3
7:35-2:37: Virginia 11, NC State 6
2:37-Final: NC State 7, Virginia 6
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Johnson: 9.2
Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk: 6.8
Fifth-year senior forward Torin Dorn: 4.5
Daniels: 3.4
Bryce: 3.1
Beverly: 1.7
Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker: 1.1
Freshman forward Jericole Hellems: 0.8
Sophomore guard Blake Harris: -2.2
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Harris -5 (13 minutes played)
• Walker -6 (11)
• Dorn -7 (27)
• Beverly -9 (22)
• Bryce -9 (18)
• Hellems -13 (13)
• Funderburk -14 (29)
• Daniels -18 (31)
• Johnson -19 (35)
What the loss means
The Pack falls to 22-11 while Virginia improves to 29-2, and its only two losses came to Duke. NC State leads the all-time series 82-67 but has lost eight straight to the Cavs. The Wolfpack is 14-3 when playing Virginia in the ACC Tournament. NC State is 5-6 in games when it was the eighth seed.
NC State is 11-3 in day games (tips before 6 p.m.) and 10-8 on weekday contests. NC State is now 20-3 when leading at the break (Pack was up 28-26).
The game was broadcast on both Raycom (for the final time in NC State history) and ESPN. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- ESPNU: 3-0
- RSN: 5-1
- Raycom: 6-5
- ESPN2: 2-3
- ESPN: 1-3
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-4
- February: 4-3
- March: 2-3
Other stats of note
• Virginia had a 28-26 edge in points in the paint.
• The Cavs won the boards, 33-29 overall, but NC State had an 8-5 edge on the offensive glass. Both teams had seven second chance points.
• UVA had a 5-2 win in fast break points.
• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and three steals, the exact same defensive numbers from the Clemson win. Virginia had seven steals (four by otherwise struggling junior guard Ty Jerome) to go with one rejection.
• Both teams had nine turnovers, but the Cavs had a 16-11 edge in points off turnovers.
• NC State led for 15:41, Virginia for 21:43 and the game was tied for 2:36. The Pack’s largest lead was six and Virginia’s was 24. The only time NC State led more in a game and lost when it was up for 31:51 in a last-minute loss at Wisconsin.
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