Virginia and NC State split the season series with round III tonight in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
NC State had a surprisingly easy time in defeating Virginia 76-60 on Jan. 6 in Raleigh. NC State was starting Dennis Parker as a small-ball four at that time, and the freshman had 15 points and three three-pointers. He is currently out with an illness.
Virginia inserted Jordan Minor at center to give the frontcourt more beef in the rematch, and played superb defense in holding the Wolfpack to 34.9 percent shooting in a 59-53 overtime win in overtime. UVA topped NC State 20-7 on offensive rebounding, and junior wing Taine Murray had an important 11 points off the bench.
Junior power forward Mohamed Diarra and senior point guard Michael O’Connell have been inserted into the starting lineup for NC State since those two contests. The Cavaliers went “big” with sophomore Ryan Dunn, senior Jacob Groves and freshman center Blake Buchanan starting against Boston College on Thursday.
NC State (20-14 overall) plays Virginia (23-9) at 9:30 p.m. tonight on ESPN2.
Overview
Virginia revolves around senior point guard Reece Beekman, the outside shooting of sophomore Isaac McKneely and the freaky athleticism of 6-8 sophomore forward Ryan Dunn.
Former Eastern Washington and Oklahoma transfer Jacob Groves, a stretch four, and freshman center Blake Buchanan is the latest group of players joining Dunn in the frontcourt.
Rankings
Virginia is No. 50 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 69.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Cavaliers ranked No. 52 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 61.
KenPom.com has Virginia at No. 63, and NCSU checks in at No. 67 this season.
Shooting
Virginia is averaging 63.5 points per game, and shooting 43.6 percent from the field, 36.5 percent on three-pointers and 63.9 percent at the free-throw line.
Groves leads the way at 47.5 percent on three-point shooting and McKneely isn’t far behind at 44.3 percent, but has a team-high 74 three-pointers made. The aforementioned Murray is at 47.1 percent in 12.7 minutes per game.
Rebounding
The Cavaliers are averaging 32.1 rebounds per game and have a minus-2.3 rebounding margin.
The über athletic Dunn is averaging 6.9 rebounds per game, but no other player has more than 3.7, which is Beekman. Dunn has 71 of the Cavaliers’ 278 offensive rebounds.
Defense
UVA is allowing 59.2 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 39.9 percent from the field and 30.7 percent from three-point land.
Dunn has a team-leading 74 blocks, plus 43 steals, and Beekman has an impressive 66 steals to lead the way.
Depth
Georgetown point guard transfer Dante Harris missed one of the meetings against NC State, but along with former Merrimack center transfer Jordan Minor, Saint Thomas sophomore wing transfer Andrew Rhode and junior wing Taine Murray lead the bench brigade.
Rhode is averaging 4.5 points and 2.8 assists per game, and Minor checks in at 4.2 points and 3.0 boards a contest.
Star Watch
When the first-team All-ACC squads came out and Virginia senior guard Reece Beekman was on the second team, there was some serious grumbling about it.
Beekman leads Virginia in scoring, assists and steals, and was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Beekman doesn’t have the same amount of offensive possessions as some other guards due to Virginia’s slower pace. However, he makes the most of what he can do, averaging 14.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.2 assist and 2.1 steals per game.
Beekman is making 45.1 percent from the field and 31.9 percent on three-pointers. He had a combined 23 points, 16 assists and six steals in the two meetings against NC State. He went just 0 of 1 on three-pointers attempted
Beekman has three double-doubles this season for points and assists, and is coming off going 4 of 17 fro the field for 11 points, plus 11 assists and seven rebounds in a 66-60 overtime win over Boston on Thursday.
Beekman was ranked No. 72 overall in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2020, coming out of Baton Rouge (La.) Scotlandville High. However, he played on a Milwaukee-based traveling team with future NBA players Jalen Johnson and Patrick Baldwin on Team Phenom in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.
Likely Starters
NC State
PG — 12 Michael O’Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 5.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.0 apg)
SG — 1 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr., 12.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.3 spg) or 0 DJ Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 16.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.4 spg)
G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 11.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg)
PF — 23 Mohamed Diarra (6-10, 215, Jr., 5.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Sr., 12.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.7 apg)
Virginia
PG — 2 Reece Beekman (6-3, 194, Sr., 14.2 peg, 3.7 rpg, 6.2 apg, 2.1 spg)
SG — 11 Isaac McKneely (6-4, 188, Soph., 12.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.7 apg)
PF — 13 Ryan Dunn (6-8, 216, Soph., 8.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.3 spg, 2.3 bpg)
PF — 34 Jacob Groves (6-9, 211, Sr., 7.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.6 apg)
C — 0 Blake Buchanan (6-11, 225, Fr., 3.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.4 apg)
Numbers Of Note
0 Losses this season when Virginia out-rebounds its opponents, with the Cavaliers improving to 12-0 after beating Boston College on the boards 45-38.
10 Wins in 11 games when senior forward Jacob Groves scores in double figures this season.
69.2 Average points per game for the 2018-19 Virginia national title team in its six NCAA Tournament games.
Game Within The Game: UVA's Ryan Dunn vs. NC State's Mohamed Diarra
The NBA mock drafts have Virginia sophomore forward Ryan Dunn as a potential first-round pick, but he’s just starting to touch his potential.
Dunn was ranked No. 112 overall in the class of 2022 coming out of Pennsburg (Pa.) Perkiomen High by Rivals.com. He logged 13 minutes a game off the bench last year, and flashed his potential, but only averaged 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
The 6-foot-8, 216-pound Dunn has blossomed this season, averaging 8.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per contest. He’s shooting 55.4 percent from the field, but just 53.3 percent at the free-throw line. He’s gone 7 of 32 on three-pointers and he has five double-doubles for points and rebounds.
Dunn hurt NC State for 16 points and seven rebounds in the first meeting in Raleigh, and he had 13 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks in the second contest.
Dunn hasn’t cracked double figures in points since he had 19 points and 11 boards in a 69-52 win at Louisville on Jan. 27. That streak spans 12 games. While he might not be a gifted scorer or shooter, he had seven blocks in a 49-47 win vs. Wake Forest on Feb. 17, and he’s blocked more than four shots in seven games.
NC State junior power forward Mohamed Diarra is NC State’s best frontcourt defender and rebounder. He is averaging 5.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. Diarra played just three minutes in the win over Virginia on Jan. 6, but he had four points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes in the overtime loss in Charlottesville.
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