NC State Wolfpack basketball (7-6, 3-5 ACC) continues conference play Wednesday night against No. 14 Virginia in PNC Arena at 9 p.m. on ACC Network.

The Cavaliers are 11-3 (7-1 ACC) under head coach Tony Bennett in his 11th season with the program. Virginia is coming off of a 65-51 road loss at No. 16 Virginia Tech.

The Pack is also coming off of a road loss, a 76-73 defeat to Syracuse.

Here is the scouting report on Virginia:

Virginia may have been written off too early this season. The Cavaliers lost their second game of the season 61-60 to San Francisco on a neutral floor and were destroyed 98-75 by No. 1 Gonzaga one month later on Dec. 26.

After the 23-point loss to the Zags, however, UVA won seven straight and only recently suffered its third loss of the season, a 14-point road defeat to arch-rival Virginia Tech.

All three of the Cavaliers' losses have been on the road or on a neutral floor against a team ranked No. 80 or higher according to KenPom. NC State is ranked No. 71 on the analytics site as of Wednesday morning.

Virginia was projected to finish first in the conference in the preseason ACC media poll.

Virginia is ranked No. 8 in the NET rankings (NC State is No. 87), which makes Wednesday's contest a "quad one" game for the Pack, one of two remaining on the Wolfpack's schedule, not including the postponed contests that could be rescheduled.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Cavaliers ranked No. 6 (NC State is No. 48), and KenPom.com has UVA ranked No. 9 (NC State is No. 71).

Virginia is also ranked No. 11 in the old RPI formula used by the NCAA — according to RealTimeRPI.com.

Statistically, Virginia has the best offense in the ACC, and it starts with its shooting.

The Cavaliers have an adjusted offensive efficiency of 115.5 (points per 100 possessions), which ranks first in the conference and 11th nationally according to KenPom.

The Hoos also have an effective field goal percentage, which adds weighted value to three-point efficiency, of 57.7, which ranks fifth among Division I teams. The Cavs shoot 56.9 percent on two-point attempts and 39.3 percent from the perimeter, good for 13th and 15th nationally, respectively.

UVA is also a great free-throw shooting team. Virginia has made 80.4 percent of its attempts from the strike, which ranks fourth in the country.

If there's one weakness in the Cavaliers offense, it's their ability to get to the free-throw line. Despite the efficiency from the line, UVA averages just 10.9 free-throw attempts per game, which ranks 347th nationally.

Advantage: Virginia

Because Virginia tries to slow down the pace of the game, the Cavaliers' 32.4 rebounds per contest doesn't jump off the page, but the Hoos are efficient on the glass, particularly on the defensive end.

While UVA collects an offensive rebound on just 23.1 percent of its misses, which ranks 289th nationally, the Cavs hold opponents to an offensive rebound on just 20.1 percent of forced misses while on defense, good for fourth among Division I teams.

Advantage: Virginia

While Virginia's defense hasn't been on par with years past statistically — the Cavs have ranked top 10 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency every season since 2013 according to KenPom — UVA is still an elite defensive team.

The Cavaliers have an adjusted defensive efficiency of 91.0 (points per 100 possessions) this season according to KenPom, which ranks second in the ACC and 19th among Division I teams.

Virginia has a defensive two-point field goal percentage of 46.0, good for 55th nationally, but a defensive three-point percentage of 34.4, which ranks just 217th among Division I teams.

The Cavaliers also allow a lot of attempts from beyond the arc. UVA's opponents have shot 40.8 percent of their field goal attempts from the perimeter, which ranks 279th in the country.

The Hoos also have a team block percentage of 12.5, which ranks 34th nationally.

Advantage: Virginia

Virginia has nine players that average at least 10.8 minutes per game, and eight of them have played in at least 12 of UVA's 14 contests this season.

Despite the depth, only 24.5 percent of the Cavaliers' total minutes this year have come off the bench, which ranks 312th nationally.

NC State would typically have the depth advantage but considering the Wolfpack will be without fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear last Wednesday, and potentially fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk, who missed the Syracuse game Sunday due to "university policies," the Hoos get the slight edge Wednesday night.

Advantage: Virginia

Senior forward Sam Hauser was among the most-anticipated transfers to watch entering this season. So far, he's lived up to the hype.

Hauser is Virginia's team leader in scoring and rebounding. He averages 14.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

The 6-8, 218-pounder also 1.8 assists per contest, which is third-best on the team.

The Marquette transfer is a small-ball four that can absolutely light it up from the perimeter. He's shooting 42 percent on three-point attempts and has a 50.3 field goal percentage this season.

5 Virginia players are originally from the Triangle. Starters Jay Huff and Trey Murphy are both from Durham. Huff played at Voyager Academy while Murphy played at Cary Academy. Sophomore forward Justin McKoy, who was an NC State target in the 2019 class, is from Cary and attended Panther Creek High in Wake County. Freshman guard Kadi Shedrick's hometown is listed as Raleigh, and he competed at Holly Springs High. Freshman guard Carson McCorkle was teammates with NC State freshman guard Cam Hayes at Greensboro Day School, but McCorkle is originally from Raleigh and attended Broughton High as a freshman in high school.

4 Of NC State's six losses this season have come after the Wolfpack held a halftime lead. The Pack led the majority of the game in three of those losses, all of which were on the road (Saint Louis, Clemson and Syracuse).

1-3 Is head coach Kevin Keatts' record against Virginia during his time with the Wolfpack. NC State defeated the Cavaliers 53-51 in Charlottesville in the only meeting last season, marking Keatts' first victory against the Hoos. The last time UVA visited PNC Arena, NC State lost 66-65 to a Cavaliers squad that was ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25 at the time and went on to win the national championship.

NC State

G — 3 Cam Hayes (6-3, 175, Fr., 7.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 3.1 apg)

G — 10 Braxton Beverly (6-0, 180, Sr., 6.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 1.7 spg)

G — 5 Thomas Allen (6-1, 180, R-Jr., 7.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.4 spg)

F — 4 Jericole Hellems (6-7, 205, Jr., 11.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.6 apg)

C — 15 Manny Bates (6-11, 230, R-So., 9.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 bpg)

Virginia

G – 0 Kihei Clark (5-9, 160, Jr., 9.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 4.1 apg)

G – 2 Reece Beekman (6-3, 174, Fr. 5.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.9 apg)

G – 25 Trey Murphy (6-9, 206, Jr., 10.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.4 apg)

F – 10 Sam Hauser (6-8, 218, Sr., 14.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 apg)

F –30 Jay Huff (7-1, 240, Sr., 13.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.1 apg)

——

• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook