NC State vs. #3 Virginia: Info, Preview, Keys to the Game & How to Watch

NC State Wolfpack vs. #19 Clemson Tigers
Gametime: 6:00 pm
TV: ESPNU
Location: Charlottesville, Va

Getting to know Virginia…
While some of the names may have changed, this Virginia team is a lot like the ones you’ve seen over the past few years. They are great defensively, they shoot it pretty well and they play a really slow, grind-it-out style of basketball that they’ve nearly perfected.

They are led on offense by sophomore guard Kyle Guy. He’s a 6’2 guard who can really stroke it. He’s coming off his second best game of the season where he scored 22 points on Syracuse just a few days ago (his best game ‘was a 29 pt outburst vs. VCU – video below).

Guy can score off the dribble, but he’s not really all that quick. Where he will kill you is beyond the arc on the catch and shoot. Whoever gets this assignment cannot leave him. They can not sink down into help-side defense and allow him to get off any type of clean look. He’s shooting 44% from downtown and can get white-hot if you let him.

Their next best scorer is 6’5 senior guard Devon Hall. He’s averaging 12 ppg and shooting 46% from the floor and 44% from long range. He’s usually a pretty tough mismatch, but with Torin Dorn being 6’5 and Al Freeman at 6’3, NC State has a good matchup here.

Virginia’s other big scorer is Ty Jerome, who is another sophomore guard and another guy who is 6’5. He’s tall, but most of his shots are coming from beyond the arc (where he shoots 44% as well.)

Defensively, as you know, Virginia is going to play a pack line defense. This is essentially a defense They will pressure the ball handler as much as possible, but the other 4 guys will remain sunken in the lane. Virginia wants you to pass it around the perimeter and shoot a 3 off of a side-to-side swing pass. They really don’t allow driving lanes and really make it tough for bigs to have any space to work in the post.

So do you get the gist of it? Virginia plays with a bunch of big guards, packs it down, out-physicals teams on defense and shoots a lot of jumpers on offense. The good news for NC State is that they can match-up. Al Freeman and Torin Dorn are both big guards who can defend, and Virginia hasn’t faced many teams that can negate that advantage.

Also, note that Virginia may be ranked 4th, but they don’t have the quality wins that the Wolfpack has. They’ve beaten UNC when they were #12 and really that’s it. They’ve beaten BC, VT, and Syracuse, but they lost to West Virginia (when they were 18th).

Keys to the game for NC State:

• Beat the pack line. UVA wants NC State to just move it around the perimeter and throw up shots. That’s not going to cut it. State needs to have crisp ball movement and play inside-out basketball. This means drive-and-kicks off the pick and roll, and dump-downs and kick-outs from the post.
• Speed them up Virginia doesn’t turn it over much, but then again, they also play at the slowest adjusted tempo in the NCAA (literally). The Pack needs to get them out of their comfort zone by putting big time pressure on their guards. This is where the return of Markell Johnson could be big. We’re not sure if he’ll play, or if he does if he’ll be in good enough shape, but him and Batts pestering these slower, more cumbersome guards could cause trouble.
• Win the battle of the boards. Virginia does a great job rebounding, mostly because the pack line defense keeps them all clustered around the hoop. NC Stae needs to find a way to beat them on the offensive glass and get some second-chance points.
• Keep playing team basketball. Over the past two games, NC State has been sharing the ball at a whole new level. This is why they are winning. They are getting easy buckets and everyone is on the same page. We’ll come right out and say it. Al Freeman needs to keep sharing the ball and creating for his teammates. Both in the Duke game and in the Clemson game he came out and really made a difference by moving the ball around, but late in both games, he got back into his one-on-one ways. and allowed the opponent to make a run. That can’t happen vs UVA. A sharing Al Freeman is a dominant Al Freeman.
• Let Yurt Eat. State has to get Yurtseven touches. He’s been absolutely dominant for a majority of this season. The guy is shooting 62% from the field and an insane 73% from long range. He was the main reason State beat Clemson and should become State’s top option going forward.