NC State wasn’t ready for a team like that. Virginia did exactly what they wanted to do on both ends of the court and the Pack could do nothing about it. On the same note, this was the one game on the schedule that we marked for the best chance to take a loss. Just the combination of experience and the style of play didn’t bode well for the Pack.
Bad night defensively. State just played bad defense. They didn’t have the intensity level we’ve seen over the past 2 games and didn’t do enough to make the Virginia guards uncomfortable. State needs to keep guys in front of them because when they don’t, their help-side over commits and leaves shooters wide open. Virginia took advantage of this and knocked down shot after shot. They were 56% from the field and 57% from 3pt range. It was a bad defensive night for State, combined with a red-hot shooting night for UVA.
Offensively, State was flustered. They were out-physically by a bigger, stronger UVA team. Too many boneheaded plays where guys tried to go one on one, couldn’t get by their guy, had their pride hurt, and plowed in anyways, only to take an off-balance shot. This team needs to play together if they want to win and last night they didn’t. 7 assists on 23 made baskets isn’t going to cut it.
UVA shut down State’s weapons. Al Freeman put up his first goose egg of the season and only was able to get 5 attempts. Yurt only had 6 points, and Beverly had 4. These are the scorers NC State has relied on this season, and Virginia took them away.
Just didn’t shoot it well. Part of the reason the Wolfpack didn’t shoot it well is that UVA played such good defense. They didn’t let their guys get by them, meaning they didn’t need to help off, which kept State’s shooters smothered. But it’s not like they didn’t get some good looks. I can remember 3 from Beverly that were clean looks that just didn’t fall. Freeman had an open look and Yurt had 2. State shot an awful 12% from 3. If they just would have made 4 more 3s (which would have brought them up to a more normal 37% from beyond the arc), this would have been a 68-63 game and with it that close, who knows what would have happened.
Big games coming for the Batts/Johnson combo. I thought when these two guys played together, you started to see the havoc Keatts wants his system to create. Johnson, however, was obviously rusty. After missing 8 games due to suspension you can understand why. But he had his moments. In his 23 minutes, he dished out 5 of the Pack’s 7 assists. That’s impressive and what State has really been missing. Batts provided it against Duke, but this team really misses a guy like Markell, who gets into the lane with ease and creates for his teammates by nature. When Johnson gets back into form, this duo is going to be fun to watch.
Torin Dorn continues to play well. One guy who seemed extremely hungry last night was Dorn. Sure, he made some mistakes, but overall I thought he played extremely hard and overall, pretty well. He finished with a team-high 16 points on 7-12 shooting. Over the past 3 games, Dorn is averaging 13.6 ppg, shooting 56% from the floor and has knocked down 4-6 from beyond the arc (66%).
I want to rant on the refs for a second. Not one time this season have a mentioned the refereeing. Not on this site, nor to any friends or to fellow State fans. I think the reffing has been good overall this year. That said, I think Virginia’s brand of basketball is very reliant on the referees letting teams play physical. Last night, the refs set the tone by not blowing the whistle when NC State made an effort to get the ball into the post. There is no way NC State should only have gone to the line 5 times last night. They were getting the ball in the post and I thought the Pack played pretty physical themselves. State murdered UVA on the offensive boards 14-5. Those offensive boards led to 14 second-chance points, but they should have led to way more. State’s bigs were getting bodied all over the place and while I respect physical basketball, the refs have to draw a line. State was called for 18 fouls and Virginia, only 10. For the entire game, only 10 calls. As good as a team can be on defense, if you play that physical, you’re going to foul more than 10 times. I thought last night was one-sided and really helped UVA impose their will.