ACCT GAMEDAY vs. UVA | Keys to the Game, Team Trends and How to Watch

#7 NC State Wolfpack vs. #2 Virginia Cavaliers (ACC Tournament Quarterfinals)

Time: 12:00 PM ET
Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
TV: ESPN2

The NC State Wolfpack continue their 2026 ACC Tournament run as the No. 7 seed, taking on No. 2 seed Virginia in the quarterfinals this afternoon at noon in Charlotte. NC State enters at 20-12 overall and 10-8 in ACC play, coming off a convincing 98-88 second-round win over No. 15 Pitt, where Quadir Copeland exploded for 24 points and 8 assists, and the offense got back to doing what they do best with 13 threes. The Wolfpack’s win snapped a late-season skid.  showing offensive firepower and resilience. Now they face a Virginia team that swept them in the regular season (76-61 road loss on Jan. 3 and 90-61 home loss on Feb. 24).

Virginia (27-4 overall, 15-3 ACC) has been one of the ACC’s elite squads this season, boasting the usual stingy defense, but adding efficient scoring and pretty good shooting. They have hovered high in the NET ranking all year (around top 15-20). The Cavs are battle-tested and motivated to turn their conference success into a postseason run, but NC State has momentum from yesterday’s win and views this as a true revenge opportunity, with nothing to lose. A victory here would be a massive Q1 résumé boost, potentially pushing the Pack deeper into the bracket (semifinals Friday) and moving their NCAA Tournament seeding up. However, even with a competative loss, the Pack is likely a 9 or 10 seed lock for an at-large bid.

Wade’s Thoughts on Virginia:
“Well, there would probably be no next week if we lost today. So this was important, or we would have been in real trouble next week. So this was important. And we need to try to play better at Virginia. We’ve gotten our doors blown off twice by Virginia. We need to try to play better and see if we can make a game of it tomorrow.”

Keys To the Game

• SMART SHOTS! — UVA has lured NC State into two bad shooting nights in a row by inviting them into the paint, where they are huge and lurking for blocks. This is a trap set for Quadir Copeland. They know he doesn’t want to shoot from outside, so they invite him and will live with him shooting over their strong 7-footers. When they do this, they do not use their wings to help, limiting Q’s ability to find open shooters and limiting NC State from getting clean looks from outside.
• Keep up the hot shooting! — NC State was on FIRE yesterday which hopefully carries over into this matchup. They were 13-23 yesterday, good for 57% from outside. Against UVA they have shot just 25% (5-20) and 27% (9-33). This piggybacks off the point above. NC State needs to find ways to make the Virginia defense move. It’s not biting on the Q drives, so State needs to be focused on running sets that free up McNeil, Williams, Holloman, and Able.
• An EFFICIENT game from Darrion Williams — NC State no longer should be waiting for DW to explode on the scene as a volume scorer. He just hasn’t been that guy and the more he forces that, the more NC State struggles. He came out yesterday with two awful possessions where he just backed down and took contested shots over his defender. He didn’t draw rim once. Those were deflating possessions. But credit him, he went away from that and realized he was best utilized as a spot-up shooter at this point. If you look at his numbers, this is the one area he has really imporved from last year. So let’s lean into that. Williams really should be NC State’s 4th option offensively. Yes, you read that right. Forget the NIL payout, it’s a sunk cost now. The best NC State team is relying on Q, McNeil, and Lubin for volume. Williams and Able/Holloman are guys who can score it but need to pick their spots. Maybe not a popular take, but offensive efficiency is very important with how bad the defense has been.
• Can we figure out how to stop ANYONE? — Three guys hit season highs yesterday, which is par for the course this season. NC State simply can’t stop anyone and it’s not like they aren’t trying. I thought the defense had pretty good intensity against Pitt. They were physical, but they just can not get stops no matter what they are throwing out there. They started by playing straight up, no switching. They went to zone, they went back to switching 1 through 4, and then just said F it and went back to their 1-5 switching. This staff is trying everything possible to find a way to cover up the fact that they have two slow-footed, undersized, front court guys. Nothing is working, as teams keep knockign down shots.
• Get lucky? — NC state’s D has not been great, but when I watch the film back, it’s not as awful as it seems. Teams honestly are just showing up and hitting shots. So I guess you can chalk it up to luck, but man, a full season of this? I’m going to point to something that no one else has pointed to. During the pregame, Quadir Copeland likes to stand at midcourt and watch the other team warm up. It hypes him up and tries to get in the head of the opponent. Only I’m wondering if it’s having the opposite effect. Are teams locking in because they think Q is trying to punk them pregame? Is this hyping them up and getting them focused in? I don’t know, but I have no other way of explaining it.

Players to Watch

• For NC State: Paul McNeil Jr – If NC State is going to win, they need P2 to go off. That means big volume from the sophomore.
• For UVA: Thijs DeRitter – DeRitter had 32 points combined in the first 2 meetings. He’s a bigtime mistmatch for NC State, so trying to limit his touches, and making sure you don’t have him in too many mismatches will be key.