NC State and Virginia had similar, though also very different, offseasons. After underwhelming seasons for both ACC programs, both hired a coach from a tournament mid-major and both made big splashes in the portal as a means of getting back to the top.
In the first of two matchups this season, the No. 21 Cavaliers (12-2, 1-1 ACC) came out on top, decisively beating the much smaller Wolfpack (10-5, 1-1 ACC) in this morning’s matchup in Raleigh, N.C., leading for all but two minutes en route to a 76-61 victory.
After a heartbreaking rivalry loss to Virginia Tech in which neither team could buy a made shot, Virginia put together a strong scoring performance. Coach Ryan Odom’s squad shot 50 percent from the field and 39 from three, while also smothering NC State’s offense by stuffing rim attempts and being quick to contest perimeter attempts.
The early hero for the Cavaliers, in his best game in a Virginia uniform thus far, was junior guard Sam Lewis. He went on a 6-0 run to start the game, ultimately scoring 12 of the Cavaliers’ first 15 points as they developed a small lead over the scrappy Wolfpack.
“The open guy is the go-to guy,” Odom said. “Certainly we run plays for specific guys at times, but it’s more about moving the ball. The ball will find you and it’s your turn. And Sam was ready tonight, his teammates found him and he knocked it down. We have tremendous confidence in Sam and his ability to make shots and make the right play.”
While freshman forward Thijs De Ridder and freshman guard Chance Mallory both struggled offensively in the first half, Lewis and graduate guard Malik Thomas scored in bunches, combining for 31 of Virginia’s 40 points and shooting a combined 7-10 from three. Lewis ended the half with 20 points, while Thomas added 11 of his own with a game-leading seven rebounds as well.
Through the first half, the Cavaliers stifled NC State’s offense — holding the hosts to 1-9 from three and a paltry 8-26 from the field and leading 40-20 at the half. Virginia’s size on the interior clearly affected Coach Will Wade’s squad — whose tallest starter is only 6-foot-9 — and forced a handful of questionable attempts, all while outrebounding them 18-12.
In his postgame press conference, Wade said that he felt his team was taking shots too early in the play, not attacking Virginia’s drop coverage in the way he would want — which would involve driving, finding an open player and then attacking again.
“We were trying to do too much too early,” Wade said. “And they did to us what we like to do to other teams. They pressed us, we were getting into offense late in the clock. We were a little discombobulated and, to their credit, they attacked our press very well.”
The Wolfpack did begin to right the ship at the start of the second. Senior guard Alyn Breed, who followed Wade from McNeese State this offseason, found a lot of success on drives while sophomore guard Paul McNeil hit a big three-pointer to build an 11-4 run.
That run quickly accelerated. A late foul call on what looked like a clean block by senior center Ugonna Onyenso led Odom to leave his box to yell at the officials — earning him a technical foul. McNeil and senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin both converted their free throws, cutting the Cavaliers lead to below 10, only three minutes into the half.
“I was just irritated at quite a few things at that point,” Odom said. “And I shouldn’t do that, that shouldn’t be something that I do. But the guys responded.”
Virginia did indeed respond well to the run, as De Ridder answered the four free throws with a nifty post spin into a layup, before graduate guard Dallin Hall and graduate forward Devin Tillis both created their own rim buckets to bring the lead back to 12 after another McNeil three-pointer. Through the second half, more and more Cavaliers buckets came from isolation drives, playing the Wolfpack’s game to a degree but still finding enough success to maintain the lead.
“In the second it got hairy there,” Odom said. “And our guys responded in a positive way and we were able to finish the game off.”
De Ridder continued his production through the second half. He had a very quiet first half by any standards — two points off of free throws and two fouls with zero rebounds — but came alive in the second, scoring 12 with six rebounds and an assist.
After holding the lead in the low teens for a few minutes, a lightning-quick 8-0 run reaffirmed Virginia as the game’s true favorite. De Ridder caught a Thomas three pointer in the air and lightly put it through the hoop, before hitting a contested three-pointer 30 seconds later. Not long after, Thomas found Lewis in transition for a three-pointer of his own — tying his career high of 23, where he ended the game.
Through the second half, the Cavaliers continued their steady offensive production, weathering a scoring drought in the last five minutes and a late Wolfpack surge that again brought the lead into the teens. NC State still shot an underwhelming 41 percent from the field through the last 20, but shot a noticeable 18 free throws, making all but one.
Next, Virginia will return to Charlottesville for two home games. They will face Stanford Saturday at 2:15 p.m., but will first see the small but mighty Cal Wednesday at 9 p.m. in John Paul Jones Arena. The Golden Bears (13-2, 1-1 ACC) are coming off a win over Notre Dame, in which junior guard Dai Dai Ames — who played for the Cavaliers last season — hit a game winning four-point play. Led by Ames’ 17.6 points per game, Cal will be a tough offense with low turnover numbers and strong shooting from outside the arc. This match will be streamed on ACC Network.
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