CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — The NC State men’s basketball team picked up a key ACC win Monday night, taking down defending national champion Virginia 53-51 in John Paul Jones Arena.
A 10-minute scoreless stretch nearly doomed the Wolfpack (14-5, 5-3 ACC), but clutch buckets down the stretch and strong defense helped NC State prevail against the defensive-minded Cavaliers (12-6, 4-4 ACC).
“I’m certainly proud of my team,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “This is the second game in a row that I thought our guys stepped up and won on the defensive end. And we knew coming in this is a tough place to play, and Virginia is a tough program to play against because they’re so great on the defensive end.”
Despite an inability to hit a shot and zero 3-pointers, the Wolfpack entered the half with a slim 28-26 lead. Aggressive, tight on-ball defense forced some early Virginia turnovers, and NC State capitalized on the Cavaliers’ miscues. The Wolfpack scored 10 points off turnovers in a sloppy offensive first half.
NC State’s half-court defense was nearly lockdown in the first 20 minutes and clamped down hard to finish out the half. The Wolfpack held Virginia to just two points over the final five minutes of the half, as it consistently deterred any easy looks.
Redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk helped mask the Pack’s first-half struggles on offense, hitting all five of his shots from the field and scoring 12 points in the half. Outside of Funderburk’s 5-for-5 first-half performance, NC State shot just 27% from the floor in the half.
The Wolfpack burst out of halftime hot from deep, connecting on its first two 3-pointers of the second half. A three-point play by redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels and corner 3-pointer for redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce fueled an 11-2 run for the Pack that gave it its largest lead of the game with a 42-31 advantage.
NC State’s defense was suffocating again in the second half. After two quick Virginia buckets, the Pack held the Wahoos scoreless for over six and a half minutes from the 17:50 mark to 11:13. Virginia entered the game ranked 232nd in offensive efficiency, and NC State took full advantage of the Cavaliers’ ineptitude, forcing them into bad shots and denying trips to the paint.
“We had to do a great job and make sure everybody locked in,” Keatts said. “We started switching one through five just so we wouldn’t give any easy shots.”
But the 2019 national champions finally adjusted, and a 15-0 run midway through the second half gave the Cavaliers a 46-42 lead and put the Pack on the ropes. As NC State’s hopes at a potentially season-defining win slowly disappeared, some big-time shots rejuvenated a stagnant offense.
“You don’t realize how long you go without scoring,” Keatts said. “They’re good … They can defend you. At that point, I didn’t know how long we hadn’t scored, but what I talked about is, “Look, if we can’t score, then you’ve got to make sure they don’t score.’”
Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems knocked down a 3-pointer with a little over three minutes remaining to pull the Pack within one, and after a Virginia free throw, senior guard Markell Johnson nailed a step-back 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to take back the lead and quiet the rowdy JPJ Arena crowd.
“After [the first 3], I think we just realized that we really could win the game,” Hellems said. “Just come out here the way we always do and play until the clock’s out. I think our mentality was just to finish the game strong in all aspects.”
A layup by Hellems and contested mid-range jumper for Bryce put the Pack up five with under 30 seconds to play. The teams played the free-throw game for the final 26 seconds, and as a last-second shot for Virginia clanked off the rim, the clock expired and NC State won its first game at JPJ Arena in nine tries.
“I thought we got a little sloppy down the stretch, but we stayed together,” Bryce said. “But we came together as a team and got a great win.”
With ACC play in full swing and Selection Sunday less than two months away, NC State needs to keep building its NCAA Tournament resume. A road win against the defending national champions certainly helps out.
The Wolfpack will be back in action Saturday, Jan. 25 when it takes on Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Southeast.
