The Wolfpack men’s basketball team upset the No. 15 Virginia Cavaliers 68-61 behind a strong defensive showing in Charlottesville, Virginia on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
This win marks NC State’s third straight overall and fourth straight ACC road win, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1974, with the Pack’s national championship team.
“To say how proud I am of these guys, it’s really unbelievable the fight we have shown over the last few weeks,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “We’ve had so much adversity in this program this year. Obviously the biggest one being [COVID-19], which everyone has, but losing your senior leader and without another experienced guard in [redshirt junior] Thomas Allen. Just seeing these young guys grow up from practice to practice and from game to game. I thought they played tremendous.”
NC State began the game with a scoring explosion, prompted by two 3-pointers by freshman guard Cam Hayes and another from junior forward Jericole Hellems. Hayes is continuing to evolve in front of the Wolfpack faithful’s eyes, finishing this game with a team-high 16 points, along with three boards and two steals. The freshman has scored in double digits in three straight games, averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game across that span, on 50% shooting from beyond the arc.
“[Hayes]’s getting confidence every game,” Keatts said. “It’s hard in this league, as you guys know, to basically give the keys to the car to a freshman. What he’s learned, and he’s stepping up and playing big for us, is he’s doing a good job of finding people. He’s doing a good job of scoring the ball when we need him to. He’s also doing a good job of taking care of the basketball, and it means a lot.”
It might’ve stagnated a bit in the middle sections of the game, but the Pack was able to ride its strong start and an equally strong finish to complete the upset. NC State’s on-ball defense was key to the victory, holding the Cavaliers to just 37% from the floor and 28% from 3-point range. Senior guard Braxton Beverly aided in this effort, snatching two steals and finishing as a team-high plus-12.
One can’t help but wonder what could’ve been in the first matchup with Virginia, especially when redshirt senior forward D.J. Funderburk scored nine straight points in the second half. This culminated in a point in which the Pack went up by 10, then hitting a crucial layup and free throw to bring NC State up eight after UVA forward Jay Huff hit a 3 to narrow the lead to just five late.
“We found some areas that we could score in,” Keatts said. “I thought our bigs were tremendous. I thought we changed the way they had to play a little bit because of our size, so they had to put in a couple big guys…That’s the strength of our team right now. That’s whether we are throwing the ball into D.J. [Funderburk] or [redshirt sophomore forward] Manny Bates, or our guys are driving it. Getting in the paint, when you look at it, I thought D.J. and Manny were really good inside.”
Ultimately, the Wolfpack was propelled to victory by its guard play once more, as freshman Shakeel Moore joined Hayes as one of the leading scorers for the Pack. Moore finished the game with 12 points and four rebounds, and while he had a strong game, it was almost all for not, as he fumbled an inbound pass that gave Virginia possession down just four. Cavs star Sam Hauser had a dead-on look from deep that rimmed out after some lucky bounces that went the way of the Pack, securing the NC State victory.
“Those free throws were big, but more so aggressiveness the entire game, defense and offense,” Funderburk said. “I think Shak [Moore] driving to the rim really gave us a big boost, and Cam [Hayes] hitting some of those big shots really helped us, and of course, you know the free throws too. I just love their aggressiveness on offense and defense.”
In the first half, the Pack was able to take advantage of a stretch in which Virginia missed seven straight field goals and didn’t score for nearly six minutes of game time to go up by as much as 13 early. By the end of the first half, seven of the eight NC State rotation players had scored.
However, the latter part of the first half showed that no matter how cold a team gets, it can get back into any given game on a dime. Virginia rode a stretch where it shot 4 of6 to end the first half in order to narrow the lead to just six points.
Hauser and Huff carried a strong ending to the first half into the second, with the duo combining for 30 points in the second period alone. Hauser alone had 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep in the period, which made his aforementioned late-game shot attempt all the more frightening. Meanwhile, Huff finished the game with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, including a stuff on Bates.
“We were in scramble mode,” Keatts said. “And then, obviously, [Sam] Hauser is one of the best shooters in the country. Their strength from the 3-point line is their threes, fours and fives, and we wanted to do a good job of taking them out of the way they shoot the ball. I thought we did a good job. When you look at the end of the game, Hauser was 5-for-11, but a lot of those were late.”
Despite suffering that block, Bates was able to positively affect the game for the team, finishing with eight points and three assists. Hellems finished with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists, while redshirt freshman guard Dereon Seabron added five points.
Thankfully for the Pack, the team was able to hold off Virginia’s late-game efforts behind Funderburk’s run, a huge 3-pointer from Hayes with just over three minutes remaining and critical free throws made from the team’s guards.
“Sometimes the greatest thing about freshman guys is that they don’t know what they don’t know,” Keatts said. “They don’t get nervous because they can just step up, never having been in that situation. It was good, honestly, to see our guards step up and make free throws because the weird thing about it is that our best free-throw shooters this year have been our post guys.”
Next up, NC State will return home to take on Pittsburgh at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28, in a rematch of their last matchup on Feb. 17. After that, the Pack will have an opportunity to finish the season strong with games against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.
“I think it comes down to buy in,” Keatts said. “I think it comes down to a sense of toughness. It’s a mindset. If you believe that you’re not good, then you’re not good…I’ve asked them to grow up a little quicker than they needed to…Everybody is genuinely happy for one another, and typically you don’t get that from a team…Our guys are completely bought in to what we’re trying to go through.”
