After Virginia allowed at least 70 points in back-to-back games, coach Tony Bennett wanted his team to find its defensive identity again with ACC play beginning to build. The Cavaliers took a “step in the right direction,” Bennett said, with a 61-51 grind-it-out victory against NC State on Wednesday night.
The Hoos (14-0, 2-0 ACC) held the Wolfpack (11-5, 2-1) to 37.7% shooting and their lowest scoring output of the year. In its previous league wins against Wake Forest and Pitt, NCSU had hit 55.3% and 51.9% of its shots. UVa now has held 39 straight ACC opponents to less than 50% shooting.
“I compliment our guys because I thought our defense took a step in the right direction from the last two games,” Bennett said. “I thought we bothered shots or contested shots.”
Other than a hot-shooting first half from 3-point range when the visitors hit 7 of 12 triples (58.3%), the Pack did not consistently find a groove. Virginia quickly clamped down on that issue in the second half as well when State made just 2 of 9 long-range shots (22.2%).
The biggest key in that regard was slowing down Ralston Turner, who had been red hot before halftime when he made all four of his 3-point looks. With Malcolm Brogdon shouldering the majority of the assignment after intermission, Turner missed all three looks from downtown. UVa also kept Trevor Lacey in check after he made 2 of 3 treys in the first half, but only 1 of 3 in the second frame – and that one came at the end of the shot clock.
Bennett said you can live with tough looks and contested shots on defense, but he still sees room for improvement on that end of the floor.
“I don’t think we are where we need to be defensively, I think we have limitations. I told the team it is about percentages, and if you can bother and contend and win the majority of the percentages,” Bennett said. “I do not think they will be perfect, but can you win the majority and outlast them as the game goes on? We have to have that mentality. We aren’t going to dominate and we need to win the majority.”
After Lacey’s a high-difficulty rainbow beat the buzzer, NCSU led 42-41 with 9:20 to go. The third-ranked Cavaliers responded in resilient fashion. Over the next, the hosts allowed just one bucket over the next 8:35 that included a 6:18 scoreless stretch for the Pack; that’s the 10th time this season, the Wahoos have shut out an opponent for six minutes or more. With the defense setting the tone, Virginia pieced together a decisive 16-3 surge to claim control. That burst began with a 10-0 run that forced an NC State timeout.
First, London Perrantes retrieved a loose ball in the paint and found Mike Tobey for a lay-up. Marial Shayok scored his only bucket of the night off a run-out created by Virginia’s defense and Tobey followed with a strong defensive rebound when Kyle Washington (13 points, 10 rebounds) missed a jumper.
Moments later, Tobey did the same on the offensive glass when he snared a one-handed rebound while Washington held his left arm near the blocks. Tobey stayed with the board and cashed in the putback. Malcolm Brogdon added a runner and then Justin Anderson found Tobey in transition for a two-handed dunk to cap the 10-0 piece of the run.
“After Malcolm shot it, I saw it and I knew it was going long so I just tried to wedge myself in there and I got kind of lucky just grabbing it,” Tobey said of his one-handed rebound and score. “I just kind of got lucky with the grab.”
Anderson said he leaned toward the aggressive side for the open-floor assist and dunk that brought the building to its feet.
“I saw it was two on two with one guy back-pedaling and jogging. I heard Coach say ‘Bring it back’ but I saw [BeeJay] Anya was going to step up so I erred on the side of aggressiveness knowing that nobody was going to come up from behind and I knew I could get the pass to Mike,” Anderson said. “He did a great job finishing.”
With six points during the key 16-3 surge, Tobey finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 blocked shot. Anthony Gill came through in that stretch too with 2 offensive rebounds and buckets, including a monster tip-dunk. Gill finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 blocked shot.
The wing combination of Anderson and Brogdon carried the rest of the scoring load. Anderson poured in 16 points, 9 rebounds (tied his career high), 3 assists, and 1 blocked shot. Brogdon, meanwhile, had the hot hand early as he made 5 of 10 shots in the first half. He scored 12 points before intermission and ended up with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Darion Atkins added 4 points and 8 rebounds, while London Perrantes tallied 5 assists against 2 turnovers.
“I thought it was a struggle at the beginning of the second half, but I think we started to get the ball inside more and were more patient, and that was the key for us,” Brogdon said.
