With the nation’s longest home winning streak hanging in the balance, the Virginia basketball team and its fans mustered a spirited response.
UVA trailed with less than four minutes to go after a furious second half rally by NC State and the visitors appeared to have all of the proverbial momentum. The Hoos, however, made critical plays on both ends of the floor to pull out a 59-53 overtime win in front of what Tony Bennett called the loudest home crowd of the year. That secured a 21st straight win at the John Paul Jones Arena and pushed this year’s team to 14-5 on the season.
“We got wobbly and almost fell down, but like the Weebles wobble we popped back up and then made enough plays,” Bennett said. “It was a defensive battle. They’re very athletic and they guard you hard and they switch off certain screens and they fight you to get open on cuts. So you had to be tough and sound. When you weren’t, they took your ball. It was a good effort by everyone tonight for sure. A little loose with turnovers, but by any means.”
The wobbling began with about 12 minutes to go in regulation. Virginia led 35-21, a score indicative of the defensive slugfest that unfolded Wednesday night, but the Wolfpack suddenly surged. Over the next 8 minutes, NC State put together a 20-5 stretch and stormed back to take the lead. A combination of increased fullcourt and halfcourt pressured fueled the rally. The Pack had 4 steals and 2 blocked shots, including one by Michael O’Connell on a Blake Buchanan dunk attempt attacking the press, that bothered the Wahoos on offense.
One-time Cavalier Casey Morsell helped spark his team’s comeback with two layups and a 3-pointer, while O’Connell bookended the run with free throws on the front end and a jumper on the back end. That pull-up shot at the 4:27 mark gave NC State a 41-40 lead and prompted a timeout from Bennett.
A 14-point lead now gone, the home winning streak in jeopardy, and any NCAA Tournament hopes flickering, the Hoos had to find an answer. That came from a mix of the expected and unexpected. The latter came first.
NCSU attempted to feed D.J. Burns Jr. near the free throw line when Virginia graduate transfer Jordan Minor poked the pass away for a steal. The hosts quickly turned that into a transition opportunity that junior Taine Murray converted into a layup that pushed UVA back in front 42-41. Given that neither player received heavy minutes for the Hoos earlier this season, that sequence captured the unexpected part.
Minor stood up against Burns all night and made him earn 11 points with 1 assist. On the offensive end, Minor added 10 points to go with 9 rebounds, 1 block, and that 1 key steal. He scored the first basket of overtime as well. Murray, meanwhile, played 18 minutes and delivered 10 points alongside physical and tough defense. While the basket in regulation came in a big moment, Murray also knocked down a 3-pointer and 3 free throws in overtime that provided half of his team’s production in the extra period.
“You’ve got two guys in Jordan Minor and Taine Murray who a couple months ago … you’d have been like I don’t know where this is going to be, but look at the roles they both played,” Bennett said. “Jordan was so physical with Burns. That was some bodies leaning against each other and going at it hard. You just look at the rebounding deal and that’s effort.”
While that duo’s impact may not have been predicted, some of UVA’s usual suspects stepped up late in the game too. After O’Connell see-sawed his team back in front 43-42 after Murray’s big layup, Virginia senior Reece Beekman scored on the next possession. He attacked the paint and got an old-fashioned 3-point play to get his team the lead again. On the next trip down the floor, Beekman found Isaac McKneely for a two-point jumper. Beekman finished with 11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. McKneely chipped in 10 points and 2 assists.
Those plays weren’t quite enough to get the win in regulation, in part because O’Connell scored on an offensive rebound putback in the final 10 seconds. Beekman’s driving attempt in the final seconds turned into a turnover and nearly disaster when Morsell fired a shot from beyond halfcourt that hit the rim and backboard.
The Hoos regrouped in the huddle before overtime.
“Just to come together and just know we’re OK,” UVA sophomore Ryan Dunn said. “They had a big stretch down the end and we weren’t able to execute. Kind of scary when we turned the ball over and they got out on the fastbreak, but luckily Casey shot it [and it missed]. But we were just able to regroup and get one stop at a time. That first two minutes was big for us in overtime to get to the win.”
Dunn proved a significant factor in the outcome too. He gave NC State fits on the glass all night, including 4 offensive boards that helped produce 10 second chance points. The Hoos won the overall rebounding battle 54-32. Dunn also flew around defensively and bothered a lot of shots with his length. In the end, Dunn posted 13 points, 12 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, and 1 assist. Oh and one very emphatic exclamation point with a soaring dunk in the last seconds of overtime.
“He was all over,” Bennett said. “Ryan’s activity was at an elite level whether it was altering shots – he had 6 blocks, 12 rebounds. That was just his activity. … He’s really finding his way to impact the game.”
Finding a way could just as easily describe the Wahoos as a whole in recent weeks. In fact, the wobble and recovery in this game mirrored the team’s recent stretch of the season in general.
Virginia dropped 4 of 6 games as the calendar flipped from 2023 to 2024. UVA had three ACC road games with final margins of 16 or more points in there as NC State handed UVA a 76-60 defeat in Raleigh back on Jan. 6 for example. A 66-47 setback at Wake Forest followed and things didn’t look promising at that juncture for the Cavaliers. They’ve since responded with a three-game winning streak that included a rivalry game against Virginia Tech, the season’s first true road victory at Georgia Tech, and the gritty overtime win Wednesday.
The Hoos hope it’s a sign of more stable footing as the season progresses.
“I hope so. All you can do is keep chipping away as we said,” Bennett said. “The Virginia Tech game was against a talented team and battled that. Then played solid ball for most of the game against Georgia Tech. Even this game was a different game because it was deflating [on some plays that could have won it] but then to have to come back tough in that overtime and to see some of the plays being made.”
