The Virginia basketball team continued its recent trend Monday when NC State came to Charlottesville. The Cavaliers trailed at halftime, dug a deficit early in the second half, made a comeback to take the lead, and lost during the final minutes. With that pattern in place, the Hoos have lost four of their last five games including the 53-51 setback against NCSU

This time around, UVA was down two at halftime and that deficit grew to 11 points 6:09 into the second half. The Cavaliers responded with a 15-0 to take a 46-42 lead with 4:37 to play. They carried a two-point edge into the final three minutes, but the Wolfpack doubled up the hosts 8-4 down the stretch to win.

That marked the end of an eight-game winning streak against NC State and became just Tony Bennett’s third loss to the Wolfpack in his tenure (13-3). Bennett said after the loss that he believes his team is improving, but not enough to get back to victory lane.

“This league is who is ready and right has a chance to win, and we know our margin for error is smaller than it has usually been,” Bennett said. “What else can you say? It’s kind of the same message: keep your head up and let’s keep working. I think they’ll take a lead from us with how we work and how we respond to them. It’s a tremendous opportunity to lead, coach, teach, and try to improve. I think we’re improving in little ways, but it’s not showing in the win-loss column. It did against Georgia Tech.

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