The Virginia basketball team got off to a better start in its road game at NC State on Saturday than it had during December games at Memphis and Notre Dame. The Hoos, however, couldn’t sustain the improvement and eventually fell 76-60 in Raleigh. It’s time to take a closer look within the game with the Double Bonus.

NCSU Countered Virginia Post Doubles

Entering this game, everyone – coaches, players, fans, and analysts – that D.J. Burns Jr. would be a matchup problem for Virginia. The 6’9″, 275-pound NC State forward brings a blend of size and playmaking ability that the current UVA roster doesn’t have an obvious way to contain. The Hoos started 6’11”, 225-pound freshman Blake Buchanan to try to bother Burns, but Buchanan simply isn’t there yet in his development and strength gains.

Burns ended up with only 6 points on 3-6 shooting, but he did take advantage of the Buchanan one-on-one matchup. He dribbled into the post and scored twice in the first half for two buckets. Later, he caught the ball just off the blocks and spun around Buchann for a bucket too. (Later, State backup center Ben Middlebrooks beat Buchanan with a one-on-one move in the post too so this game will be a good learning experience for the Wahoo freshman.)

As expected in these scenarios, UVA then planned to use its post trap to try to slow down Burns and disrupt the Wolfpack’s rhythm in general. That didn’t work either as NCSU had a plan. The first part of that included the choice to not traditionally post Burns up at all. He only caught the ball near the blocks with his back to the basket on a handful of possessions. The other times that Burns or the Pack wanted him to attack, he dribbled into the post area from a wing catch.

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