Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Crushes NC State

Defense set the tone early and the offense cooked late as Virginia knocked off NC State 90 – 61.
Val Prochaska|
Elijah Gertrude
Elijah Gertrude | Virginia Athletics

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  The Wolfpack were afforded a rare opportunity to avenge January’s 76 – 61 loss in Raleigh.  Virginia opened a 30-point lead in that game and this time around they finished with a near 30-point win.  Suffice it to say that Virginia owns NC State this season, and it couldn’t happen to a better team.  Will Wade is one of the slimiest coaches in all of basketball and he was channeling his inner Bobby Knight just two minutes into the game.  It’s good to send him back on the road with his tail between his legs.

Plus

Virginia honored Tony Bennett on Saturday by naming the court at the JPJ after him.  The team honored him in their own way tonight, holding NC State to a Bennett-like 19 points in the first half.  Johan Grunloh, who finished with eight blocks, had three in the game’s first three minutes, and the team held the Wolfpack to 18% shooting overall, 13% from three-point range.  (At the half, Virginia had more blocks, 8, than NC State had made baskets, 6.)  Keep in mind that NC State is leading the ACC in three-point percentage.  Virginia typically switches everything, but defenders were so quick running around screens this game that they didn’t have to switch much.  Which led to NC State’s shooters never getting comfortable.  And when they did get run off the line, there was Grunloh and company to contend with.

Plus

Jacari White had 15 points (4/5 from deep) but the most important basket he scored was his first.  Virginia had opened up a 15 – 3 lead in the game’s first seven minutes.  In the next seven minutes, NC State actually clawed their way back to 15 – 13.  Virginia had three really ugly turnovers, seriously they looked like middle school turnovers, and Chance Mallory threw yet another poor alley oop, and Paul McNeil, the ACC’s leading three-point shooter, canned a three.  Virginia was only up by a pair, 15 – 13, and State was closing.  White answered by draining a three and Virginia was off on a 17 – 6 run to take a 32 – 19 lead into the locker room.  That shot was they key, though.  White is now 18/33 his last six games.  That’s 54% if you don’t want to do the math.

Plus

Virginia had five players in double figures:  White, Thijs De Ridder (19,) Malik Thomas (12,) Sam Lewis (16,) and Chance Mallory with 11.  For the game, the Cavaliers shot 53% from the floor and 46% (or 12/26) from deep.  To further drive the nail into NC State’s coffin, the team was also 16/18 from the line, which was the exact same stat line as from the Miami game.

Plus

Johan Grunloh had eight blocks!

Here they are:

Minus

For the 11th time this season, the Hoos fouled a player in the act of shooting a three.  It seems to be an affliction the entire team shares, as this time it was Ugonna Onyenso who committed the infraction.

But given that this is the single “Minus” for this game, I can live with it.

Plus

Malik Thomas’ numbers don’t jump out at you.  He did grab five defensive rebounds and he scored 12 points, but he was just 1/5 from deep.  But he did hand out three assists as he continually pushed the pace.  He got into the paint at will, forcing the Wolfpack defense to collapse.  I thought it was his best performance since lighting up SMU for 22 points ten games ago.

Plus

Devin Tillis returned after a one-game absence.  Virginia is going to need every big body they have because next game out is at Cameron.

Plus

I am sure that Elijah Gertrude’s career has been nothing like he imagined it would be.  He’s the one holdover from the Bennett era and for the early part of the season he’d been the 5th player off the bench.  Once the team hit ACC play, that has no longer been the case as he’s been relegated to playing with the walk-ons.  The most heartwarming moment of the game came on this slam:

Note the bench’s reaction.

Plus

If you are a Virginia fan and you’re not familiar with Danny Neckel, you need to up your game.  The guy is a gem.  Many of us writing about the Cavaliers have started a column or two with a Neckel nugget.

What’s a Quad 1A win?  Wins against the top half of the quadrant breakdowns.  In other words, wins against the better Quad 1 or Quad 2 teams.

Plus

Ven-Allen Lubin missed two free throws with half a minute remaining in the game.  Bacon for everyone!

We’ll let Ryan Odom have the last word.

Next Up:  The biggest game of the year.  Virginia travels to Durham to take on Duke on Saturday, February 28th.  The game is at 12 noon and the game will be on ESPN.  In what seemed perhaps a ludicrous thought a month ago, Virginia is just one game behind Duke for the race for the regular season title and the #1 seeding in the ACC tournament.  This is Virginia’s chance to send a message to seeding committee as Virginia is still showing up as a fourth-seed at best.

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Published | Modified
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for nine years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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