The Plus/Minus: Virginia Blitzed at NC State 93-66
Virginia faced No. 6 NC State for the second time in two weeks and suffered another loss, this time a lopsided 93-66 defeat on Thursday night in Raleigh. Val has the Plus/Minus to breakdown what we saw from the Cavaliers in their loss.
Minus
This game was over almost before it started as NC State scored 24 points in the game’s first six minutes. That’s a 160 points-a-game pace. And unsustainable, but the damage was done. Early in the second quarter, Virginia made a little run to whittle an 18-point deficit down to just 12 points. The Wolfpack then made a pair of three-pointers in their next three trips and all hopes for a Virginia comeback were dashed.
Plus
Camryn Taylor is a baller. She had a game-high 22 points which included her hitting both of her three-pointers. After the last NC State game I opined that I didn’t want her shooting many treys, but she has now made five of six over the last four games. This team can’t really shoot the three so any spark is an improvement.
Minus
Injuries suck. Jillian Brown was in street clothes alongside Mir McLean. Sam Brunelle played, but she is clearly not the player she was last year. While she was never fleet of foot, she’s lost a step due to injuries this year.
Minus
Virginia’s depth is better this year than it was last year. Yonta Vaughn is a good backup at the point, and the trio of Paris Clark, Brown and Olivia McGhee offer more production at the wing than did Carole Miller or Kaydan Lawson last year. But this game illustrated the difference between depth and quality depth, which NC State has in spades. For the game, leading scorer Aziaha James was mostly held in check by Virginia for the second time. Saniya Rivers had a pretty quiet game and River Baldwin did not play due to some ankle issues. That’s the Big 3 for the Wolfpack. Instead, Mimi Collins had 14 points, Madison Hayes 17 and freshmen Zoe Brooks and Laci Steele had 19 and 13 points, respectively. Brooks looks like the freshman PG Virginia fans were hoping Kymora Johnson would be.
Plus
Virginia went 6/23 from the line. After going 3/26 the past two games, I guess shooting 26% is a reason to cheer.
Minus
Uh, no it’s not. 26% is bad. It is consistent, at least. The Cavaliers entered the game shooting .264. There are 360 Division I women’s basketball programs and Virginia slots in #311 in long distance accuracy. Of the 49 teams that shoot the three worse than Virginia, only three have winning records. And two of those? You’ve never heard of ‘em. It is really hard to win in the best conference in women’s basketball shooting the three this poorly.
Plus
Virginia remains an elite rebounding team as they pounded NC State on the boards to a 50-39 advantage. It was even more pronounced on the offensive end as Virginia had a 21-5 advantage. Offensive boards are all about hustle and it just shows that these women do not give up without a fight.
Plus
With 1.4 seconds left in the 3rd quarter (does that time ring a bell?) NC State got the ball out of bounds at the same spot that NC State’s men got the ball against the men this past weekend. Unlike Tony Bennett, Coach Agugua-Hamilton put a defender on the in-bounds pass, and the resulting poor entry kept the Wolfpack from even getting a shot off. I like that Coach Mox can learn from other’s mistakes.
Minus
Up by 32 points with about three minutes left, Wes Moore pulled the top of his rotation and went to his bench and his walk-ons. Virginia responded by putting on full-court pressure. I know that these women wanted to score and a raucous crowd at Reynolds Coliseum would have loved it had a walk-on hit a three. But it seems pretty bush league for Coach Mox to have her starters press walk-ons. If she wanted to avoid a 30-point loss, well, mission accomplished. I don’t think it’s a good look for Virginia basketball.
Minus
2024 has not been kind to Virginia basketball. Counting the women’s game against NC State on New Year’s Eve, the women are now 0-4 while the men are 1-2. Winter of our discontent indeed.
Next Up: Virginia travels to #20 UNC on Sunday, January the 14th. Game time is 4:00pm and the game is on the ACC Network.
Subscribe to the Cavaliers Now Newsletter to receive UVA sports news in your inbox first thing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:
Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN
See more Virginia women's basketball news and content: Virginia Women's Basketball on Sports Illustrated
See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated