North Carolina State eliminates Virginia in ACC tournament
For the 18th straight year, Virginia will not be playing on Saturday at the ACC Tournament.
Friday, March 15, 2013
GREENSBORO, N.C. — By now, Virginia should have learned not to leave its men’s basketball fate to the ACC Tournament.
While the Cavaliers may not have been lacking in desire or effort, they essentially were a no-show Friday in a second straight quarterfinal match-up with North Carolina State.
An RSVP would have been polite.
For the 18th straight year, Virginia will not be playing on Saturday at the ACC Tournament, having suffered its most lopsided loss of the season, 75-56, at the Greensboro Coliseum.
UVa is 4-19 in its last 23 ACC Tournament games.
“This building, in particular, has not been good to me,” said senior point guard Jontel Evans, the last active UVa player to participate in an ACC Tournament victory, a 68-62 triumph over Boston College in the first round in 2010.
It looked like the Cavaliers would make the semifinals at the Greensboro Coliseum that year until they squandered a 10-point lead in the final minute of regulation and lost to Miami 69-62 in overtime.
Virginia was a 67-64 loser to the Wolfpack last year in Atlanta last year and all expectations were that Friday’s rematch would be a close one.
The Cavaliers had beaten State 58-55 during the regular season and, in their last three games before Saturday, had played in games decided on the final possession. Oddsmakers viewed Friday’s game as a toss-up.
Virginia took a 2-0 lead on a bucket by freshman Mike Tobey, making his first start since Nov. 9, and never led again.
The Cavaliers had scored 25, 23 and 19 points in the first halves of its previous three games and found ways to stay in the game. That wasn’t the case Friday, as State extended a 30-21 halftime lead to 44-25 with 16:31 remaining.
Virginia (21-11) had no answer for Scott Wood, a 6-foot-6 senior, who drilled 3-pointers on State’s second, third and fourth possessions of the second half. Wood finished with a game-high 23 points, including seven 3-pointers on 12 shots.
“I’m not the one to go in the huddle and say, ‘Give me the ball,’ ” Wood said, “but it feels good when you’re knocking down your shots and gives you the confidence to know the next one is going in.”
Freshman T.J. Warren, the ACC leader in field-goal percentage, was 9 of 11 from the field and finished with 18 points. C.J. Leslie added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“When Wood gets it going like that, they become so dangerous,” said UVa coach Tony Bennett, now 1-4 in ACC Tournament games. “I think they’re the most offensively talented team in our league with the five that are on the floor at most times.”
Twice in the second half, UVa was able to cut the deficit to 11 and, if the Cavaliers had been able to hold State to one shot, it could have gotten closer to that.
Leading 55-44, State got two offensive rebounds before Richard Howell scored with 8:55 left. On the next trip down the floor, the Wolfpack got three offensive rebounds before C.J. Leslie scored – and was fouled en route to a three-point play – with 7:40 left.
“That was probably our chance to get it into single digits,” said UVa coach Tony Bennett, whose team was outrebounded 39-28. “Those are the plays that you’ve got to make. Those offensive rebounds were the nail in the coffin, so to speak.”
That was a stage of the game when the Cavaliers also missed six free throws, scoring two of a possible nine points from the line during that stretch.
UVa’s lone consistent scorer was 6-9 junior Akil Mitchell, who hit seven of 10 shots from the floor and finished with team highs in points (19), rebounds (eight), steals (three) and blocked shots (two).
Harris finished with 13 points, but he was only 4-of-13 from the field, and had five turnovers. For much of the afternoon, he was guarded by Wood.
“When the voting came out for the All-ACC selections, I was shocked that Scott Wood wasn’t on somebody’s first, second, third [team] or honorable mention,” N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said.
“Not only was he working hard defensively, but he changed the game. Changed the game, period. He’s been doing it all year for us.”
It was Gottfried who said Thursday after an 80-63 victory over Virginia Tech that he thought upcoming opponent Virginia was in the NCAA field. Unfortunately, most prognosticators thought UVa needed a win Friday to get a bid.
“This would have helped and I thought we had the right mindset going in,” Bennett said. “But if you’re off against an offensive team like this, you won’t have much of a chance.”
NC STATE (24-9)
Howell 3-7 0-1 6, Brown 2-10 4-4 9, Leslie 6-17 5-7 17, Wood 7-12 2-2 23, Warren 9-11 0-0 18, Purvis 0-1 0-0 0, Cannon 0-0 0-0 0, T. Lewis 0-0 2-2 2, J. Lewis 0-1 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 13-16 75.
VIRGINIA (21-11)
Evans 1-4 1-2 3, Tobey 3-9 0-0 6, Harris 4-13 3-5 13, Anderson 1-5 0-2 3, Mitchell 7-11 5-6 19, Jesperson 1-5 0-0 3, Barnette 0-2 0-0 0, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Nolte 2-3 0-0 5, Atkins 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-54 9-15 56.
Halftime—NC State 30-21. 3-Point Goals—NC State 8-16 (Wood 7-12, Brown 1-3, J. Lewis 0-1), Virginia 5-20 (Harris 2-9, Nolte 1-2, Jesperson 1-3, Anderson 1-4, Barnette 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—NC State 39 (Howell 12), Virginia 28 (Mitchell 8). Assists—NC State 16 (Brown 6), Virginia 15 (Evans 7). Total Fouls—NC State 13, Virginia 15. Technical—Warren. A—NA.
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THE ROANOKE TIMES
