N.C. State Ready for Virginia Challenge

By Jerry Ratcliffe

CHARLOTTE  – N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts doesn’t expect his team to back down one bit when the Wolfpack faces No. 2 Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday (12:30 p.m.).

Keatts has good reasoning behind his logic. State had the Cavaliers on the ropes back in late January when UVA required an overtime to dismiss the pesky ‘Pack, 66-65, in Raleigh. It was the only meeting between the two teams during regular season.

Virginia won so ugly that night that its coach, Tony Bennett, was really upset with his team after the game and let them have it.

The Cavaliers committed 16 turnovers in the game _ double their average to that point _ and allowed State to grab 16 offensive rebounds.

Once UVA took the one point lead, all the Cavaliers had to do was inbound the ball to win, and that’s exactly what they did. Junior guard Kyle Guy caught the inbound pass and hurled it toward the ceiling at PNC Arena.

“It was a feeling of relief,” Guy said afterward. “It was a bad game on our part. Coach was rightfully mad after the game and got after us because we didn’t play anywhere near our standard and he holds us to a high standard.

“We know we didn’t play very well and [State] played pretty good,” Guy continued. “They had a pretty good game plan, so hats off to them.”

In a physical tussle, Virginia prevailed.

The Cavaliers, who shot 61 percent for the first half and 46 percent for the game, relied heavily on their “big three” scorers to win the game. De’Andre Hunter finished with 15 points to lead UVA, while Ty Jerome added 12 and Guy 10.

Hunter made six of eight free throws in the game, most late in the contest to wrap up the victory.

Which leads to Thursday’s game. State, now 22-10 on the season, is vying for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Clemson, one of the last teams on the bubble, fell to 19-13.

“We say this all the time,” Keatts said in reference to facing Virginia in the quarters. “I think styles make fights. But I think my team is very confident.

“Our last two games we were able to go on the road and play great defensively against Boston College, and we held them to 26.7 percent, and then we put together a great scone half, obviously, today, and so we’re going in as a confident team. We know that [Virginia] is a very good basketball team. We respect Tony and what he has done with their program, but our guys are excited to play.”

N.C. State trailed Clemson 42-26 at halftime, but the Wolfpack staged the second-largest comeback from a halftime deficit in ACC Tournament history and won 59-58. The Wolfpack were beneficiaries of a controversial foul call with only 2.6 seconds remaining.

“That team you saw in the first half was not N.C. State basketball,” Keatts said. “For us to get to this point and play the way that we did in the first half, we weren’t happy. I’m not a guy to yell all the time, but there was a little yelling going on, and give these guys credit. I thought they responded.”

Markell Johnson, who was the only State player to score in double figures, and led all game scorers with 23 points, sealed Clemson’s fate with two free throws that lifted the Wolfpack ahead to a one-point margin of victory.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell wasn’t exactly thrilled with the call.

“Really disappointed with the way the game ended,” Brownell said. “Too much at stake for things to end like that. I just thought it was a tough, tough play for us. He just got away and made a play down the lane and got a very good call.”

After one writer asked Johnson if he felt like he was in the act of shooting on the controversial call, Keatts interrupted and interjected: “Are you really going to ask do you think that foul was in the act of shooting? 100 percent it was.”

The Tigers begged to differ as did replays.

“I definitely think it was,” Johnson said. “I’ve been in a situation like that versus Virginia, and I just wanted to just give it back to my team for what I did against Virginia the first game, and that’s make the free throws.”

UVA received a double bye, so it will be playing its first game of the tournament vs. State, while the Wolfpack will be playing two games within 24 hours.

Keatts said he wasn’t concerned about his team’s energy for the meeting with the Cavaliers.

“When it comes to tournament time, I think we have a team that’s built for that,” the Wolfpack coach said. “I’ve got nine guys that right now I feel like I can put in the game and be ready to contribute right away. What’ll happen is we’ve got to use some more guys and try to shorten some guys’ minutes.”

State did play nine in its win, with three starters clocking at least 31 minutes, and three more 20 minutes or more.