UVA hosts Wolfpack in noon tipoff Tuesday

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The last time Virginia faced NC State on a basketball court, things couldn’t have worked out any better for the Wolfpack.

It was the ACC Tournament semifinals in Washington, D.C., last March, and the Cavaliers had State on the ropes. The Wolfpack’s season was about to come to and end, trailing UVA 57-52 with 70 seconds remaining. The winner would move on to the championship game.

Instead of State’s season ending, the Wolfpack survived courtesy of a coaching blunder by Virginia’s Tony Bennett, in addition to the Cavaliers going 1 for 5 at the free-throw line, and NC State won 73-65 in overtime, outscoring UVA 15-7 in the extra period.

Bennett erred in judgment, choosing not to foul NC State’s shooter in the waning seconds. The Wolfpack’s Michael O’Connell got off a buzzer-beater 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. Virginia had three fouls to give and State had no timeouts remaining. Had UVA fouled multiple times, the Wolfpack couldn’t have gotten off a shot and the game would have ended.

Instead, State moved onto the ACC Championship and thrived in the NCAA Tournament, making it to the Final Four in an improbable run.

Virginia, without Bennett, hosts State today in a noon tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena (ESPN2). The Wolfpack no longer has the services of that postseason run: big man DJ Burns, shooter DJ Horne or Casey Morsell.

State (8-4, 1-0 ACC) is a 1-point underdog to the Cavaliers (7-5, 0-1). Both teams have struggled against strong competition, State losing all four contests versus quality opponents, UVA 0-for-4 against ranked foes.

The Wahoos enter today’s game ranked 11th nationally in points allowed per game (60.3) and tied for the 8th-lowest scoring team in the country (61.6).

UVA and State share one common opponent thus far, Coppin State. Virginia won 62-45 and State also won 66-56.