Virginia avenges loss to Wolfpack with OT win at JPJ, 59-53

Posted on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, 1:24 am

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By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photos by Jon Golden

After seemingly losing interest in the second half, Virginia rediscovered its defensive intensity in overtime Wednesday night to knock off visiting NC State, 59-53, extending the nation’s longest home winning streak to 21 straight.

The Cavaliers (14-5, 5-3 ACC) had nearly buried the Wolfpack in the first half, holding State to a mere 15 points on 6-for-24 shooting and built a 27-15 lead at the break. However, the ‘Pack (13-6, 5-3) fought back hard in the second half, using a 16-3 run to get back into contention and to a 47-47 deadlock at the end of regulation.

Overtime belonged to Virginia, as the Cavaliers defense once again locked onto State’s shooters and the Wolfpack converted only two shots in the extra period, both 3-pointers by DJ Horne.

UVA, prior to its current three-game winning streak, appeared to be in for a struggle, and even coming into Wednesday night’s game was tied for sixth place in the ACC. However, with the emergence of center Jordan Minor and the once-injured Dante Harris returning to the team, the Cavaliers are only a half-game back of Duke for third place and a full-game behind Florida State in second.

Less than three weeks ago, NC State obliterated Virginia in Raleigh by 16 points, dominating every aspect of the game, particularly with physical play in the paint. It was in the waning minutes of that game when UVA coach Tony Bennett noticed the passion that sparsely-used Jordan Minor exhibited during garbage time.

Since that time, Minor has been starting and delivering, giving the Cavaliers a more physical presence in the frontcourt, while Harris has brought some added stability to the backcourt.

“We got wobbly and almost fell down, but like the Weebles, we popped back up and then made enough plays in a defensive battle,” Bennett said afterward.

This wasn’t the same Virginia team that allowed the Wolfpack to have its way a few weeks ago. This team had fight, some new weapons and a new plan.

It was brought up that in the previous matchup, State averaged 1.2 points per possession, the most against UVA’s vaunted “Pack-Line” in two years. Certainly that wasn’t the case Wednesday night.

“Schematically, we thought we had to make some adjustments,” Bennett revealed.

While he wasn’t about to divulge the details, Bennett did point out that State’s big man — literally and figuratively — the 6-foot-9, 275-pound (and that’s gotta be about 25 pounds light) Burns catches the ball further out than most centers.

The Cavaliers didn’t think it was totally necessary, for that reason, to double Burns as much as they normally would a post man deep in the paint. So, a little more man-to-man strategy with Minor mostly attached to the mountainous Burns, who was 5 for 12 for 11 points, 3 rebounds, only 1 assist and 2 blocks.

“And we did a few other things that we thought would keep us a little more connected,” Bennett said without giving away the game plan.

One of the key elements in the game was Virginia’s rebounding. The Cavaliers, one of the least-productive rebounding teams in the ACC, outrebounded State by a staggering 54-32, clearly a season high.

Part of that came from the Wolfpack’s shooting inaccuracy, making only 22 of 63 shots in the game, leaving more rebounds than usual for the taking.

Still, Kevin Keatts lamented the lopsidedness of it all.

“I didn’t think we brought enough toughness in the first half,” Keatts said. “But we can’t dig ourselves into such a big hole, and especially in rebounding margin. You know, at one point I think UVA had taken 10 to 12 more shots than us because of the offensive rebounding, and if you look at the stats at the end of the game, they only took two more for the entire game (24 to 22).”

The Wolfpack couldn’t buy a shot in overtime, making only 2 of 9 attempts.

Meanwhile, Minor scored on a putback of a Ryan Dunn miss to open scoring in the extra period, while Dunn made a free throw and Taine Murray came off the bench for a big 3-pointer to push Virginia out to a 53-47 lead midway though overtime.

The first of Horne’s two desperation 3-point heaves made it 53-50 before Beekman made one of three free-throw attempts and Murray knocked down two more for a 56-50 lead with 42 seconds to go. Horne made another 3-pointer to keep it close 10 seconds later.

As State attempted to force turnovers with fullcourt pressure, Virginia once again handled the press, getting the ball to Murray in the middle of the floor, drawing a foul and making the front end of a two-shot foul. UVA led 57-53 at the 28-second mark.

Horne threw up another 3-point prayer with 17 seconds to go, missed, and Virginia got the ball down the floor to Dunn, who nearly blew the roof off of JPJ with a monstrous, one-hand slam dunk to put an apostrophe on a much-needed win.

The Cavaliers were a 6.5-point favorite, but it was the Wolfpack that perhaps needed the win more. Even though State was ahead of UVA in the conference standings, the Wolfpack trailed Virginia in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Beating UVA would have given State a Quad 1 win. However, the Cavaliers actually dropped from No. 47 to 51 in the NET with the win.

Go figure.

“Give [Virginia] credit … you don’t accidentally win 21 games in a row here at home,” Keatts said. “Good atmosphere, very good basketball team.”

Bennett said JPJ was the loudest it had been all year.

The Cavaliers had five players in double figures, with Dunn leading the way with 13 points (6 for 10) in what Bennett described as “an elite-level” performance, adding 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Reece Beekman and Murray each scored 11, while Minor and Isaac McKneely added 10 apiece. Minor also had 9 rebounds.

McKneely was the major focus of State’s game plan, the idea was to face-guard him, chase him off the 3-point line and make him drive the basketball. The UVA sharpshooter was 2 for 9 (season-high attempts) from the arc and 4 for 16 overall.

The Wahoos travel to Louisville on Saturday before Notre Dame comes to Charlottesville next Wednesday.

Team Notes

Virginia (14-5, 5-3 ACC) owns the nation’s longest home win streak at 21 games
UVA has a three-game win streak
UVA is 13-10 in overtime games under Tony Bennett
UVA has held 46 straight ACC opponents to fewer than 70 points at John Paul Jones Arena
UVA had season highs in rebounds (54), offensive rebounds (20) and defensive rebounds (34)
NC State went on a 16-3 run to gain a 41-40 lead at 4:25 second half
UVA closed the half on an 11-1 run and led 27-15 at the half
UVA improved to 13-0 when leading at the half
The 15 points allowed in the first half marked an ACC low
UVA went on a 7-0 run to gain a 10-6 lead
UVA started 0 of 8 from the field, but only trailed 4-0
UVA forced one shot clock violation (13 in 2023-24)

Series Notes

Virginia is 70-86 all-time vs. NC State in the series that dates to 1912-13
The teams split the two-game season series
UVA is 43-25 against the Wolfpack in Charlottesville, including a 10-2 mark at John Paul Jones Arena
UVA is 5-2 vs. the Wolfpack in overtime games
Tony Bennett is 16-6 vs. NC State as head coach at Virginia

Player Notes

Double Figure Scorers: Ryan Dunn (13), Taine Murray (11), Reece Beekman (11), Isaac McKneely (10), Jordan Minor (10)
Dunn added a career-high 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double
Dunn had a career high six blocked shots
Dunn reached double figures for the 10th time
Beekman has a 10-game double figure streak
Beekman reached double figures for the 46th time
McKneely reached double figures for the 16th time
McKneely matched a career high with nine 3-point attempts
Minor made his fourth straight start, reaching double figures for the third straight game (73rd career)
Minor had a season-high eight rebounds
Murray reached double figures for the third time