Virginia needs to find more shots for Murphy in tonight’s battle with Wolfpack

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia hopes to break out of its only two-game losing streak of the season tonight when the Cavaliers host NC State (6:30, ACC Network).

The Wolfpack, presently tied for 10th in the 15-team ACC at 10-9 overall, 6-8 ACC, is coming off an impressive win over Wake Forest, the second consecutive game where State has shot better than 50 percent from the field.

Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers, second in the ACC at 11-3, is 15-5 overall and an 11-point favorite over the Wolfpack, which has lost 13 of their last 14 outings against UVA in regular season play. State’s only win during that span came last season at JPJ when the Wolfpack ended the Cavaliers’ 12-game regular season winning streak. UVA is 8-1 at JPJ against State.

Virginia defeated the Wolfpack 64-57 a few weeks ago in Raleigh.

“That could have gone either way,” Bennett said Monday. “But this time of year, teams really improve, especially teams talented and well-coached … they keep getting better.”

While Bennett’s remarks were somewhat general and mostly directed at State, that should also translate to Virginia, which dropped out of first place for the first time since the ACC season began after back-to-back road losses to Florida State and Duke.

Asked where he believes his team stacks up at this point with three regular season games remaining, and considering the pandemic, Bennett said it was hard to say.

“Even the Duke game, I thought we played solid,” the Virginia coach said. “They made some plays down the stretch. We’ve been in a lot of close games. You get your team as best as possible.”

He noted that all three ACC losses have come on the road to upper echelon teams in the league, FSU, Duke and Virginia Tech.

“Those are good teams,” Bennett said. “This year in this league it seems like just as in most years that it seems balanced and it’s whoever is playing well. I don’t know if anybody can say they have a great picture of who they are.”

He referenced that thought in conjunction with all the postponements, cancelations, stops and starts, missing players due to Covid testing and contact tracing, such as Virginia senior guard Tomas Woldetensae.

Woldetensae’s 3-point shooting has been a late-season boost for the Cavaliers, giving them an extra scorer on the floor when teams deny UVA’s top three shooters – Sam Hauser, Jay Huff and Trey Murphy III – in an all-out effort to make the other players on the floor beat them.

However, Woldetensae missed the game at Duke and will sit out against tonight due to contact tracing. He will likely be back for the Miami home game on Monday night.

The Cavaliers could use his services tonight against the Wolfpack.

With teams focusing on shutting down Hauser and Huff, some of the scoring load fell on Murphy, but now, he is being covered up as well, forcing starting point guard Kihei Clark and either Reece Beekman or Casey Morsell to pick up the slack.

That has been a lot of ask of the other three, who have not been consistently effective scorers this season.

At Duke, Murphy was limited on the number of shots he could get off because of the similar strategy.

“Duke did a good job,” Bennett acknowledged. “Some teams are starting to do that, fan out, locking onto those three and making Reece and Kihei finish. I’ve got to find ways to get [Murphy] more shots. We moved him a little bit, and Trey needs to be more aggressive.

“He’s one of the better shooters you’ll see when his feet are set. He was unselfish and there wasn’t a lot of clean looks. We’ve got to find ways to get him more shots.”

That will be something to look for tonight as well as what Hauser and Huff may be able to do. In their last outing against State, Hauser and Murphy scored 18 points each and Huff added 12 points and six rebounds. UVA made 20 of 22 free throws in that game, showing that the Cavaliers need to get to the free throw line as often as possible.

Virginia is No. 11 nationally in free throw percentage at 78.9 percent.

The Cavaliers are undefeated at home this season (9-0) with two home games remaining.