Huge second half propels No. 11 UVa by NCSU 90-61
Though it wasn’t always pretty early and included what can loosely be described as a bench-clearing fracas, No. 11 UVa put together a huge second half on the way to a bell-to-bell 90-61 throttling of NC State on Tuesday night.
The victory extended Virginia’s winning streak to nine games.
The Wahoos scored 58 points over the final 20 minutes alone, as they put five in double-figures, led by Thijs De Ridder’s 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. He was joined by Sam Lewis (16), Jacari White (15), Malik Thomas (12), and Chance Mallory (10).
But the biggest number of the night, aside from that monster second half, might be the team’s 12 total blocks, eight by Johann Grunloh and four from Ugonna Onyenso, as the Cavaliers (25-3, 13-2 ACC) bullied the Wolfpack for most of the night.
“They were playing volleyball at the basket,” NC State’s Will Wade said after the game.
Things started off well for the Hoos, who got a pair of 3s from White before the first subs came into the game. The first media timeout arrived with Wade going ballistic following a turnover by Qadir Copeland, as the Wahoos led 8-3.
They continued on what ended up being a 12-0 run and led 15-5 with 11:47 left in the half. At one point, UVa had more blocks (five) than the Wolfpack had points (three).
By the 10-minute mark, Virginia had seven blocks but NCSU had climbed back into the game, as the Cavaliers were a bit too sloppy on both ends. Up just two, White hit another 3 to stretch the lead back out a bit, and by the half, the advantage sat at 32-19, in part thanks to a pair of 3s from White and Grunloh.
UVa, which started the second half with a shot-clock violation, got a jumper from Thomas in traffic before Darrion Williams answered for 3 on the other end. Hall hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing Cavalier possession and Williams answered again with another of his own before Lewis made an and-1 in the lane. His missed free throw was rebounded by De Ridder, who was fouled on the putback. He made both.
Business really picked up with about 17:36 left to play, when Wade called timeout and was out on the floor among his players. Referee Roger Ayers initially whistled a technical foul on him for being so far out on the court, not realizing the timeout had been granted by another official. As Wade rushed to plead his case to Ayers, pushing and shoving ensued between the teams. NC State’s Scottie Ebube was ejected, as offsetting techs were called on Lewis and Williams.
But the rout was about to be on, as the Wahoos scored on 16 of their first 21 possessions of the second half and put the thing to bed. By the time Onyenso caught an alley-oop from Mallory, the lead was 18.
After a bit of back and forth, a Lewis drive with 6:36 left pushed the lead to 20. An eventual dunk by Elijah Gertrude well after Ryan Odom had called off the dogs made it a 32-point game.
“Our guys were ready to play,” Odom said after the game, mentioning that his guys didn’t take care of the ball well enough in the first half. “That can disrupt your offense…Overall, our guys did a phenomenal job [responding].”
NC State (19-9, 10-5) got 22 points from Paul McNeil in a losing effort as well as 14 from Williams and 11 from Ven-Allen Lubin.
Virginia, which shot 53 percent from the field and 70 win the second half, went 12-for-26 from long range, and got 32 points from its bench.
The Wahoos took down the Wolfpack in Raleigh on Jan. 3 in a 76-61 win that wasn’t quite as close as that score might imply. UVa, which held a 40-20 lead at the half, was led that game by 23 points from Lewis as De Ridder (14), Thomas (13), and Devin Tillis (10) all scored in double figures.
