Virginia coach Tony Bennett on NC State: ‘They really took it to us in that first game’
NC State’s first meeting with Virginia went as well as it probably could have gone. The Pack led by as many as 21 in the second half and it cruised to a 16-point win on Jan. 6.
That meeting in Raleigh was a clinic put on by the Wolfpack, and Virginia coach Tony Bennett acknowledged it did not go his team’s way at all.
“They really took it to us in that first game,” Bennett said on the ACC’s media Zoom call Monday. “We stayed connected for a little bit, but then they separated from us. They’re athletic, they have inside-outside scoring, they pressure you, they can spread the floor and attack. Kevin’s done a really good job with this team.”
Now, the two teams will meet again, this time on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville — a place where road teams do not usually have much success. Virginia has won its last 20 games on its home floor, and its last loss there was an 8-point setback against then-No. 5 Houston on Dec. 17, 2022.
The contest marks the first time this season that either team will face the same opponent for the second time in the 2023-24 campaign, and both teams have had their ups and downs in ACC play to this point. NC State is 5-2 and hasn’t dropped an away contest, while Virginia is 4-3 and with a trio of victories at home.
Something has to give in the mid-week meeting, and both squads are looking to improve from the contest earlier this month.
“For us, play better, play well,” Bennett said. “They hurt us in every which way — inside, they beat us down the floor, I can’t remember how many turnovers we had. We knew they were good going in there and couldn’t last. That’s what we’re working on with our team, trying to last longer, play quality basketball from start to finish.”
Virginia put together a solid road win at Georgia Tech over the weekend, which was its first ACC victory of the season away from Charlottesville. Bennett was pleased with his team’s performance in that one and said it was the first time they had a start-to-finish effort in league play.
While the Cavaliers have positive momentum entering the contest, the Wolfpack is looking to bounce back from a 6-point loss to Virginia Tech over the weekend. That same Hokies squad lost at Virginia in its prior game before heading to Raleigh, so there is film for NC State coach Kevin Keatts and his staff to go off of with a recent foe.
The Pack staff will likely also look at what worked against the Cavaliers a few weeks ago — 10 made 3-pointers helped in that — while also making adjustments to improve the game plan.
“It’s hard on both ends because both teams will make some adjustments,” Keatts said of playing a team twice for the first time this season. “The things we’ve done well, we’ll try to strengthen, and the things we didn’t do well, we’ll try to get better at. Playing them the second time or playing them the first time, it’s still a tough opponent.”
While both teams have grown as squads since the first meeting, NC State’s rout of Virginia is fresh on Bennett and his program’s mind heading into the final regular season meeting with the Pack.
“They took it to us, certainly,” Bennett said, “and we’ve got to be as ready as we can.”
