What NC State basketball needs to do to beat Virginia for second time this season
As N.C. State put together its basketball game plan for the Virginia game on Wednesday, surely near the top of the list were better ball protection and better 40-minute defense.
There also could be a third priority: better shot selection.
The Wolfpack’s shot selection – Virginia coach Tony Bennett calls it “shot discernment” – at times can be suspect. Case in point: N.C. State shot 27% percent in a 13-point loss to North Carolina, going 2-for-20 on 3-pointers and forcing some things.
The Pack had some head-scratching shots Saturday in the 84-78 loss to Virginia Tech at PNC Arena. It also had a season-high 18 turnovers and gave up 51 second-half points.
NCSU coach Kevin Keatts preferred to talk about the Pack’s second-half defense (“Not as aggressive as in the first half”) than his team’s shooting after the ACC loss.
Asked if he was pleased with the shot selection, Keatts said, “Some time. You know, not all of them, but I can go to every game and say that. I give those guys a lot of freedom so I’m not going to leave here and say, ‘Man, we took so many bad shots.’ I don’t look at it that way.
“We scored 78 points and that’s enough to win the game. But we gave up 84 and that’s not good.”
The Wolfpack (13-5, 5-2 ACC) scored 76 and that was enough when it faced Virginia at PNC Arena on Jan 6. It shot 49% from the field and had just six turnovers.
The Pack’s Jayden Taylor and Dennis Parker Jr. each had 15 points, and Parker knocked down three 3-pointers, including an improbable 30-footer to beat the shot clock in the first half. D.J. Horne added 14 points as the Wolfpack led 35-28 at halftime and by 17 points in the second half of the 76-60 win.
“They really took it to us in that first game,” Bennett said Monday. “They hurt us every which way.”
Then came the UNC offensive debacle. The Pack had a 54% shooting game in beating Louisville as Horne lit it up for 27 points and the Wolfpack was 10-for-20 on 3’s.
The Pack beat Wake Forest despite going 0-8 on 3’s, hitting 29 of 46 from inside the arc (63%) and making 25 free throws.
But against Virginia Tech, Taylor forced some shots. So did Parker and others. No one could hit a 3 until Casey Morsell nailed a corner shot with 3:47 left in the first half -- the Pack finished 6-for-19 in the game.
Mohamed Diarra, 4-for-17 on 3’s entering the game, missed one from the right corner with the score tied 44-44 in the second half.
“Crowd kind of let out a groan on that one. I think coach Keatts did, as well,” TV analyst John Henson said on the CW telecast.
In the first half, after making a steal, Diarra took off on a fast break and had Horne on one wing and Taylor on the other. But the 6-10 junior decided to take the ball to the basket and had it knocked away by the Hokies’ Sean Pedulla.
Seconds later, Tyler Nickel nailed a 3 in transition, giving Virginia Tech the lead.
In a six-point loss, every bad decision is magnified. So it was in Saturday’s game.
Virginia’s Bennett said some of his players have “more leeway” in aggressively seeking out shots. The Cavaliers’ Isaac McKneely is shooting an ACC-best 48.9% on 3-pointers this season -- 55.3% in ACC games -- and has that leeway, Bennett said.
“Some guys you have to tone down and some guys you have to nudge forward,” Bennett said.
McKneely, who got the “nudge,” hit six of nine 3’s in scoring 20 points as the Cavaliers won 75-66 at Georgia Tech in their last game. With Reece Beekman supplying 19 points and 11 assists, the Wahoos (13-5, 4-3) picked up their first ACC road win.
McKneely, a 6-4 sophomore, had a team-high 18 points in the loss at N.C. State, making four of the Cavs’ five 3-pointers in the game (5-15).
“I think Beekman and the rest of the team realizes his ability to knock down shots,” Keatts said. “I think they look for him … and he moves so well without the basketball.”
Virginia is 10-0 in John Paul Jones Arena this season and have won 20 in a row at home. The Wolfpack has gone 3-0 on the road in the ACC, and Keatts is expecting a bounce-back game after the Virginia Tech loss.
“Even in defeat against Virginia Tech this weekend, we made the game a little interesting in the last two minutes because our guys fought and clawed,” Keatts said Monday. “But I think that’s just who we are. I like the makeup of this team because we’re going to play all the way to the end.”
