NC State falls to Virginia. What we learned from the Pack’s loss to the Cavaliers

Virginia’s Sam Lewis hit a corner 3. There were still nearly nine minutes remaining, but the basket was part of an 8-0 run that felt like a dagger to N.C. State’s comeback efforts.

Lewis led the Cavaliers with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5 of 9 from the perimeter, to lead Virginia to a 76-61 win over N.C. State in an ACC game at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

The Wolfpack (10-5, 1-1 ACC) hosted the Cavaliers just a few days after UVA’s 95-85 triple overtime loss to Virginia Tech. If there were concerns that Virginia (12-2, 1-1) would be tired, the Cavs quieted those worries quickly, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first four minutes of play, a lead that ballooned to 20 points at halftime.

“I was surprised,” N.C. State head coach Will Wade said of the performance. “I thought we practiced well, thought we had a good routine this morning, but we just let our frustrations on offense carry over to the defense.”

N.C. State started the second half on an 11-2 run, building momentum and cutting into Virginia’s double-digit lead. Officials whistled Virginia head coach Ryan Odom for a technical foul after the coach argued against a late whistle, sending Ven-Allen Lubin to the line. Odom’s outburst led to three assistants holding him back; one bear-hugged the first-year UVA coach to avoid an ejection.

It also led to four Wolfpack free throws, cutting the Cavaliers’ lead to single digits for the first time since the 8:20 mark in the first half.

Two minutes later, Paul McNeil hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wolfpack deficit to eight. Except, like the first half, N.C. State could not consistently stop the Cavs. The Pack’s defense gave up five straight baskets, deepening its hole to 22 points. Virginia led by as many as 27 with 6½ minutes left.

N.C. State’s offense couldn’t find a regular rhythm in either half as Virginia disrupted passing lanes, pressured the Wolfpack into taking contested shots and forced turnovers, often on double- or triple-team defense.

In the first half, Quadir Copeland went 3 for 6 in the first half, while the rest of the team hit 5 of 20 from the field. He finished with a team-high 15 points. McNeil and Alyn Breed contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The defense started the game by forcing three empty possessions, but it couldn’t maintain that defensive efficiency. Instead, it struggled to guard Lewis and Malik Thomas. Thomas scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes. He ended the game with 13 points.

Lewis knocked down seven shots for 20 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting, including four from 3-point range. He went 0 for 5 in the Cavaliers’ loss to the Hokies.

“The first half, we weren’t switching one through five,” Wade said. “We were keeping our bigs on their bigs to try to rebound it. They were putting us in rotation, and that’s how Lewis was able to get loose in rotation. He was the guy in the corner where they were throwing the hammer passes.”

Devin Tillis and Thijs De Ridder were relatively quiet but got hot in the second half, after Thomas and Lewis’ shots stopped falling. Tillis finished with 10 points (7 second half) and De Ridder notched 12 of his 14 points after the break.

“We have a ton of respect for Coach Wade and N.C. State, certainly that was not their A game tonight,” Odom said. “I’ve watched enough film to know they’re really, really talented.”

The Wolfpack was down Tre Holloman, who averages 10.9 points per game. He left the game in the first half. Holloman had one assist and one turnover in nine minutes played.

Wade said the halftime X-ray did not show any breaks in his foot or ankle.

“I’m not saying he’ll play Tuesday,” Wade said. “I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to be too long term.”

Cavaliers clean up the rebounds

Virginia attacked the glass with ease and N.C. State couldn’t keep up. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Wolfpack from the beginning, building a four-board lead early and extending its advantage to six rebounds.

While success in this metric is not indicative of success for every team, it is for N.C. State. The Wolfpack has outrebounded its opponent in nine games this season, including three in a row, and is undefeated in those contests.

Though the Wolfpack has made progress this season, especially against larger teams, the Cavaliers were undoubtedly the better rebounding team at Lenovo Center this weekend.

N.C. State’s strong start in the second half had the team within three rebounds. Down the stretch, Virginia’s rebounding effort extended to double digits. UVA finished with a 36-24 rebounding advantage.

Keeping up with UVA was always going to be a difficult task. Virginia is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, particularly on the offensive end.

Of its 42.5 rebounds per game, the Cavaliers pull down 14.8 offensive boards per game to lead the ACC. They possess a 40.9% offensive rebounding rate, according to KenPom.

Shooters shoot … and miss

N.C. State’s worst offensive performance of the season — prior to Saturday — came at Auburn, where it scored 73 points. The Pack’s lowest field goal percentage had been recorded against Kansas (37.8%).

Both of those benchmarks fell against Virginia.

Nothing seemed to go in favor of the Wolfpack, which was inefficient all afternoon. N.C. State didn’t have a single stretch where it made at least four straight baskets, and it only put together one stretch of three consecutive baskets.

“They did to us what we like to do to other teams,” Wade said. “They pressed us. We were getting into offense late in the clock. We’re a little discombobulated.”

The Wolfpack finished 18 of 50 from the field (36%) and 5 of 20 (20%) from 3-point range. It averaged 87 points on 48.7% from the field in the first 14 games of the season.

Wade didn’t think the looks, especially from 3, were particularly good. His team needed to drive inside, kick the ball out and drive inside again, either for an open lane or a better 3-point shot.

“To my naked eye during the game, the looks were not great,” Wade said. “I don’t like to make too many judgments till I see it all, but I think that we were trying to do too much, too early.”

A big assist disparity

One of N.C. State’s defensive deficiencies is slowing down opponents’ ability to move the ball. It entered the game allowing an assist on 54.2% of defensive field goals allowed.

It still struggled against the Cavaliers, who recorded 14 assists on 26 made baskets. That was good enough for an assist on 53.8% of their possessions.

On the opposite side, the Wolfpack — which typically records an assist on 57.5% of its shots — only had seven assists on 18 made field goals (38.9%).

It could be a long season if the defense can’t limit movement on defense and the offense looks like it did against Virginia against other teams in the ACC.

This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 1:46 PM.

Jadyn Watson-Fisher

The News & Observer