N.C. State @ Virginia, 7pm

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N.C. State Wolfpack (11-4, 2-0) @ Virginia Cavaliers (13-0, 1-0) – 7pm @ John Paul Jones Arena | TV: Espn2

Virginia team page | GoPack game preview

The Wolfpack head to Charlottesville tonight, looking to improve to 3-0 in ACC play while facing a highly ranked foe. N.C. State got a nice bounce back victory over Pitt their last time out, capitalizing on an active and stingy defensive effort to pull away from the Panthers in the 2nd half. The Pack will need more of the same tonight in their first ACC road contest as they take on the AP #3 ranked Virginia Cavaliers.

Virginia enters tonight’s contest with a chance to improve to 14-0 for the first time since Ralph Sampson’s 1980-’81 UVa squad started out 23-0. This season’s edition of the Cavaliers has thus far built on the successes that last season’s squad were able to accomplish. The 2013-’14 season was a banner season for UVa – they captured both the ACC regular season and tournament titles, made the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, and head coach Tony Bennett garnered the ACC Coach of the Year selection.

The Cavaliers have shown no signs of taking any steps backwards this season, as they’re currently rated third in the RPI and their 13-0 mark includes wins over Maryland, VCU, and a ridiculous 49 point thrashing of Harvard that saw the Crimson score a total of 27 points. Virginia’s toughest contests have come in their last two games – versus Davidson and a two overtime contest at Miami. Both the Wildcats and the Hurricanes used efficient, high movement and ball screen (pick and roll) offenses to push UVa.

The hallmark of Tony Bennett’s Virginia teams is the ‘pack line defense‘. The Wolfpack will need some crisp and efficient offensive execution tonight, as well as solid rebounding and a continuation of the defensive effort seen on Saturday to try and steal a victory.

The pack line defense in action. Travelling, duh.

The pack line defense in action. Travelling … duh.

Other links of interest: Viewer’s guide w/ Pack-Hoos snippet| ACC Conference reset

Please share your thoughts and Go Pack!

About wufpup76

'99 grad. Abundant reservoir of useless knowledge and even more useless skills. Vehement believer in the individual voice and also that it will indeed all be over by Friday.

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Home › Forums › N.C. State @ Virginia, 7pm

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  • 01/07/2015 at 9:17 PM #68513
    PackofMac
    Participant

    If I’ve said it once on here I’ve said it twenty times. Anthony Barber has no business being on the court. He has proven that when out there and its been proven when he wasn’t, is. Pitt game, so following that blowout in which he sat quite a bit we follow it up with him playing almost all of this game???? Really???? This is why I complain about Mark Gottfried, this and the ridiculous out of time out calls. We f-ing are atrocious running out of time out or dead ball plays. Trevor should run the point exactly like the Pitt. game. We made Uva look great when in fact they are a mid 25 team at best. I am disgusted with the fact I sat and watched another perimeter dribbling exhibition.

    01/07/2015 at 9:18 PM #68514
    spintk
    Participant

    I’m not saying we need to change. But I’m definitely paying much more attention to his coaching now. Recruiting has fallen off and winnable games are being lost. We booted Sendek even though he made the tourney year after year. Does Mark face the same fate?

    01/07/2015 at 9:26 PM #68515
    WolfWiz11
    Participant

    does Mark Gottfried have the coaching capacity to get us there? I think not.

    I think it’s fair to question it. Dude got out-coached HARD tonight. It’s like he was surprised we were playing so well, because you just know some of those shots were not the product of good play-calling. I mean, the three by the Twin? That was NOT drawn up. That ridiculous Lacey three? Ad-libbed. I like Gott, I do. And I will always say that. But I am not sure he has a handle on this 3-headed beast of a team we’ve got. By no means does that mean fire him. But even he’s gotta be tired of these “moral victory” spins he’s gotta spin during his post-game.

    01/07/2015 at 9:38 PM #68516
    PackofMac
    Participant

    Bennet a masterful defensive coach???? You got that tonight? His kids defended a team with no point guard, with absolutely no inside game….which really doesn’t matter because our guards refuse to get the ball to them. He coached against a team that throws the ball away WITHOUT any defensive pressure applied…. I’ll reserve my praise for Bennet when he shuts down a HALFWAY complete team, we are a one and a half man show.

    01/07/2015 at 9:53 PM #68517
    DrWuffette1day
    Participant

    Just got back from Talley- had to pick up tickets for the upcoming Duke and UNC games. A bit surprised ticket distribution was on game night.

    Haven’t posted because I’ve been consumed with work and school. Have been lurking on boards periodically when I haven’t been able to watch the games like tonight. I do enjoy the reading and ya’ll.

    Been to probably five games this year. We don’t play smart but we look good. Mark that, we have nice uniforms and I am pleased to have Tuffy on our center court. Cat and Beejay were my favorite players in the beginning….I still like them both but Abu has really put us into position to win a lot of these games. When he is on, other players feed off of him. Like the Martin twins too.

    Lacey is perplexing. Awesome athlete who sounds intelligent but excels at making dumb decisions on the court. Room for improvement. During the LA Tech game, I have never seen a player drive into the heart of the zone, lose the ball, and then fall down so many times. I thought the McDonald’s ball boy of the game was unfairly being targeted with an extreme workout.

    Less on-court nonsense than the Lowe era (Purvis, Leslie, etc).

    I think ya’ll have a better handle than me. Seems like we have great talent but just can’t put the pieces together. Frustrating, but then, we are young. I like their attitude when they get fired up but it’s almost like they need an electric shock before every half.

    Been near the opposing team’s bench this year and it’s a bit of different perspective. The other teams’ coaches have been calling out our offensive plays. Apparently, we only have four set offenses (I’m kidding – a little). I guess I am not upset because 1) I did not see the game in its entirety tonight and 2) I always feel like this team has a chance to win.

    Ya’ll keep doing a great job. I do like to read your input.

    01/07/2015 at 10:25 PM #68519
    PackFamily
    Participant

    I realize how much i’ve said this, but Gott’s focus on improving the defense has resulted in no offense (or defense).

    01/07/2015 at 10:28 PM #68520
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    For those who feel Cat is a waste of time and space on the court. I totally agree. He was a no show in the UVA game. He needs to sit, if he is not producing.

    01/07/2015 at 10:38 PM #68521
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    As for the Gott haters, get real. We play on the road, against the Number 3 team in the country, and hang with a veteran team, on their court for 3/4 of the game, with a team trying to find the right chemistry. We will continue to improve, and hopefully return the favor to the Hoos on 2/11, in the PNC.

    01/07/2015 at 10:43 PM #68523
    PackdatAss
    Participant

    The effort was surely there tonight. Our kids played hard but the challenge was too great. It takes a lot to go on the road and play an undefeated, top ten team and come out with a win. Virginia’s defense speaks for itself, it is tough, aggressive, well-disciplined play from all five guys. Our team is young, which by the way is not designed to be an excuse, it is a simple fact. Outside of Turner, Lacey and Lee (who I don’t think played tonight), our roster is all freshmen and sophomores. Considering the challenge, I thought our team played to its ability…and it kept us in the game. Maybe by the end of the year we can win a game like that. Ultimately the guards need to be better at running the offense and the post needs to be more productive. You can’t run the high post offense without a capable post. Part of the reason for the struggle at point is this very reason.

    The refs were highly disappointing (big shocker there). They were not the reason we lost the game, but the unwarranted bias that defensive teams like Virginia get is ridiculous. We saw it in the West Virginia game earlier this year: teams that play physical and constantly push, body check, reach in, and flat out go over/through people rarely get the whistle for what is an obvious foul. I remember seeing Lacey literally get shoved after he caught the ball in the lane on an in-bounds play in the second half…no call. “Defensive” teams get rewarded for playing physical whereas “average, NC State type teams” get the whistle everytime. Ref bias is a part of today’s game and it goes beyond the Karl Hess/Ted Valentine NC State hate-fest; it has become a playing style bias. That and Duke and Carolina can’t do wrong either. Can’t wait to watch the whistles in those games.

    On to the next one…

    All in all I would not consider tonight’s loss a bad loss. Unfortunately it comes at a bad time as we have to play the best team in the conference next, followed by you know who.

    01/07/2015 at 11:27 PM #68524
    JeremyH
    Participant

    sounds like people are less upset that we lost to the #4 team in the country on the road in the last 5 minutes, but that: “why not us?”. we could use a pass first pg and another scoring big man to fill in some gaps.

    01/07/2015 at 11:37 PM #68525
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Hello DrWuffette!

    First Big ACC Road Game against a Top 10 Team for…

    Lacey
    ABU
    Caleb
    Cody

    yeah… they were fired up before they GOTT off the bus…
    some of them a little too much from what I parts of the first half I heard on the radio..
    (I have to go to therapy every Wed. night at 7:15pm)

    That should say it all but I can not resist …

    From the box score … it looks like a couple of our guys changed jerseys before the first whistle…

    ABU, who has earned his way into the starting lineup for the second game in a row, did a “enthusiastic, but brief” BeeJayAnya imitation… 3 fouls, 2 missed shots, 2 rebounds in FOUR BIG MINUTES of playing time…

    Lacey did his version of “CAT against the world” which I thought was ‘permanently banned’ after it’s premier in the Dean Dome last season by going 3-11 for 9 points and only 2 assists and 3 rebounds in 36 minutes… Great time for Lacey to get his season lows in points and rebounds…

    Anthony did a good job of imitating our own InvisibleManDezLee… except that Anthony did it standing up, or should I say trotting the court… instead of sitting on the bench…

    WTF ?

    Fix any one of those three and we woulda won the damn game…

    I appreciate them doing all this stupid sh@t on a night I couldn’t watch…
    and I hope they all GOTT that stupid sh@t out of their systems…
    otherwise I’m sending a box of laxative over to Coach…

    Maybe some of Coach K scouts watched the game and this will throw some kinks in their game planning….

    The good news is that the Twins GOTT a combined 42 minutes of PT which should help their legs… and their attitudes…

    Finally… fwiw… Tony Bennett outcoaches everybody… so what…
    Coach does need to forget the light blue shirt (that’s an old color TV trick you know, supposed to make you look younger… ) if for no other reason that ‘Roo said so…

    As they say down under… “Don’t bugger the ‘Roo”… especially an old one…

    Therapy was good…. thanks for asking…
    (… they tell me I hold too much inside and should work on letting it out…)

    Good night.

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    01/08/2015 at 2:24 AM #68527
    fullmoon1
    Participant

    What bothered me was the defensive effort. There was pretty good attempt at defending on the first shot, usually at least a swat at the ball but none after that. Va got second and 3rd chances virtually uncontested. It happened on 3 consecutive possessions. A layup gets missed and no boxing out happens and a Va player swoops in and gets a garbage point. Too much dribbling and not enough passing and shooting. We played buttery soft inside.

    01/08/2015 at 5:32 AM #68528
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    A lot of what folks are saying we didn’t do can be attibuted did do. They dictated the pace and style of the game, we went cold for a few long stretches, and just didn’t have enough in the end. We showed we can play with a good team. Can we beat one? We’ll have some more opportunities.

    Gott continues to explore the rotation out of necessity – you don’t do it at this stage unless you have to. We saw some good things from some young guys. A couple of our vets are clearly struggling and not living up to the hype. Still a long way to go.

    I hope no one puts the unreasonable expectations on this club beating Duke. Not going to happen. We can beat UNC but we have to clean up a bunch of things and of course shoot well over the course of an entire game.

    01/08/2015 at 6:45 AM #68529
    redcanine
    Participant

    I don’t get the Cat disses. If we have two players on the court who cannot score (interior players), our point guard should, IMO, take shots. It’s not wrong for him to take 10 or more shots on this team, given our overall lack of scoring ability. He only attempted 6 shots last night, so he’s definitely looking to pass the ball. If there’s any knock on his game, it’s that he’s a poor 3 point shooter. He passes up at least 4 or 5 wide open looks each game. Those possessions are likely to end up as turnovers. Marcus Paige would average 20ppg for this team!

    Cat is sorta stuck in the middle right now: won’t pass it inside because we can’t catch the ball, & won’t pull the trigger when he’s wide open. He needs to take those wide open looks.

    01/08/2015 at 7:41 AM #68530
    Rick
    Keymaster
    mak4dpak wrote:

    As for the Gott haters, get real. We play on the road, against the Number 3 team in the country, and hang with a veteran team, on their court for 3/4 of the game, with a team trying to find the right chemistry. We will continue to improve, and hopefully return the favor to the Hoos on 2/11, in the PNC.

    So the justification for why it is OK to lose this game is because we are playing the number three team? You mean the one that a few years ago was a joke but that Bennet has turned into a powerhouse. Not by recruiting unreal talent but by turning them into a great team? Absurd, if anything it says alot about the direction our two programs are going. One is lead by a great coach and then there is us.
    So stop saying it is not a big deal to lose to the number three team when that team has flown by us in the pecking order in the ACC. That is a big deal. It would be one thing to lose to a perrenial great team like Kentucky or Duke and shrug our shoulders and accept that we cannot be better than them. Doing the same with UVA is pathetic. The only difference in them and us is coaching.

    01/08/2015 at 7:51 AM #68531
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Duke is a higher variance team (higher ceiling, lower floor) than UVA, and we coulda beat the Hoos in Hooville last night. So, it’s not unthinkable to beat Duke. Nobody’s saying it’s bloody LIKELY or anything.

    01/08/2015 at 8:06 AM #68532
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Cat wasn’t great last night, but this idea of “he shouldn’t be on the court” is certifiably insane.

    He’s a running, distributor PG. But we aren’t really set up for transition. And like people have noted, the whole drive and dish thing is hard because our bigs have hands of stone. So defenses know how to guard him when he drives the lane, and he’s left with mostly perimeter shots in the halfcourt, which he’s not good at.

    But he doesn’t turn the ball over much, he does do quite well when transition opportunities do arise (see second half of the Pitt game), and most importantly, he’s a FANTASTIC on-ball defender. There’s simply no hope for you if you can’t see that, or appreciate the value in that skill.

    It’s come to the surface a few times when Cat actually has played poorly – the handful of folks who had (and still have) a major hard-on for TAFKAWBS. After the way he and his asshole father conducted themselves in the media on the way out, I no longer feel compelled to take the high road (as MG, to his GREAT credit, most certainly did). The kid SUCKED, and was an absolute cancer in the locker room. Those that idolize him because they identify with his being white, small, and slow are looking past his having no concept about what it means to be part of a TEAM.

    01/08/2015 at 8:24 AM #68535
    Thinkpack17
    Participant

    ^^Spot on with everything.

    I’m not in love with Cat’s game but talking about pulling him off the floor is crazy.

    “So the justification for why it is OK to lose this game is because we are playing the number three team?”

    Yes. On the road. Yes.

    01/08/2015 at 8:45 AM #68536
    Greywolf
    Participant

    After watching TEAMSl coached by The Grey Fox (Case), Stormin’ Norman (Sloan) and Jimmy V, I suppose I’m spoiled. I don’t care if I never see another NC State game with some body dribbling up to the arc and jacking up another 3. Or worse having it stripped while trying to dribble through the entire opposing team.

    The players weren’t as talented but I’ve seen better basketball played in the intramural games in Frank Thompson Gym. And if some primo donna tried to do it all himself, it didn’t require a coach to say anything. 4 teammates were in his face.

    A few months ago some of you guys gleefully abandoned football as soon as basketball practice started. While the football team won 4 out of 5 including a thorough ass-kicking of our arch rival and a nice bowl win, we got samo, samo with basketball — games we should have won, no blocking out, too much 1v1, early foul trouble, etc. If I woke up from a deep sleep and read these blogs, I wouldn’t know what year it was.

    FYI we just landed a top 5 FL recruiter to coach the wide receivers.

    01/08/2015 at 8:50 AM #68537
    Thinkpack17
    Participant
    Rick wrote:

    So stop saying it is not a big deal to lose to the number three team when that team has flown by us in the pecking order in the ACC. That is a big deal.

    Every other traditional basketball power in our conference (excluding Duke) could say the same thing. I don’t think anyone with a brain is looking to question Jim Boehim or Roy Williams on how they let that happen. This is basketball. You are always a few early NBA entries away from the cellar and a few special players from the penthouse. A two year sample size is not enough to say UVA will remain a perennial powerhouse.

    01/08/2015 at 9:35 AM #68543
    redcanine
    Participant

    I think Cat is pretty good from the elbow, especially when he drives left and pulls up, step back from around the free throw line. He converts on that shot, and that shot is usually available.

    How many wideass open shots should we pass up on each possession? I think most teams are lucky to even get one, so why shouldn’t Cat pull the trigger when he’s got a clear view?

    IMO, once the point guard makes that initial pass, he becomes a shooting guard. He’s off the hook, to an extent, in the high-post offense, and can now shoot if he gets it back. If he has a scorer wide open, of course he gives it up again.

    01/08/2015 at 9:50 AM #68544
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Anthony will be First Team All-ACC his Senior Year at State…
    He’s learning all this “new stuff” about as fast as Gott & Company can teach it to him and then practice it enough in game situations until he doesn’t have to think about it anymore…

    wash, rinse repeat…
    ——————————–

    GreyWolf said..

    And if some primo donna tried to do it all himself, it didn’t require a coach to say anything. 4 teammates were in his face.

    Nothings changed since 1964 in this respect…
    Same for everybody on the Team…

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    01/08/2015 at 9:56 AM #68545
    ryebread
    Participant

    Thinkpack: Respectfully, like CowDog, I was one that had Tony Bennett flagged early as a clear winner. If you can win at Washington State, you can win ANYWHERE. It’s one of the worst power conference jobs, and there are many, many mid-major jobs that are better. Bennett had that team in the top 10 and he won national coach of the year before he left.

    I was surprised a bigger program that UVA didn’t pick up Bennett. UVA is probably one of the worst jobs in the ACC.

    Bennett built that Washington State team the exact same way he has built up UVA. It’s methodical, defense based, with a clear upward trajectory. He also attracted better and better players, which he is doing at UVA.

    UVA is going to be a winner as long as he’s there. They may not be top 5 or top 10 (I think like Wisconsin they’re over rated), but you can pencil them in the top 20. We should only be so lucky.

    Why are people mad about losing to UVA? They’d basically floundered around for 15+ years since the early tenure of Jeff Jones. They never settled for mediocrity though, and even got themselves out of an awful contract situation in Gillian (much like we’re in now with Gott). Now they have the right coach and have blown right past us.

    We’ve got HWSNBN v2. UVA’s ascent has happened under this staff’s watch. Last night’s game was never in doubt. They’re ranked in the top 3. We’ve not beaten a top 3 team since 2005. It’s pretty obvious to me why the natives are restless.

    The question I have is whether it’s obvious to Yow, Gott, big donors, etc.. I wonder if the finger is on the pulse well enough to recognize what’s happening.

    01/08/2015 at 10:47 AM #68548
    WolfWiz11
    Participant

    We’ve not beaten a top 3 team since 2005

    We beat #1 Duke at PNC in 2012.

    01/08/2015 at 10:59 AM #68549
    spintk
    Participant

    I’m just tired to the excuses Mark spits out. He’s filled with useless platitudes about what we need to do to improve, but is unable to actually coach the game of basketball. And his recruiting? Don’t get me started–very overrated recruiter. All this combined with the fact that he takes ZERO accountability for losing doesn’t sit well with me.

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