Read more for our full Virginia vs NC State prediction and preview.
Virginia basketball closes out 2024 with a New Year’s Eve battle in Charlottesville against NC State. They both last played on Dec. 22; the Cavaliers defeated American, while the Wolfpack beat Rider.
General Information:
Teams: Virginia (7-5) and NC State (8-4)
Tip time: Noon EST
Watch: ESPN2
Listen: Virginia Sports Radio Network
Latest on NC State basketball:
After last season’s surprise run to the Final Four, the Wolfpack were projected to finish eighth in the ACC. Seven of NC State’s eight victories this season have been by double digits. All four of the Wolfpack’s losses came to good teams: Purdue, BYU, Texas and Kansas.
Kevin Keatts is in his eighth season at NC State. He was the head coach of UNC Wilmington for three years, going 72-28, 41-13 in the CAA, and making the NCAA Tournament twice. In his first seven years at the helm of the Wolfpack, Keatts went 139-94, 64-69 in conference. He played at Ferrum College from 1991-95, and has been an assistant coach at Marshall (2001-03) and Louisville (2011-14).
NC State had no players make the Preseason All-ACC Team. The Wolfpack are led by senior guard Marcus Hill, who’s averaging 12.6 points per game, and senior forward Ben Middlebrooks, who leads the ACC at 1.7 blocks per game. For a Virginia team that struggles to finish at the rim, Middlebrooks will give the Cavs some issues.
NC State’s defense causes turnovers on 21.4% of possessions, good for 24th in the country and atop the ACC. Virginia has a tendency to turn the ball over, so they’ll need to be careful to prevent easy transition buckets by the Wolfpack. However, they struggle to shoot from both behind the three-point arc and the free throw line, so the Cavs’ trademark packline defense could force NC State into some bad shots.
Latest on Virginia basketball:
UVA is coming off a nail-biting 63-58 victory over American. It’s been a recurring theme so far this season and a change from past years, where the Cavaliers would blow out inferior teams. Virginia beat Campbell and Manhatten by nine and trailed Bethune-Cookman at halftime. With the ACC schedule now in full swing, the Cavs need to play much better if they want to have a chance to be good in conference play.
Virginia trailed the Eagles by two with less than four minutes left in the game, but senior guard Taine Murray and junior forward Elijah Saunders scored UVA’s last 12 points to regain momentum and close the game out. Saunders scored 21 and Murray scored 13 to lead the Cavaliers.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Cavaliers combat Middlebrooks. Saunders, sophomore forward Blake Buchanan and freshman forward Jacob Cofie have been knocked around at times by better big men with stronger post games. Redshirt freshman forward/center Anthony Robinson is an option and played very well against Memphis’ Dain Dainja on Dec. 18, but it seems like UVA interim head coach Ron Sanchez views Robinson as more of an emergency depth piece in case of major foul trouble.
The Cavaliers need to get their guard play figured out. Junior guards Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde have been too inconsistent this year. They’ll have stretches where they’ll be knocking down threes and expanding the defense, but then they’ll have games where they are committing bad turnovers and missing most of their shots. Sure, a depth playing like Murray playing well is great, but Virginia won’t get anywhere significant this year unless McKneely and Rohde can be more of a constant.
This game will come down to perimeter play. The Cavaliers should play well if they can limit turnovers and force the Wolfpack to take contested shots — especially from behind the three-point line. Murray will continue to play good minutes, and Virginia will pull away after the final media timeout.