Virginia’s second-half collapse against Virginia Tech Saturday led to their first ACC loss of the season (and in roughly a year). Luckily, the next opponent to step into the ring will be NC State, a team that has lost five of six games and currently sits at 12th place in the ACC.
To make matters worse for an already-flailing Wolfpack team, leading scorer Devon Daniels was recently declared out for the season after an ACL tear. Daniels led the team in scoring and assist averages, and was the only player on the roster playing more than 30 minutes per game.
The loss of such an important player will likely prove detrimental on both sides of the court. That being said, Virginia Tech lost starting guard Tyrece Radford prior to their matchup with the Hoos and almost looked better because of it. The Hokies were able to find other ways to score and NC State may do the same.
Kevin Keatts has his group playing the nation’s 62nd best offense and 93rd best defense. They don’t exactly excel on either side of the ball, but of course anything can happen on any given night in the ACC.
1) Interior defense
Anybody who watched the Virginia Tech game will tell you that Keve Aluma essentially put the Hokies on his back. He was unstoppable down low, making short work of Virginia’s interior defense on the way to 29 points and 10 rebounds.
NC State will bring their own post threat in DJ Funderburk, a 6-foot-10 senior forward who has seemingly been playing at NC State for 10 years. Funderburk struggled in nonconference play, yet his play against the ACC has kept NC State in a lot of games.
The NC State big man is averaging 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in conference play despite playing just 25.5 minutes per game. He’s had issues with defending and foul trouble, though neither of those things take away from the havoc he is capable of wreaking on the Virginia defense. Virginia may well be able to take advantage of him on the offensive end, but the fight against Funderburk in the post cannot play out the same way it did against Aluma.
2) Virginia’s shooting
Saturday’s loss came largely as a result of an unwillingness on Virginia’s part to work the ball inside. But the Hoos still could have survived had they not gone stone-cold from three.
The deep ball had been the largest offensive asset for Virginia in the four games prior to Saturday, the Hoos having shot 49% from three during that stretch. When that supply of treys finally dried up in Cassell Coliseum, the offense unsurprisingly struggled.
Ideally they’ll find ways to get it inside as well (more on that in a second), but whether that shooting prowess returns will have a massive impact on the outcome of the game.
3) Getting it inside
Virginia hobbled itself against Virginia Tech by not attempting to work the ball inside. With players like Jay Huff and Sam Hauser on the floor, the decision not to send the ball inside is tough to explain.
Look for that duo to get the touches they deserve this time around. Huff is at his best backing down opposing players, and as Virginia’s most efficient player (per 40 minutes) he should get the opportunity to make the most of that.
Similarly, the Hauser midrange shot has not been present as of late. This is somewhat understandable given his emergence as a knockdown three-point shooter, but the midrange shot remains a critical weapon in Hauser’s arsenal. That we haven’t seen it recently is partly due to a shortage of opportunities and partly a result of Hauser’s own failure to look for the shot.
The senior forward is also a proficient post player, and that’s another place where he can do damage. Whether it comes from the post or the midrange, Hauser and Huff need to get a greater percentage of their looks inside the arc.
4) Kihei Clark
It’s become clear over the past couple of years that there are two warring factions of Wahoo fans when it comes to Kihei Clark: those who are ready to criticize him at the first hint of trouble and those who are supportive yet overlook his deficiencies.
Of course, there is also the moderate group that takes a reasonable, measured approach to judging the point guard’s play. I like to think that I fall into that category.
So in keeping with that objective viewpoint, we can conclude that Clark’s performances this year constitute a very mixed bag. He started off the season in poor form before hitting his stride and rattling off a string of solid outings. But in the last three games Kihei has shot the ball at a horrendous 24% clip with a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio.
He hasn’t been the leader that his team needs him to be, and his relationship in the backcourt with Reece Beekman is stagnant at best. If Kihei can return to his previous form it will prove immensely beneficial for this growing Virginia team.
The Hoos are in need of a bounce-back win, and this NC State team provides an ample opportunity to get one.
Image – Virginia Athletics