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The No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers rolled past NC State, 90-51, in Charlottesville in an emphatic performance on both ends of the floor in their second game on the newly named Tony Bennett Court.
The Cavaliers set the tone early with defense, honoring their old coach by holding the Wolfpack to just 19 first-half points (the first “Tony” on the new court) and 61 total. On the other end, Virginia looked more like the group we saw earlier in the season during out-of-conference play, especially after halftime.
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UVA exploded for 59 second-half points and put five players in double figures: Thijs De Ridder (19), Sam Lewis (16), Jacari White (15), Malik Thomas (12), and Chance Mallory (11).
With NC State entering the night sitting fourth in the ACC standings, this looked like a legitimate test at the start of Virginia’s biggest week of the season. The Cavaliers passed it with ease, moving to 25-3 and setting up a massive showdown Saturday at No. 1 Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from the win:
Virginia’s defense set the tone immediately
Virginia’s best stretch of the first half came on the defensive end, when the Cavaliers opened up a 15-5 run over the first 9:38 by completely disrupting NC State’s rhythm.
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As has often been the case, the interior defense led the way. Johann Gruenloh and Ugonna Onyenso anchored the paint and made life miserable at the rim for the Wolfpack. Even without much offensive production, the two bigs combined for 12 blocks, with Gruenloh posting a new career high with eight.
That kind of rim protection took an NC State offense that came in averaging 84.9 points per game and knocked it off schedule early.
UVA’s offense started slow again – but the defense gave it time to settle in
For as sharp as Virginia was defensively in the opening half, the offense took a while to find its footing.
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Loose ball-handling and some sloppy passing led to seven first-half turnovers, which kept the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/five-takeaways-uva-basketball-dominant-044215452.html
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Publish date : 2026-02-25 04:42:00
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