Virginia grabs road win in Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. — Who says you need to be able to score and rebound to win?

Virginia didn’t do very much of either in the second half of Saturday night’s game, but still found a way to get past N.C. State.

No. 19 UVa, behind 18 points from Mike Scott and 12 points apiece from Joe Harris and Sammy Zeglinski, overcame atrocious second-half shooting and poor rebounding by knocking down late free throws to escape with a 61-60 victory in front of 17,027 at the RBC Center.

“When you’re on the road, you try to steal one,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, “and that’s what we did.”

With 7.8 seconds to go, N.C. State had a chance to win the game but a 3-pointer by Lorenzo Brown from the wing was off the mark as time expired. The Wolfpack appeared to be trying to get the ball to Scott Wood, but Akil Mitchell did a good job of funneling Brown over to Jontel Evans, who was able to do a good job of contesting Brown’s shot as Zeglinski came over to help.

“With only seven seconds, there’s only so much you can do,” said Bennett, when asked about the final sequence. “Sometimes people switch on ball screens in those situations, but we thought it would be an attack in the lane of some sort off penetration. Because [Mitchell] did a nice job and everyone was on the same page, it took them a little bit longer to get where they wanted to.”

As shaky as the Cavaliers looked down the stretch in a raucous environment, they got the job done.

“It was crazy in there,” Evans said. “As soon as we walked in the gym they were heckling us. The hecklers were crazy. They were on us. It was a tough environment to play in.”

Virginia was just 4 of 18 from the field in the second half and was outrebounded for the game by 17. The Wolfpack had 18 offensive rebounds that led to a whopping 17 second-chance points. Richard Howell led the way with 18 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end.

“Richard’s rebounding was just sensational,” said N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried. “We had so many plays when the ball was in the air around the rim and guys put an unbelievable effort into securing it. That’s the reason we were able to hang in there tonight without the shots falling.”

Virginia led 44-35 after Scott snatched a Darion Atkins airball and converted the put-back less than five minutes into the second half before N.C. State responded with a 8-0 run to pull to 44-43 after a driving basket by Howell.

But then UVa held the Wolfpack scoreless on seven of its next eight possessions. During that stretch, Harris hit two 3-pointers, the second of which came with C.J. Williams draped all over him - to put UVa up 52-45.

Leading 55-45, Virginia suddenly became flustered by N.C. State’s defense. The Cavaliers turned the ball over three times in just over a minute span - two by Zeglinski and one by Evans.

Brown’s driving bucket over Scott pulled N.C. State to 59-55 with 2:14 to play before Scott answered with two free throws at the other end after he had been fouled by Howell (who fouled out on the play).

Williams then hit a jumper to make it 61-57 and Malcolm Brogdon missed a driving layup. 

C.J. Leslie then missed two free throws, but State got the rebound and kicked it to Wood in the corner. Wood, who had been cold until that point, drained it to make it 61-60.

After milking the shot clock as much as he could, Zeglinski launched a long contested jumper from the top of the key that bounced off the back iron and set the stage for the final play.

“We’ll watch the tape and I’m sure I’ll scratch my head as coach [Gottfried] will,” Bennett said, “but we’ll take it.”

In the first half, Virginia looked sharp on offense. UVa, led by Scott and Zeglinski, shot 60 percent from the field and drilled five 3-pointers.

The Cavaliers hit their first four shots, all by different players. Zeglinski picked up where he left off in Thursday’s win over Boston College, knocking home two 3s within the game’s first five minutes.

N.C. State took its first lead of the game at 16-15 after Wood hit a 3 from the top of the key. The Wolfpack took a 22-19 lead after an alley-opp to Leslie before Virginia answered with a pair of 3-pointers (by Brogdon and Zeglinski) and a bucket by Atkins to take a 27-22 lead.

UVa took a 33-25 lead - its biggest of the half - after Scott hit a turnaround jumper.

Virginia led 38-31 at the break.

There are certainly a lot of things for Virginia to work on before it faces Clemson on Tuesday, but Bennett liked the poise he saw from his team in the closing moments.

“It was a big crowd and they were certainly loud,” Bennett said. “I think the experience of being in some big settings on the road and having some veteran guys certainly helped.”

Dunks

At 17-3, Virginia is off to its best start since the 1982-83 season when it went 27-3...N.C. State became just the third team to score over 60 points on UVa, joining Seattle and Duke...Mitchell momentarily left the game in the first half when he appeared to hurt his foot but returned to action...Zeglinski tied John Crotty for fifth place on the all-time 3-pointers made list (180)...Members of the Virginia and N.C. State coaching staffs wore sneakers to show their support for Coaches vs. Cancer.