Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Virginia
NC State hosts Virginia on Wednesday night.
Feb. 1, 2006
No. 18/17 NC STATE (16-4, 5-2) vs. VIRGINIA (10-7, 4-3)
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 2006 @ RBC Center, Raleigh, NC (19,722)
TIME: Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. EST
OPPONENT-- Most teams that fall behind Duke early at Cameron Indoor Stadium never recover, especially when J.J. Redick is on target. Add Virginia to that list.
The senior guard ignited the crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd by scoring 11 points during a 20-2 Duke run to open the game and the No. 2 Blue Devils never looked back in blowing out the shell-shocked Cavaliers 82-63 on Saturday night.
Redick finished with 40 points on 11-for-13 shooting, including 8-of-10 from the three-point arc, to record his third 40-point game of the season. Shelden Williams added 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks for Duke (19-1, 7-0) which continued its dominance in the series.
J.R Reynolds, the Cavs leading scorer with 19 points, scored 8-straight in the final moments of the first half to give Virginia some hope. But Williams scored inside after a timeout, pushing the Blue Devils lead to 11 at halftime.
In the second half, Redick refused to let up, scoring eight straight points to increase the Duke margin to 45-27 with about 18 minutes left. About five and a half minutes later, Redick sank three free throws after he was fouled on a three-point attempt. That gave him 30 points, nearly matching Virginia's total, as Duke led 59-32.
Under new coach, Dave Leito, Virginia has already tied its ACC win total from last season. The Cavaliers league victories have come against Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami.
Leito, who came from DePaul University, preaches defense and rebounding and the Cavaliers have responded. They're allowing only 65.4 points and .415 shooting from the field in ACC games. Virginia is also a good offensive rebounding team, averaging nearly 14 a game while getting back 43 percent of its misses.
Offensively, the Cavaliers sometimes struggle to score, except from the free throw line. Virginia is shooting only 40 percent from the field in ACC games while averaging nearly 66 points a game. Those numbers rank last in the ACC. However, at the line, the Cavaliers are knocking down 76 percent of their shots in league play, including 19-of 22 against Duke.
The Cavaliers strength is at guard where there is a lot of talent and quickness. Singletary, an All-ACC Freshman Team selection last season, has developed into one of the league's top point guards and has the ability to take over a game. Earlier this season, he scored 35 points in a loss to then No. 10 ranked Gonzaga.
Singletary ranks in the ACC's top-10 in four categories. He's third in the league in scoring and assists, fifth in steals (2.0) and ninth in free throw shooting (.806). The sophomore leads the Cavaliers in minutes played (34.4) and over his last 8 games is averaging 20.3 points and 5.8 assists.
Reynolds, the team's No.2 scorer, averages 32 minutes a game and has scored in double-figures in 11 straight contests. Forward, Adrian Joseph has also stepped up his game recently, averaging 11.2 points and 4.8 rebounds over his last 6 appearances.
Virginia is an average, but balanced three-point shooting team (.353) with Singletary (.397), Reynolds (.359) and Joseph (.359) taking the majority of shots from the bonusphere. Those three are the team's only players averaging in double-figure scoring.
Off the bench, two freshmen have been solid contributors. 6-8, 241 pound forward Laurynas Mikalauskas is shooting nearly 60 percent from the field while Mamadi Diane is the team's leading free throw shooter (.897). Singletary's back-up at point guard, T.J Bannister, has played in only 7 games due to injury, but is extremely quick and a good distributor. He's seen action in each of the last five games.
NC State has won 9 of the last 11 games against Virginia in the series and has beaten the Cavaliers in 7 of the last 9 meetings in Raleigh. Virginia upset the Pack 64-62 last season at the RBC Center. Wednesday's game will be the only regular season meeting between the two teams this year due to ACC expansion.
A WIN--Would be the Wolfpack's third in its last 4 games, improving NC State to 17-4 overall and 6-2 in the ACC. The Pack would earn its 10th victory in the last 12 games over Virginia in the series, and 8th in the last 10 meetings in Raleigh. NC State would improve to 13-1 at home this season (4-0 ACC) while sending Virginia to its second straight loss. The Cavaliers would drop to 10-8 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. This game will be the only regular season meeting between the Wolfpack and Cavaliers.
A LOSS--Would be the Wolfpack's second in the last 3 games and mark State's first back-to-back losses at home this season. The Pack would drop to 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. Virginia would record its second straight road win in the series with NC State. The Cavs beat the Pack last season at the RBC Center 64-62. Virginia would win for the fourth time in the last five games and improve to 11-7 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. That would give the Cavs more league victories than they had during the entire 2004-05 season. This game will be the only regular season meeting between State and Virginia due to ACC expansion.
NOW THAT'S OFFENSE--The top shooting and scoring team in the ACC against league competition is NC State. The Wolfpack is averaging 81.3 points a game while shooting .504 from the field in ACC games.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS AT HOME-- State is 12-1 at the RBC Center, including a 3-0 ACC mark. Seton Hall is the only team to beat the Pack this season at home.
A STEADY DIET OF DEFENSE --Consistent defense is a hallmark of Wolfpack basketball under Herb Sendek. However, the Pack's last four opponents have all scored more than 80 points and State has lost two of those games with one contest going into double-overtime. For the season, the Wolfpack is holding opponents to 65.2 points a game. However, in ACC games, State is allowing 76.7 points and .428 shooting from the field. Overall, the Pack leads the ACC in field goal percentage defense (.393).
SUPER CED --The most improved player on the NC State team is Cedric Simmons. The sophomore center recorded a career-high 28 points at Duke on Jan. 18th along with 9 rebounds, 7 blocked shots and 3 steals. Simmons played in 31 games last season and averaged 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds. This season, he is the team's No. 2 scorer (12.8) while leading the Pack in rebounding (7.1) and blocked shots (2.95) while shooting a team high .624 from the field. He is No.2 in the ACC in blocked shots and is among the top-25 in scoring and rebounding.
LOVIN' THE LINE--State sank 37-of-43 free throw attempts in its win over Wake Forest on January 21st. The Pack is shooting and outstanding .776 from the line in ACC games (142-183).
LONG DISTANCE, PLEASE --State leads the ACC in three-point shooting in league games (.460) and has made more three-points shots overall (181) than any ACC team this season. The Pack was 15-of-29 from the arc in its win at Clemson on Sunday. About 44 percent of the Pack's field goal attempts come from behind the arc (471-1065).
BETHEL BOMBS AWAY --Senior guard Tony Bethel leads the team in 3-point field goal percentage (.476) and has made 24 of his last 44 shots from the three-point arc (.545). In his last 8 games, he is shooting 37-of-72 from the field (.513). Bethel is NC State's best perimeter on-the-ball defender and is also a highly skilled playmaker and rebounder. In the win at Clemson on Jan. 29th, Bethel had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. He recorded 5 steals in a win over Wake Forest on Jan. 21. In his last 3 games, he's averaging 14.7 points (44) and 4.7 rebounds (14).
TURKISH DELIGHT-- Nobody on the Wolfpack team has played more minutes this season than Engin Atsur.. The native of Istanbul, Turkey, is one of the most versatile players in the ACC. The 6-4 junior leads the Pack in assists (80), steals (34) and minutes (32.6). Atsur has only 21 turnovers in his last 14 games. He's scored in double-figures in 11 of his last 13 games, including 17 points at Clemson on Sunday. Atsur has started 78 consecutive games.
AS THE BALL TURNS --With only a few exceptions, the Wolfpack has done a good job taking care of the ball. State is averaging only 13.6 turnovers a game this season.
THE HIGHLIGHT CAM --Cameron Bennerman has elevated his game. The athletic senior, who hit a clutch 3-pointer in the win at Clemson to send the game into overtime, has taken over as the team's leading scorer (12.9). In his last 14 appearances, Bennerman has averaged 14.9 points a game (209) while shooting 57 percent from the field during that span (81-of-143). The Greensboro native is among the ACC leaders in free throw shooting (.883) and has made 23 of his last 25 foul shots.
AN UPHILL BOARD BATTLE-- Rebounding has been a challenge for the Wolfpack this season, but State has won the battle of the boards in 6 of its last 10 games. In the Pack's double-overtime win at Clemson on Sunday, State won the boards by a 43-36 margin.
MR. ENERGY --Andrew Brackman, has come off the bench to energize the Pack. The 6-10 sophomore has averaged 9.6 points (96) while shooting 57 percent from the field (33-of-58) in his last 10 games.
BULGARIAN BOMBER --Ilian Evtimov was the Pack's leading scorer and rebounder in the win at Clemson with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, scored 6 of his points in a 9-1 State run to open the second overtime.
HERE, YOU TAKE IT --NC State is averaging an assist on an impressive 64 percent of its field goals (330-of-514) this season.
