NC State falls to Virginia. What we learned from the Wolfpack's loss to the Cavaliers.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Virginia’s Sam Lewis hit a corner 3. There were still nearly nine minutes remaining, but the basket was part of an 8-0 run that felt like a dagger to N.C. State’s comeback efforts.

Lewis led the Cavaliers with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 shooting from the perimeter, to lead Virginia to a 76-61 win over N.C. State in an ACC game at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

The Wolfpack (10-5, 1-1 ACC) hosted the Cavaliers just a few days after UVA’s 95-85 triple-overtime loss to Virginia Tech. If there were concerns that Virginia would be tired, the Cavs quieted those worries quickly, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first four minutes of play, a lead that ballooned to 20 points at halftime.

N.C. State started the second half on an 11-2 run, building momentum and cutting into Virginia’s double-digit lead. Officials whistled Virginia head coach Ryan Odom for a technical foul after the coach argued against a late whistle, sending Ven-Allen Lubin to the line. Odom’s outburst led to three assistants holding him back — one bear hugged the first-year UVA coach — to avoid an ejection.

It also led to four Wolfpack free throws, cutting the Cavaliers’ lead to single digits for the first time since the 8:20 mark in the first half.

Two minutes later, Paul McNeil hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wolfpack deficit to eight. Except, like the first half, N.C. State could not consistently stop the Cavs. The Pack’s defense gave up five straight baskets, deepening its hole to 22 points.

N.C. State’s offense couldn’t find a regular rhythm in either half as Virginia disrupted passing lanes, pressured the Wolfpack into taking contested shots and forced turnovers, often on double- or triple-team defense.

In the first half, Quadir Copeland went 3 for 6 while the rest of the team hit 5 of 20 from the field. Copeland finished with a team-high 15 points. McNeil and Alyn Breed contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The defense started the game by forcing three empty possessions, but it couldn’t maintain that defensive efficiency. Instead, it struggled to guard Lewis and Malik Thomas. Thomas scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes. He ended the game with 13 points.

Lewis knocked down seven shots for 20 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting, including four makes from 3-point range. He went 0 for 5 in the Cavaliers’ loss to the Hokies.

Devin Tillis and Thijs De Ridder were relatively quiet but got hot in the second half, after Thomas and Lewis’ shots stopped falling. Tillis finished with 10 points (7 second half) and De Ridder notched 12 of his 14 points after the break.

Cavaliers clean up the rebounds

Virginia attacked the glass with ease and N.C. State couldn’t keep up. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Wolfpack from the beginning, building a four-board lead early and extending its advantage to six rebounds.

While success in this metric is not indicative of success for every team, it is for N.C. State. The Wolfpack has outrebounded its opponent in nine games this season, including three in a row, and is undefeated in those contests.

Though the Wolfpack has made progress this season, especially against larger teams, the Cavaliers were undoubtedly the better rebounding team at Lenovo Center this weekend.

N.C. State’s strong start in the second half had the team within three rebounds. Down the stretch, Virginia’s rebounding effort extended to double digits. UVA finished with a 36-24 rebounding advantage.

Keeping up with UVA was always going to be a difficult task. Virginia is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, particularly on the offensive end.

Of its 42.5 rebounds per game, the Cavaliers pull down 14.8 offensive boards per game to lead the ACC. They possess a 40.9% offensive rebounding rate, according to KenPom.

Shooters shoot … and miss

N.C. State’s worst offensive performance of the season — prior to Saturday — came at Auburn, where it scored 73 points. The Pack’s lowest field goal percentage had been recorded against Kansas (37.8%).

Both of those benchmarks fell against Virginia.

Nothing seemed to go in favor of the Wolfpack, which was inefficient all afternoon. N.C. State didn’t have a single stretch where it made at least four straight baskets, and it only put together one stretch of three consecutive baskets.

The Wolfpack finished 18 of 50 from the field (36%) and 5 of 20 (20%) from 3-point range. It averaged 87 points on 48.7% from the field in the first 14 games of the season.

A big assist disparity

One of N.C. State’s defensive deficiencies is slowing down opponents’ ability to move the ball. It entered the game allowing an assist on 54.2% of defensive field goals allowed.

It still struggled against the Cavaliers, who recorded 14 assists on 26 made baskets. That was good enough for an assist on 53.8% of their possessions.

On the opposite side, the Wolfpack — which typically records an assist on 57.5% of its shots — only had seven assists on 18 made field goals (38.9%).

It could be a long season if the defense can’t limit movement on defense and the offense looks like it did against Virginia against other teams in the ACC.