CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Beating a team three times is hard. So is losing to the same team.

N.C. State can apparently do hard things, but not in the way it wants.

The No. 7 seed Wolfpack ended its ACC Tournament on Thursday in the quarterfinal round after falling to No. 2 seed Virginia, 81-74, for the third time this season.

N.C. State head coach Will Wade said three weeks ago his team couldn’t compete with the top of the league, and its only opportunity to win would likely come on a neutral court. His team played the best it has against the Cavaliers this season, keeping its margin of defeat within single digits, but it fell short of the upset.

And instead of going home happy, Wade spent the final seconds of the game smacking the scorer’s table, slamming his water bottle down and yelling his displeasure after the Wolfpack gave up an offensive rebound down the stretch.

“I thought we played with great effort today,” Wade said on Thursday following the loss. “We just didn’t have the attention to detail that we need to win a game of this magnitude. Give Virginia a ton of credit; they were great. They blocked nine shots. Again, it’s really tough for us to score in the paint against them.

“But our guys were warriors and tried to gut it out. We just didn’t have enough.”

Paul McNeil led the Wolfpack (20-13) with 26 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Ven-Allen Lubin contributed a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. It was the senior’s eighth double-double of the season.

Virginia (28-4) featured a balanced scoring attack, led by Malik Thomas’ 16 points. Thijs De Ridder added 15 points and five rebounds.

N.C. State’s defense can be credited to keeping it in the game for most of the day. It forced three straight empty possessions to start the game and played with a sense of urgency that it hasn’t shown since the North Carolina game. The Wolfpack recorded seven blocks and 10 turnovers.

“I thought we played with an edge today. I thought we played with better effort,” Wade said. “We didn’t have very good attention to detail. We gave up two loose balls in the first half that led to five points. We gave up the free throw block-out late in the game, which didn’t give us a chance at a comeback, and we squatted on four of their three-putt shots. That’s stuff bites you when you play a team as good as Virginia.”

In the second half, it recorded another three consecutive stops while down nine points. But the team wishes it hadn’t gotten to that point. Virginia started the second half 8 of 12 from the field.

“In the second half the defense is away from our bench, and we’ve really, really struggled,” Wade said. “That’s something that we’re going to practice and try to continue to get better at.”

N.C. State’s offense, however, went cold — in part due to Virginia’s defensive effort — and the Pack did not make the adjustments.

The Wolfpack also significantly limited the Cavaliers’ chances on the offensive boards in the opening period. N.C. State outrebounded Virginia, 16-15, in the first half. It gave up three offensive rebounds but no second-chance points. UVA entered the game ranked No. 16 in the nation for offensive rebounding, pulling down 13.5 offensive boards per game. The Hoos finished with nine offensive boards and nine second-chance points.

N.C. State’s pressure disrupted Virginia’s rhythm and forced six first-half turnovers; four were non-steal miscues. According to KenPom, the Cavaliers were one of the most disciplined teams in the nation and held a 6.1% non-steal turnover rate.

The offense looked much improved from its first two meetings in the first half.

The Wolfpack was unhappy with its shot selection in the other games. The poor choices led to blocks and transition opportunities. UVA blocked 15 shots in the regular-season games, including 12 in the second.

“I think we were just throwing it up there,” NC State’s Darrion Williams said after the loss in Charlottesville. “The big dudes were just coming in, blocking it. I don’t think you really had to work too hard for a lot of them. I think we had to take better shots as a team.”

N.C. State’s offensive decisions were far better in the first half on Thursday afternoon. The Wolfpack moved on and off the ball, creating open looks and easy baskets.

It took fewer contested 3s, did not settle for midrange jumpers and drove inside to draw fouls. Additionally, N.C. State found success with Copeland and Williams backing down Virginia’s big men and dishing the ball to an open Lubin under the basket. It did that repeatedly, especially early in the game, which allowed the group to create confidence and open things up on the perimeter.

The Wolfpack still took a few bad shots and turned the ball over, but it made up for those miscues on defense.

N.C. State’s selection wasn’t nearly as good in the second half, though, especially when Virginia took a lead and upped its defense. The Wolfpack returned to forcing shots, which allowed the Cavaliers to expand what was a three- or four-point lead to 10 midway through the second half.

This was particularly evident late in the half. With 3 1/2 minutes to play, the Wolfpack had only scored one 2-point basket in the half but continued to drive the ball inside. It finished with just two 2-point makes after the break.

In fact, Virginia’s Johann Grunloh blocked eight shots in the second regular-season meeting. It looked like N.C. State would be safe from that, but its second-half offensive collapse allowed Ugonna Onyenso to do the same. Onyenso finished with eight blocked shots on Thursday, which is tied for the second-most blocks in an ACC Tournament game.

Multiple bracketologists have N.C. State in the NCAA Tournament field. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Pack as a No. 10 seed in the South Region, according to his update at 11 a.m. Thursday.

The outcome of this game was expected to make little difference. A loss to the Cavaliers was unlikely to impact the Pack’s standing in the field, while a win could’ve push them up a seed line, but that’s a moot point. Lunardi said following the game he expects N.C. State to stay on the No. 10 seed line.

Now, the Wolfpack just has to wait.

©2026 Raleigh News & Observer. Visit newsobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.