When: Tuesday February 24 – 7:00 PM
Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville VA
Opponent: Virginia Cavaliers
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): UVA 79-73, / UVA 78-71
The Wolfpack is included in most, if not all, NCAA tournament bracket predictions and still has a possibility of a double bye in the ACC tournament. To date, SMU is NC State’s best win, the other four Q1 wins come with strings attached.
The Pack still has two shots at signature wins during the regular season, either of which would be the highest quality win of the season. Duke is 1-seed good and big Boozer is a lottery pick, but the Pack played poorly in the first game against UVA and has played much better since.
UVA is NET 15 and ranked AP # 11. It is a Q1 game. This is also an opportunity to repay an embarrassing home loss.
Ryan Odom might be having the best season of any first-year coach in the country, he’s already the most successful first year coach in UVA history. The Cavaliers have won 8 in row, they are 13-1 at home, they already have 24 wins, their only mildly odorous loss was Butler (NET 80, 15-13), and 3 of their last four games are at home. After playing NC State, they go to Cameron Indoor for a battle between the best two ACC teams, and then finish at home against Wake and VT.
Previous game results: 61-76 UVA
Sam Lewis hit his career high with 23 (you’re welcome)
Tre Holloman got hurt in the first half, he did not play the second
It was over by halftime, UVA led 40-20.
NC State came out of halftime strong and cut the lead to 8 at about the 15-minute mark but then went cold for six minutes and never got closer.
For the game, Copeland led Wolfpack scoring with 15, McNeil 13, Breed 12. Williams and Lubin each had 7 pts / 5 reb.
After this game, NC State fans are going to say either, “That’s pretty much what I expected” or “WOW, I didn’t expect that!!” I’m predicting the latter. Wolfpack pulls off their biggest upset of the season, 80-69.