UVa suffers first defeat at hands of Pack
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer
Virginia men’s basketball coach Pete Gillen jokes frequently that his team
does not listen to him. He was right Saturday.
Prior to the No. 4 Cavaliers’ contest with N.C. State, Gillen stressed that
halfcourt and fullcourt defense would force the outcome of the game and indeed
it did, in the Wolfpack’s favor.
N.C. State shot 49.1 percent from the floor, including a sizzling 60.7 percent
in the first half, to hand Virginia a 81-74 setback.
The victory ended two significant streaks. First, it snapped N.C. State’s
13-game losing streak in Charlottesville and halted UVa’s 14-game winning
streak at University Hall.
“Before we started the game, I told them that our fullcourt and halfcourt
defense was going to determine the game and I think it did,” Gillen said.
“We did not defend. ... They just carved us up in the first half. It was just
a combination of them making some tough shots and us not playing good
defense.”
Added junior guard Roger Mason Jr.: “Thus far, we had been successful because
we’ve been playing pretty good defense. ... Tonight we fell back into some bad
habits and didn’t defend.”
The holes in the Virginia defense were evident early as the Wolfpack (11-3, 1-1
ACC) jumped out to a 12-3 advantage after the game’s first two-and-a-half
minutes. Virginia (9-1, 0-1 ACC) would eventually erase that early deficit and
take a 31-27 lead with 5:28 before halftime. N.C. State, however, ended the half
by outscoring the Cavs 21-6 to take a 48-37 halftime lead.
In the first half, N.C. State connected on eight of its 13 3-point attempts and
received 12 points from freshman reserve Illian Evtimov, who entered the game
averaging just 3.1 points a game.
“Illian hasn’t shot the ball as well in games as he can, but tonight he did,
and that resulted in some fruit for him and certainly us,” said N.C. State
coach Herb Sendek of his freshman forward who connected on three of his four
treys in the first half.
The Wolfpack maintained a seven- to eight-point advantage for the first 10
minutes of the second half, but Virginia slowly cut into the lead when Chris
Williams connected on a baseline jumper with 9:56 to play to give N.C. State a
65-64 advantage. That would be Virginia’s only basket for the next seven
minutes, though.
After the Wolfpack turned over the ball on an offensive foul by Marcus Melvin on
their next possession, Virginia came upcourt with a chance to take the lead.
N.C. State’s Anthony Grundy, however, never afforded Virginia that
opportunity. He swiped the ball from UVa freshman point guard Keith Jenifer and
sprinted for the easy layup and Virginia would get no closer the rest of the
way.
“I thought that was a great play. Anthony is one of the terrific defensive
players in this league and has the capacity to make those kind of plays,”
Sendek said.
Freshman Julius Hodge led N.C. State with 21 while Grundy finished with 19 and
Evtimov added 15.
Travis Watson had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Virginia and Mason and Chris
Williams added 18 each.
Mason, who had 12 points at halftime after connecting on four first-half
3-pointers, made just one basket (1 for 10) in the second half. He was 0 of 9 in
the second half before connecting on a 3-pointer with 2:14 left in the game.
“I was getting a little frustrated and there was a span there in which I was
pressing a little bit and I probably should have let the game come to me a
little bit more,” Mason said.
Virginia had trailed Virginia Tech by 16 at halftime on Dec. 1 before rallying
for a 69-61 victory. The Cavaliers believed they could pull off a similar
recovery Saturday but it turned out to be false confidence.
“We never thought we were going to lose this game, but N.C. State was just the
better team tonight,” Williams said.
Defense vanishes for Cavs
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Daily Progress sports editor
Well, we could throw another log on the fire and dissect Virginia’s first
loss of the season until the wee hours but it would still boil down to one item:
the Cavaliers didn’t play good defense.
Ah, defense, that trusty old pak-yak, which is the common denominator of most
great basketball teams, was missing the first half of Saturday’s ACC opener
for the fourth-ranked Wahoos. But underrated North Carolina State executed a
brilliant plan to knock UVa from the ranks of the unbeaten, 81-74.
The weaknesses in Pete Gillen’s monster have been there all along but most
opponents haven’t had the tools to exploit them. The Wolfpack did, using an
experienced backcourt to negotiate a less-than impressive Virginia defensive
pressure. UVa, which lacks a third shooter to take some of the load off Roger
Mason Jr. and Chris Williams on the perimeter, was exposed outside as was the
inexperience of true freshman backup point guard Keith Jenifer.
Meanwhile, N.C. State’s Anthony Grundy led the Wolfpack’s assault on UVa’s
pressure defense and got the ball into the hands of wide-open shooters, who
scorched U-Hall’s nets at the rate of 60.7 percent (17 of 28) in the first
half for a 48-37 lead. The Wolfies also hit 8 of 13 from bonusphere for 61.5
percent.
Give credit to State coach Herb Sendek for exploiting UVa’s weaknesses and
ending the Wolfpack’s 13-game losing streak in Charlottesville, a place where
the Cavs had won 21 of their last 22 games over the past two seasons. State
outplayed Virginia, especially when the game was on the line. The Hoos, who have
become accustomed to coming from behind to win, a la Virginia Tech, Rutgers, had
cut it to 65-64 with 9:57 to go when Grundy stripped Jenifer from behind and
scored on a layup.
Virginia still had its chances down the stretch, sometimes without its strongest
inside player, Travis Watson, who was in and out of the lineup battling leg
cramps.
This time, the Cavaliers reached deep and desperately attempted to mount another
comeback. This time, there wasn’t enough gas in the tank.
For those of you who have just recently jumped on the bandwagon, the loss might
come as quite a shock. For the rest, you might have seen it coming.
Remember that Virginia finished dead last in the ACC in field-goal percentage
defense last year (49.8) and seventh in the league in scoring defense (74.8),
ahead of only Florida State and Clemson. You live with the press, you die by the
press.
Saturday, the Wolfpack beat the press in the first half and put a dagger in the
Cavaliers’ hearts. You might come back from double-digit deficits against the
Hokies or the Scarlet Knights, but not in the ACC. That’s a major no-no.
While things got a little better in the second half, State still found shots
when it needed them, even if the Pack didn’t convert so easily.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” said Gillen. “We were able to escape a couple
of games like this but you can’t keep doing that. I don’t know if our guys
think they can turn it on and turn it off. When a team shoots 61 percent,
you’re in trouble.”
This wasn’t the N.C. State team we have come to know, a lumbering, halfcourt
team that depends on the brutes inside to bull their way to the basket. The
Wolfies spread the floor, take the break when its available and make a living
off 3-pointers (11 of 23).
Still, Virginia shouldn’t reach for the panic button. Yes, there are
weaknesses that need to be addressed. Gillen may have to live with some of those
for another season before he can make a correction.
What he can correct is defensive intensity and defensive performance. That is
something he needs to do before the Hoos hit the ACC road for games at Clemson
and North Carolina this week. Anything less is flirting with disaster.
| Cavs tumble back to 'Pack |
| N.C. State hands the Cavs their first loss and wins in Charlottesville for the first time since 1988. |
By DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES |
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Three times in its season-opening nine-game winning streak, Virginia had trailed by second-half margins of as much as 17 points. "Sooner or later, it had to catch up with us," UVa men's basketball coach Pete Gillen said. The Cavaliers' days of living dangerously came to an end Saturday, when unranked North Carolina State won at University Hall for the first time since 1988, 81-74. It was State's second road victory this season over a team ranked in the top 10. The Wolfpack (11-3, 1-1 ACC) earlier had defeated then-No.9 Syracuse, 82-68. "There's really no secrets among friends," coach Herb Sendek said of his approach with the State players. "We talked about the fact that N.C. State has had a long losing streak here. We wanted to do everything we could today to try and end that." Fourth-ranked Virginia (9-1, 0-1) was able to trim an 11-point halftime deficit to 65-64 on a Chris Williams basket with 9:54 left, but that was the Cavaliers' last field goal for more than seven minutes. Junior point guard Roger Mason Jr., who had bailed out the Cavaliers on several occasions earlier in the season, was 1-for-10 from the field in the second half. "I think I pressed some, trying to get us back into the game," said Mason, who finished 5-for-18, including 0-for-7 inside the 3-point arc. "I don't know if I was trying to do too much, but I was getting a little frustrated and that can't happen." The Cavaliers were on their heels from the start of the game, when State made its first five shots in taking a 12-3 lead. Two of them were 3-pointers by senior guard Anthony Grundy and, by halftime, three of his teammates had hit from behind the arc. Freshman forward Ilian Evtimov, younger brother of former North Carolina post player Vasco Evtimov, had three 3-pointers in the first half and four in the game. Evtimov, who had not scored more than six points in any of State's first 13 games, finished with 15. Just when it seemed that Virginia had weathered State's early blizzard, the Wolfpack erupted for 11 points in the space of three possessions - a four-point play by Evtimov, who was fouled on a 3-pointer; a layup by Julius Hodge; and a breakaway by Hodge on which Mason was called for an intentional foul. Hodge made the field goal, hit one of two free throws and then Grundy scored on the subsequent inbound play for a five-point possession. In exactly 60 seconds, State went from down 31-27 to up 38-31. Virginia hit 11 of its first 14 shots to start the second half and actually had the ball and a chance to take the lead when Grundy stole the ball from UVa freshman Keith Jenifer at midcourt and went in for the layup that gave State a 67-64 lead and sparked an 8-1 Wolfpack run. "Most of the time, when I feel I can make a steal, my judgment is pretty good," said Grundy, a product of the same Hargave Military Academy program from which UVa plucked Jenifer. "I just didn't want for them to get any momentum going and I wanted to do something to help our team." Virginia was handicapped down the stretch by the absence of junior center Travis Watson, who had a career-high 20 points when he went to the sidelines with 13:13 remaining. Watson, battling cramps in one of his calves, did not score after his return nearly 4 1/2 minutes later. The Cavaliers' offense was so inept down the stretch that State was able to add to its lead despite making one field goal in the last seven minutes. The Wolfpack, which shot 60.7 percent from the field in the first half, finished at 49.1. Virginia also shot 49.1 percent, thanks to an 8-for-12 afternoon by ACC field-goal percentage leader Chris Williams. Down the stretch, Williams seemed reluctant to take contested shots before hitting two desperation shots, one a 3-pointer, in the final 45.9 seconds. "I like to play within myself and not just throw up shots," said Williams, shooting 61.1 percent from the field for the year, "but I do look back at the game and think I should have shot the ball a little bit more." |
FALL AT U-HALL State of shock
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia trailed Virginia Tech by 16 at halftime, Rutgers by nine early in the second half, Auburn by five with 4:12 left. Each time, however, the Cavaliers found a way to stay unbeaten.
"It's not a good habit to get into, being down at the half and thinking we're so good that we can charge back," said U.Va. guard Roger Mason Jr.
N.C. State refused to let that happen again in fourth-ranked Virginia's ACC opener. The Wolfpack built an 11-point halftime lead, withstood several spirited runs and claimed an 81-74 victory yesterday before a stunned sellout crowd of 8,392.
State, which shocked then-No. 9 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Dec. 8, has beaten two top-10 teams on the road for the first time since 1984-85. Equally impressive, the Wolfpack snapped a 13-game losing streak at U-Hall, where its last win had come Feb. 27, 1988.
"We've had some gut-wrenching losses here," State coach Herb Sendek said.
This will qualify as such for Virginia (0-1, 9-1), which had soared to its highest national ranking since the days of Ralph Sampson. The Cavs had lost their previous six ACC openers, but this was supposed to be different.
"No one really expected us to lose this game," said senior forward Chris Williams.
No one, perhaps, except State. The Wolfpack (1-1, 11-3) hit its first five field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers by senior guard Anthony Grundy (19 points) and bolted to a 12-3 lead. After U.Va. battled back to take a 26-24 lead on Mason's trey with 7:40 left, State quickly answered with an 11-0 run that included a four-point play by freshman reserve Ilian Evtimov - the heretofore unheralded brother of former North Carolina forward Vasco Evtimov - and a five-point possession after an intentional foul by Mason.
"I thought we got beat in the first half," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said.
N.C. State shot 60.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, making 8 of 13 shots from beyond the arc. Evtimov, who had never scored more than six points in a college game, had 12 at the break after going 3 for 3 from 3-point range. Another freshman, former McDonald's All-American Julius Hodge, was 5 for 5 from the floor and had 15 points at the half.
"We just didn't defend," Gillen said.
Virginia cranked up its defensive intensity in the second half, holding the Wolfpack to 37.9-percent shooting. But a State player, not a Cavalier, supplied the game's defensive gem. After U.Va. closed to 65-64 on Williams' basket with 9:56 left, it had a chance to take its first second-half lead. But Grundy stole the ball near midcourt from another former Hargrave Military Academy standout, reserve point guard Keith Jenifer, and swooped in for a crowd-silencing layup.
U.Va. never recovered. It went 7 minutes and 42 seconds without a field goal before Mason's 3-pointer made it 73-69 with 2:14 remaining. That trey, however, was the only one of Mason's 10 second-half field goal attempts to fall through. The 6-5 junior played the entire 40 minutes and was clearly fatigued - and frustrated - at game's end.
Cavaliers center Travis Watson, despite cramps that forced him to sit out six minutes of the second half, finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds - the 6-8, 255-pound junior's fourth straight double-double. Williams added 18 points but also had a game-high five turnovers. Mason scored 18, but he was 0 for 7 from inside the arc and 5 for 18 overall.
"I probably should have taken him out," Gillen said, "but when you're down 12-3, you've got to go with your best horse. . . . We probably should have rested him, but he kept us in the game a little in the first half. He got tired, so we've got to do a better job resting him, but our younger guys didn't have their best games."
In their ACC debuts, the Cavs' top four reserves- freshmen Jenifer, Jermaine Harper, Elton Brown and Jason Clark - combined for five points and three rebounds. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, got 21 points from Hodge and 15 from Evtimov, and two other freshmen, Josh Powell and Jordan Collins, scored four apiece.
"The better team won," Gillen said.
N.C. State exposed U.Va.'s defensive defects
You are No. 4 in the polls, undefeated and (presumably) hell on wheels. You have breezed through the non-binding primaries with just a mild tremor here and a glitch there, no major flaws exposed, no roster-choking injuries, no frazzled nerve endings.
So now you enter conference play. At home. Where you tumbled only once all last season. In front of a sizable audience just itching to shower you with love. Against an outfit that's been second-echelon so long, it doesn't lease sub-.500 space, it owns. Said visitors have two freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup. Said visitors also struggle in the rebounding and shooting departments.
You should not lose this game.
You cannot lose this game.
But Virginia lost this game, and now it's back to the Ouija board.
Virginia lost this game to N.C. State 81-74 yesterday, leading only twice for the grand total of two minutes, and it basically lost for the same reason it's lost to ACC rivals during Pete Gillen's four-plus seasons at the helm.
Because it can't stop the other guys.
ACC opponents shot an aggregate 49.8 percent against the Cavaliers last season. State nailed 60.7 percent of its attempts in the first half and 49.1 all told. Sure, there were other problem spots for the Cavs. They outboarded the Pack by a scant 33-31 and col lected only two balls off the of-fensive glass after intermission. Their all-rookie bench was outscored 22-5. They got a fractured performance from Roger Mason and bungled nine of 10 possessions after trimming their deficit to 65-64 midway through the second half. Their ballhandling lapses continued with 16 turnovers.
But mostly, they were deficient when guys in red and white had the ball.
"We just didn't defend," Gillen said. "We're going to have to work on it. We've got to move our feet. We've got to be committed to it more. They made some good plays, they made some tough shots - but we've got to get better."
This is a recurring lament for Gillen. He's recruited well, energized the program, won some big games, made University Hall one of the tougher ports of call around. But his frazzleball style leaves more openings than intended - particularly against ACC lodge brothers familiar with U.Va.'s traps and presses.
The Cavs had limited their first nine opponents - a half-dozen or so lightweights among them - to 37.2-percent marksmanship. State, on the other hand, had minimal trouble solving U.Va.'s full-court press and finding open shooters when it invaded Cavs territory.
"Thus far, we've been successful because we've been playing good defense," Mason said. "Even when we didn't shoot well, we had our defense to fall back on. Tonight, we went back to some bad habits, and we didn't defend. If you let teams shoot that well, you're not going to win games."
The formula worked for State, now 33-60 against ACC opponents and 8-31 on the road in six seasons under terminally beleaguered Herb Sendek. The Pack lost 2,224 career rebounds when Kenny Inge, Damon Thornton and their muscular buddies checked out, but it also lost a majority of ACC basketball's dysfunctional brain cells. This State entry is sharper and steadier, heaves the ball into press row less often, plays stickier defense.
And sinks shots if you don't offer strenuous resistance.
"Yeah, it's definitely a different N.C. State team from last year," Mason said. "This year, they've got a lot of great shooters, and they spread you out and try to expose you by getting open 3s."
Consider Virginia exposed. "Is it a blow?" said center Travis Watson. "It's a shock." And, yeah, he's right if you assumed U.Va. would be 1-0 in the league standings and not 0-1 - but it's also safe to say suspect D for this crew is no stunner. The Cavs have other worries, of course. They're still not very big. Their backups are unseasoned. Mason isn't a true point guard, and Adam Hall isn't an ideal off guard and they could use another perimeter threat, yada-yada-yada.
One antidote: Defense that doesn't look as if it's been through a shredder.
Time to get back to work.
Wahoo! It's over
N.C. State ends 13-year
drought with win at Virginia
By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - N.C.
State seemed to be at the crumbling point. The Wolfpack's lead against Virginia
had all but melted away in the second half Saturday and University Hall was
rumbling.
For the Pack, it all seemed so familiar. A chance to win on the road in the
ACC, only to have it come undone with a flurry of missed shots, costly turnovers
and cruel fouls. It happened to State last year at Virginia, and a repeat seemed
possible.
But State's Anthony Grundy wouldn't let it happen this day. Neither would
Julius Hodge and Clifford Crawford, Ilian Evtimov and Josh Powell and everyone
who wore Wolfpack red, whether they be seniors or freshmen.
This time, the Wolfpack won. This time, the Pack hit the shots and protected
the ball well enough to leave with a sweet 81-74 victory over the fourth-ranked
Cavaliers, earning State its first win at U-Hall since 1988.
"For us, this means a lot," Grundy said outside a jubilant Wolfpack
dressing room. "We haven't won on the road in the ACC like we've wanted to
the last couple of years. To start like this has to give us great momentum.
"Hopefully, we can keep it up. That's been the difference the last few
years in us not making the tournament."
The NCAA Tournament, that is. The Pack has not gotten an NCAA berth since
1991. But after winning at ninth-ranked Syracuse last month, after coming into
U-Hall and nearly winning wire-to-wire against a Virginia team that was 9-0, the
Wolfpack (11-3 overall, 1-1 ACC) has made a step toward that goal.
Not since the 1985 season had State beaten two top-10 teams on the road. But
the Pack has now.
A few days before the game, NCSU coach Herb Sendek had a little sit-down chat
with Grundy, a senior guard who has been streaky good and streaky bad during his
career.
"We didn't mince words," Sendek said. "I was direct with
Anthony and flat-out told him we needed him to be consistently at his best for
us to win."
And Grundy was listening.
"There was nothing I could say," he said. "Coach was right.
For us to win, I need to have big games and make big plays."
With 9:57 left in the game, the Cavs had sliced a 12-point Wolfpack lead to
one after Chris Williams' baseline shot over Crawford. And when State's Marcus
Melvin was called for charging on the next possession, the crowd of 8,392 was on
its feet and howling, sensing the Wahoos were about to spurt ahead.
But Virginia's Keith Jenifer tried a crossover dribble in front of Grundy.
Bad idea by the freshman guard. Grundy swiped the ball near the top of the key
and raced down the floor for a layup.
"I didn't want them to get the momentum," said Grundy, who finished
with 19 points and six assists. "I wanted to do something to help the team
and I feel I can make steals.
"I feel I have good judgment, but it's a gamble. If I get it, good. If
not, I hear it from coach. But it was an 'O.G.' an older guy putting pressure on
a younger guy. I felt I could get it, and I got it."
Moments later, he got another one. sneaking up from behind Virginia's Adam
Hall to knock the ball away. Crawford's fast-break layup with 7:45 left pushed
the Pack ahead 69-64.
"I had just missed a shot, and it made me go get it and make up for
it," Grundy said.
And Grundy wasn't through. After Melvin missed a jumper, Grundy came out of a
crowd with the rebound and scored on a follow shot. With 7:20 to play, State had
a 71-64 lead.
Not that the rest was easy for the Pack. State scored just one basket down
the stretch. Grundy slammed to the floor after a rebound, then later missed an
open layup with three minutes left.
"Coach said I probably ran out of gas on that shot," he joked.
Virginia (9-1, 0-1) pulled to 73-69 on a 3-pointer by Roger Mason Jr. (18
points) with 2:15 left. But the Pack was cool at the free-throw line, with
Grundy converting a one-and-one with 1:13 remaining and Crawford hitting three
of four free throws in the final minute.
The game was much like the Pack's 82-68 victory at Syracuse. State got a
strong start, hitting its first five shots to jump ahead 12-3, and adroitly
weaved its way through Virginia's pressure defense. The Pack shot 60.7 percent
in the opening half and led 48-37 at the break.
Evtimov had 12 of his career-high 15 points in the first half, including
three 3-pointers, and Hodge scored 15 of his career-high 21.
"I thought we got beat in the first half," Virginia coach Pete
Gillen said. "They carved us up. Our defense let us down."
State had 20 turnovers last year at U-Hall in losing 88-81 but had just 14
Saturday, including an intentional giveaway by Hodge in the final seconds.
And so the streak at U-Hall came to an end a 13-game run of misery for the
Pack that Sendek mentioned to his team during the week.
"We got a big monkey off our backs," Crawford said. "Coach
said we had not beaten them here since 1988. He said that was when Julius
[Hodge] was 5 years old."
Like Grundy, the Pack was listening. And did something about it.
Cavs didn't have eyes on Evtimov
By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - Only
seconds were left in the game Saturday and N.C. State's Ilian Evtimov was gazing
about Virginia's University Hall. The freshman forward smiled, coyly arching his
eyebrows.
It was Evtimov's first trip to U-Hall, where so many bad things have happened
to the Pack through the years. But Evtimov was on the verge of leaving it 1-0,
with N.C. State about to finish off an 81-74 victory over the fourth-ranked
Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers knew what to expect from State seniors Anthony Grundy and
Archie Miller. The Wahoos knew about junior guard Clifford Crawford. They knew
freshman Julius Hodge was a top-five recruit last year and Josh Powell capable.
But Evtimov?
Before Saturday, he had not scored more than six points in a game and was
just 6-of-22 on his 3-point attempts. All he did against Virginia was knock down
all three of his 3-point shots in the first half. Evtimov's 12 first-half points
helped the Pack surge to a 48-37 lead, and he finished with 15 points.
Evtimov may have surprised the Wahoos and a partisan crowd at U-Hall, but
NCSU coach Herb Sendek took it in stride. Evtimov had a strong week of practice,
Sendek said, and it carried over into the game. Simple as that.
"I had confidence and my teammates had confidence in me," Evtimov
said. "They kept passing me the ball.
"When you make the first shot, you feel in the groove."
Evtimov's first 3-pointer came after the Cavs had moved ahead 26-24 with a
10-2 run. Two minutes later, with the Pack trailing 31-27, he drained another
one from the left wing, drawing a foul and turning it into a four-point play.
That sparked a sequence in which the Pack scored 11 points in barely a minute
to spurt back in front. Hodge made a layup, then scored another in transition as
Virginia's Roger Mason Jr. was called for an intentional foul on the play.
A free throw by Hodge, followed by a Grundy basket, made it five-point
possession and gave the Wolfpack a 38-31 cushion. And it all started with
Evtimov's four-pointer.
"He was great," Hodge said of Evtimov. "He works so hard on
his shot, and he gave us a big lift."
Hodge and Evtimov often have late-night shootouts at Reynolds Coliseum.
They'll shoot 300 or 400 shots, and Hodge, with a sly grin, said he wins about
75 percent of the time.
"There's a lot of trash-talking going on," Evtimov said, smiling.
But with freshman forward Levi Watkins lost for the season, out after
injuring a knee in the Maryland game last Sunday, Evtimov knew he would take on
a bigger role. There would be more minutes, and the 6-foot-7, 226-pounder -- the
younger brother of former North Carolina forward Vasco Evtimov -- would need to
be ready.
"I've been shooting a lot lately and been shooting well in
practice," he said.
Sendek stuck with him Saturday, giving him a season-high 25 minutes against
the Hoos. Evtimov, nicknamed "Shoosh," did not have a turnover and was
solid enough on defense. And, of course, there were his 15 points.
It was enough to cause a few eyebrows to arch.
Virginia Falls at Home to Wolfpack
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 6, 2002; Page D09
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Jan. 5 -- Virginia rose to No. 4 in the Associated Press top 25 poll by being among the nation's top-scoring teams. But today its defense fell short, and North Carolina State handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season, 81-74.
The Wolfpack, which upset No. 9 Syracuse on the road a month ago, led 48-37 after shooting 61 percent in the first half. Virginia (9-1, 0-1 ACC), which lost its conference opener for the seventh straight year, cut into the lead several times in the second half and trailed by one with 10 minutes left, but N.C. State (11-3, 1-1) held on each time.
"We just didn't defend," Cavaliers Coach Pete Gillen said. "The second key to the game that I wrote down before the game was that our full-court and half-court defense was going to determine the game. It was a combination of them making tough shots and us not playing good defense."
Virginia, which held its last lead five minutes before halftime, trailed 65-64 as freshman point guard Keith Jenifer brought the ball up the court with 9 minutes 16 seconds left. But N.C. State senior Anthony Grundy poked the ball away at midcourt and swooped in for two of his 19 points.
From there, the Cavaliers got no closer than four points. The Wolfpack sealed its first win in Charlottesville since 1988, and the nation's list of unbeaten teams shrank to just one, No. 1 Duke.
"We've been really direct with Anthony and flat-out told him that our team needs him to be at his best," said Wolfpack Coach Herb Sendek, who counts two freshmen and a sophomore among his top four scorers. "When he's not [at his best], we've struggled more often than not. In order to win a game like today, you need a special player to do those kinds of things that don't have anything to do with X's and O's."
Grundy hit just 7 of 18 shots, but he had six assists and three steals. Freshman guard Julius Hodge, a highly touted McDonald's all-American, hit 7 of 8 shots and led all scorers with 21 points.
N.C. State's young post players, freshman Josh Powell and sophomore Marcus Melvin, were ineffective throughout. But unheralded rookie Ilian Evtimov, whose older brother played at North Carolina, contributed a season-high 15 points. The 18-year-old Bulgarian made all three of his three-point attempts in the first half, when the Wolfpack sank 8 of its 13 attempts.
Watson gave Virginia 20 points, on 7-of-9 shooting, and 13 rebounds despite feeling sick before the game and senior forward Chris Williams was nearly as efficient in scoring 18 points. Junior guard Roger Mason also had 18, but he fell off markedly in the second half, struggling to push the Cavaliers in front. Mason hit just 1 of 10 shots after halftime.
"I was getting a little frustrated and there was a small span where I pressed a little too much," Mason said. "Looking back, I should have probably let the game come to me a little bit more. They did a good job defensively."
The production of Virginia's reserves, who consists almost solely of four freshmen, had dropped in the last several games and today it fell drastically. Jenifer, Jermaine Harper, Elton Brown and Jason Clark totaled five points, three rebounds, one assist and seven personal fouls in 41 minutes.
"Our younger guys didn't have their best game," said Gillen, who had been surprised at how much of an impact the rookies made in the first few games. "Our freshmen are good players, but it's still going to take time, I think."
Virginia fell behind 12-3 just 2 1/2 minutes into the game, but used an 8-0 run to pull close and took a 26-24 lead when Mason hit a three-pointer with 7:42 left in the half. Two and a half minutes later, Evtimov converted a four-point play to tie the score at 31. The Wolfpack finished the half with a 17-6 run and led the rest of the way.
"We just weren't in sync the whole game," Gillen said. "They did some good defensive things and we just couldn't finish. We weren't sharp. The game was there; we could have won. We just didn't do our job. . . . I think the better team won today."
N.C. State deflates fourth-ranked UVa in Charlottesville
Similar to the thumping administered by Wake Forest last year when a 10-0 Virginia came to Winston-Salem to begin ACC play, N.C. State (11-3, 1-1 ACC) snapped a 13-game losing streak in Charlottesville, and dealt the Cavaliers (9-1, 0-1) a loss in their league opener for the seventh straight year.
In the loss, Travis Watson (Brookneal) tied his career high with 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds despite missing six minutes in the second half due to cramps.
Roger Mason Jr. scored 18 points, but missed 9 of 10 shots in the second half, all in the final 9 minutes, and no one else from Virginia emerged to help ease the load on Mason's shoulders. Chris Williams scored 18 points, but five were in the final 46 seconds, when the game was already all but decided, and no one else was in double figures.
Virginia allowed the Wolfpack to impose its will on offense, shooting 60.7 percent from the field and making 8 of 13 3-pointers in the first half for a 48-37 halftime lead. The Cavaliers (9-1, 0-1 ACC) had come back from a 43-27 deficit against Virginia Tech, and a 9-point Rutgers halftime lead. But this proved too much, even as the Cavaliers repeatedly got within one possession of tying the game in the second half.
"I was confident we would come out and get our burst and get back into the game," said guard Roger Mason Jr. of his mood at halftime. Then he paused. "It's not a good habit to get into, to be down so much and think we are so good that we can just come back."
N.C. State was a 44.1 percent shooting team through its first 13 games, but came out with a 17-for-28 first half, taking an early 12-3 lead and closing the half with a 10-3 run. The Wolfpack had scored more than 36 points in a half just once previously this season - 48 in the first against Prairie View A & AM.
The Cavaliers joined such lofty company by offering little resistance.
Coach Pete Gillen's pressure defense is built around disrupting opponents through athleticism, so when the effort is not there, it shows. The Wolfpack had little trouble, turning the ball over just five times in the first half, and making shot after shot.
Anthony Grundy, the scrappy Wolfpack senior, scored 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting, and sank three 3-pointers. Illian Evtimov, younger brother of former North Carolina forward Vasco Evtimov, scored 15 points including four 3-pointers. Prized freshman Julius Hodge lived up to his billing, putting up 21 points on 7-for-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers.
"It was a combination of them making some great shots and us not playing good defense," Gillen said. "We were able to escape some nonconference games where we had a big deficit, but you can't keep doing that. I don't know if our guys think they can turn it on and off."
In the second half Saturday, as in their previous comebacks, the Cavaliers forced turnovers and relied on their opponents' dreadful shooting patterns to return.
During one key stretch, with the score 71-64 after a Grundy layup at 7:13, N.C. State did not make another field goal until 11.8 seconds were left, when Marcus Melvin had a fast-break dunk after the game was decided.
Gillen said that all the elements were there for Virginia to make its run. "The game was there," he said. "We could have won. The crowd was into it."
With Watson in trouble and the game slipping away midway through the second half, Gillen kept J.C. Mathis, the starter at power forward, on the bench in favor of a smaller, quicker lineup in order to better pressure N.C. State. That paid dividends on defense, as the Wolfpack cooled to a more palatable 37.9 percent shooting.
But on offense, "we just weren't in sync all night," Gillen said. "We just couldn't finish plays. We did some things that just weren't smart."
Least intelligent of all was one play by freshman Keith Jenifer. After cutting the lead to 66-65, the closest the game had been since N.C. State took a 2-point lead with 4:23 left in the first half, the Cavaliers got the ball back after Hall drew a charging foul off Melvin. Alone bringing the ball up, Jenifer was stripped at midcourt by Grundy, who drove in for a layup.
Two plays later, Grundy stripped Hall and fed Clifford Crawford for an easy layup. Then, after Watson lost the ball out of bounds, Melvin missed a three, but Grundy put the ball back up for a 71-64 lead. The Wolfpack made 8 of 10 free throws over the remainder of the game to seal the victory.
No. 4 Virginia falls flat against N.C. State in ACC opener