Virginia Basketball: How the Cavaliers survived major test at N.C. State

It wasn’t pretty but No. 3 Virginia Basketball picked up a hard-fought ACC win at No. 23 N.C. State.

The No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers traveled to Raleigh on Tuesday night expecting a fight with the No. 23 N.C. State Wolfpack. Well, that’s exactly what the third-ranked Hoos got as the Wolfpack took them to overtime and UVA narrowly escaped with a 66-65 win to move to 19-1 (7-1) on the season.

Virginia controlled much of the game and entered halftime with a 27-23 lead. The Cavaliers were hot to open the second half and jumped out to an 11-point lead and appeared to be running away with it.

However, the Wolfpack were slowly warming up from three-point range and senior center Wyatt Walker proved to be a major factor for the Wolfpack. Walker was crashing the boards and running the floor and UVA appeared to have no answer for him at times as the ‘Pack kept fighting back to close Virginia’s lead.

Finally, with under three minutes remaining, N.C. State finally tied the game and the Wahoos were on the ropes. Wolfpack guard Markell Johnson’s defense on Virginia’s Ty Jerome led to several uncharacteristic mistakes by the UVA point guard. Jerome, who scored 12 points, also turned the ball over four times. UVA as a team turned the ball over 16 times, twice as much as its season average. Jerome had a chance to win it in regulation, waving off his teammates, and drove to the hoop and came up short.

The game was headed to overtime.

Virginia battled foul trouble for much of the second half as center Jack Salt fouled out as did De’Andre Hunter. Fortunately for the ‘Hoos, Hunter’s fifth foul came with 0.9 seconds left as he fouled Johnson from three-point range. Johnson hit the first one, missed the second and connected on the third. Once he made the third free throw, all UVA needed to do was inbound the ball and the game was over. Kyle Guy caught the ball inbounds pass the game was over.

Fortunately for Virginia, there was no double overtime because that would have been difficult without Hunter, who led the Cavaliers with 15 points.

Guy struggled, scoring just 10 points as he shot three of 11 from the field. His three-point basket with four minutes remaining in overtime proved to be a clutch shot when his team needed it the most. It was Guy’s only trey of the evening.

UVA head coach Tony Bennett realized how lucky his team was to escape with the win.

It was Virginia’s worst performance of the season, on many fronts, yet it came away with an ACC win on the road, against a ranked team. The Wahoos battled foul trouble, turnovers, and an off night from Jerome and Guy, but still held on for an impressive road win.

Next, the Cavaliers return to Charlottesville to host Miami on Saturday then get a week for the much-awaited rematch with No. 2 Duke.