NC State
Virginia
Wolfpack Stuns No. 4 Virginia, 81-74
1/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 5, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Charlottesville, Va.--For nearly a week, NC State's basketball players had been reminded of the Wolfpack's nasty 13-game losing streak at Virginia's University Hall, a skid that started way back in 1989.
On Saturday, the Pack made sure that it won't have to answer the same questions next year.
Freshman Julius Hodge scored 21 points, guard Anthony Grundy added 19 and Cliff Crawford, making his first start of the year at point guard, contributed 11 points and a handful of clutch free throws down the stretch as NC State stunned fourth ranked and previously unbeaten Virginia, 81-74.
The Wolfpack (11-3, 1-1) also got an eye-opening performance from rookie forward Illian Evtimov, who bounced off the bench to score 12 of his career-high 15 points in the opening half.
With the victory, NC State claimed its second road win over a team rated in the top 10 this season. In early December, the Wolfpack toppled a Syracuse team that was ranked ninth when the two clubs met at the Carrier Dome. It marks the first time NC State has posted two road wins over top 10 competition since the 1984-85 season.
Pretty heady stuff for a club that has been relying heavily on five freshmen and a sophomore.
"Our team continues to gain confidence and I thought our team played with great balance today," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "We had grit and determination on one hand, and we also had poise and composure on the other. Sometimes that's a difficult recipe to achieve. A couple of times the roof almost came off this place as Virginia made a run, but our team just would not break. It's very similar to what happened at the Carrier Dome last month."
Indeed, Virginia (9-1, 0-1) did make several runs in the second half after NC State had grabbed a 48-37 lead at halftime by shooting 60.7 percent from the floor. With guard Roger Mason (18 points) scoring outside and Chris Williams (18) and Travis Watson (20 points, 13 rebounds) providing punch in the paint, The Cavaliers climbed within one point at 65-64 with just a few ticks inside of 10 minutes remaining.
But the Pack wouldn't cave in.
Grundy, who made big plays on both ends of the floor all day, came up with a steal that led to a layup making it 67-64. Moments later, Grundy fed Crawford for a layup after another steal. And finally, Grundy was there again to tip in Marcus Melvin's missed three-pointer to push the Pack in front 71-64 with 7:20 remaining. To go along with his 18 points, Grundy also added three steals and six assists.
"That's what seniors do and that's what great players do," Sendek said of Grundy. "I've had Anthony over to the house and have talked to him about how we need him to be consistently outstanding. Not to put it all on Anthony because it's a team game, but when he's off pace a little bit our team tends to struggle."
And even when it was struggling to score over the last five minutes, NC State dug down and played its best defense when the game was on the line. But Virginia wasn't about to go down without a fight, especially when Mason canned a long three to bring the Wahoos within four points at 73-69 with 2:14 showing on the clock.
After two free throws by Grundy and another by Crawford gave NC State a 76-69 advantage with 57 seconds left, Williams kept Virginia in it by knocking down a trey from the left-hand corner. But that's as close as the Cavaliers would get the rest of the way as Crawford calmly bagged two free throws and Melvin threw down an emphatic slam dunk to put it away.
"We knew Virginia would come out and give us a punch," Crawford said of Virginia's runs in the second half. "We took their best punch and we gave them one back. Basketball is a game of runs, they made theirs and we ultimately made ours."
Over the last 7:20 of the game, NC State made only two field goals. But the Pack more than made up for missing a few open shots and a couple of layups by holding Virginia to just three baskets during that same stretch.
"I know at one of the very last timeouts that we had gone eight possessions and Virginia had only scored once," Sendek said. "Ultimately, as much as putting the ball in the basket and making free throws are essential, to come away with a win you have to come away with some stops sooner or later."
Stops were few and far between for Virginia at the very beginning as NC State jumped out to a quick 12-3 lead by shredding Virginia's zone pressure. Attacking from the opening tip, the Wolfpack got a pair of driving layups from Crawford and two threes from Grundy, causing Cavaliers' coach Pete Gillen to use a timeout less than three minutes into the game.
"I told our players before the game that one of the keys to the game were our fullcourt and halfcourt defenses," Gillen said. "That turned out to be the case because we did not defend. They shot 61 percent in the first half and just carved us up. It was a combination of them making some great shots and us not playing good defense. We got down 11 and it's tough to play comeback."
Hodge and Evtimov were the primary reasons Virginia found itself in a deep hole at halftime. Hodge, who finished 7-8 from the floor, made all five of his shots in the opening half, including a pair of three-pointers. Evtimov came out of nowhere to nail three of his long-range bombs, including one that turned into a four-point play following a foul.
"When you make your first shot you feel like you're in a groove," Evtimov said. "I've been shooting a lot lately and I've been shooting pretty well in practice so I had my confidence up for the game."
Overall, NC State made 49 percent of its shots (28-57) and was 14-of-17 from the free throw line. Virginia also knocked down 49 percent from the floor (27-55).
The Wolfpack also turned 16 Cavaliers turnovers into 24 points. Uva scored just 13 points off of 14 NC State turnovers. Led by Evtimov, the Wolfpack bench had a big day, outscoring the Virginia bench 23-5.
