NC State
Virginia
Wolfpack Cruises Past Cavaliers, 79-63
2/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 7, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Charlottesville, Va. - Few times in recent memory has NC State been good enough to send an opposing ACC crowd to the parking lots with more than five minutes to play. But on Saturday, at University Hall, a building in which the Wolfpack had dropped 14 of its last 15 games, many Cavalier fans couldn't get to the exits fast enough with time winding down in the second half. Julius Hodge scored 26 points, Marcus Melvin 16, Ilian Evtimov 12 and freshman Engin Atsur 11 as the Pack (14-5, 7-2) tightened its grip on second place in the ACC standings with a 79-63 victory over Virginia (12-8, 2-7).
Not only did the impressive win mark NC State's second straight on the road, it was a second consecutive ACC road victory by double digits, something no Wolfpack team had done since the national title year of 1982-83. The Pack has now prevailed in four of its last five conference games, perhaps the best stretch NC State has enjoyed during the Herb Sendek era.
"It's been a good stretch," Sendek said. "Certainly, we've had a good majority of those games on the road. During that stretch, we've only had Georgia Tech and Wake Forest at home. Going back to our game at Boston College, we've been traveling a lot lately. Fortunately for us, we've been able to steal a couple of wins on the road. When we've gone home, our fans have been absolutely tremendous and have really helped us have a great homecourt."
On Saturday, NC State took care of business without its home fans there to add energy. Virginia, a team that figured to be desperate after tumbling to the bottom of the league standings, put up a strong fight until the final seven minutes of the opening half. But after a J.R. Reynolds jumper evened the score 22-22 with 6:49 left in the first half, the Cavs went cold in the face of NC State's relentless man-to-man defense. As Virginia was missing its last seven field goal attempts of the half, the Wolfpack went on a 12-1 run to grab a commanding 34-23 lead at the break. The late-half barrage started with a Melvin 3-pointer from the right wing. Melvin then added a layup and another 3 to give the Wolfpack a nine-point edge, before Evtimov topped it off by scoring on a stick-back basket with just three seconds showing on the clock.
"Certainly that run turned out to be the difference in the game," said Sendek. "That's the nature of basketball. Sometimes it's just one run during the course of a game that separates the teams and for us today it was the end of the first half."
As the two teams headed to their respective locker rooms, U-Hall had all the atmosphere of a morgue. Not much changed in the second half when NC State would continue to build on its lead. From the end of the first half and through the first few minutes of the second period, the Cavaliers went better than nine minutes without a field goal.
And just when Virginia tried to make a game of it by closing to within 11 at the 12:14 mark, Atsur answered with some timely bombs from the perimeter. After hitting from long-range to put the Pack up 51-37, the freshman from Turkey would add two more over the next few minutes to help NC State build its lead up to 19. It was nearly a repeat performance of last Sunday's game at Maryland when Atsur nailed four big 3-pointers in the second half.
"He's really stepped up big for us each of the last two weekends," Sendek said. "He did the same thing a week ago at Maryland. Today against Virginia he was red hot and he's playing with a great deal of confidence right now."
For most of the second half, the only sound that could be heard in what normally is a rowdy arena was the sound of coaches barking out instructions and the bounce of the ball. NC State, the nation's top free throw shooting team coming in, finished the game by knocking down its last 12 shots from the stripe and connected on 20-of-25 for the game. The Wolfpack also shot 51 percent from the floor after draining 59 percent (13-of-22) in the second half. The Cavaliers hit 41.5 from the field.
Hodge was the show in the first half, scoring both on drives to the basket and getting open off the ball with some sharp cuts. Jason Clark, Gary Forbes and Reynolds all tried there hand at guarding Hodge, but without much success. Hitting seven of his 12 field goal attempts, the junior from Harlem was also 11-of-13 from the free throw line.
"I really felt like I was going to go out there and attack whoever was defending me," Hodge said. "I didn't focus too much on their strategy, but made them adjust to what I was doing out there. When you get it going early, teams make their adjustments and then it opens things up on the perimeter."
In the second half, the Wolfpack did indeed balanced out its scoring with Melvin, Atsur and others contributing to the offensive cause. Among other things, NC State dominated the boards, outrebounding the Cavaliers by a stunning 39-22 margin, including 10-5 on the offensive glass. Hodge, Melvin and Scooter Sherrill all finished with seven rebounds apiece.
Devin Smith, who didn't start the game, led the Cavaliers with 14 points, while Reynolds and Forbes had 10 each. Center Elton Brown, Virginia's leading scorer entering the game, had only five points and three rebounds in 14 minutes of playing time.
"I thought a big key to the game was when it was 22-22 and we get a wide open layup (from Brown) and miss it," said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. "We get deflated and the building gets deflated. They come down and hit a 3 and get momentum. When a good team like that, a veteran team, gets momentum it's tough. Hodge in my opinion right now is the best player in the league. He makes guys better."
And NC State is a team that continues to get better. So good, in fact, that the Pack was sending people to the exits earlier than usual at University Hall.
