North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack, Cavaliers Clash at RBC Center
1/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2006
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami have some advice for NC State: don't sleep on Virginia. Those are the four ACC teams that have already lost to the Cavaliers, who are in their first year under new coach Dave Leitao. When it visits the RBC Center for a 7:00 p.m. meeting with NC State on Wednesday night, Virginia will bring a 4-3 conference record to town to go along with a 10-7 mark overall. The Wolfpack, ranked 17th in the coaches poll and No. 18 in the A.P. Top 25, currently holds down second place in the league, having won five of seven in the ACC and 16-of-20 overall.
In evaluating the rebuilding job Leitao was up against after he was hired to replace Pete Gillen last spring, many prognosticators predicted that Virginia would be hard-pressed to win a single ACC game this season. But as it turns out, the Cavaliers' have already matched the number of league victories that they had all of last year.
Perhaps Virginia is the ACC poster child for the long-held theory that teams with good guards always have a chance to win games in college basketball. With Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds anchoring their backcourt, the Wahoos certainly feature two of the more explosive guards in the conference.
"Let's credit coach Gillen for bringing Sean Singletary to Virginia," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "Last year he was a freshman and he took over games even then. J.R. Reynolds is another great player. Their backcourt is just tremendous. In college basketball when you have terrific guard play, that's significant. That's what Virginia has had."
Singletary has been especially productive, averaging 18.4 points and nearly five assists per game, two figures that rank third in the ACC. No other guard in the league has done a better job of making his teammates better while also getting points for himself.
"It is what it is," Leitao said when asked about the heavy load Singletary carries for the Cavaliers. "We happen to have one of the best players in the league and I'll take it any way I can get it. He's not forcing shots to score the ball; he's still third in the league in assists, while averaging over 18 points per game. That combination is good for us. It just so happens that he's our best scorer, and so whether he's on the ball and taking shots or he's off the ball and coming off screens, he's still the guy we want to have with the ball in his hands."
Reynolds, who averages 14.9 points per game, appears to be back at full-strength after taking a frightening fall last week against Miami. The 6-2 junior did come back to tally 19 points in Saturday's 82-63 defeat at Duke.
After falling to the Blue Devils, Virginia will be making a quick return to `Tobacco Road' for Wednesday's contest.
"Like Duke, NC State has a ton of experience," Leitao said. "They're probably the smartest team we have in our league in terms of execution. It's a different type of challenge."
Different in that NC State runs its own hybrid of an offense that was born out of the Princeton system. Having already faced Richmond and Northwestern this year, the Cavaliers have played against teams that employ similar principles in their offensive schemes.
"[NC State] runs a much more advanced version," said Leitao. "They're not as patient because they don't have to be; they have very good offensive players and they're not looking just for back-cuts. I think they're just looking to make sure the system gives them the best shot that they can get."
And based on the statistics, NC State has been getting plenty of good shots out of that offense. In conference games, the Wolfpack leads the league in scoring offense (81.3 ppg.), field goal percentage (.504), and 3-point percentage (.461).
Senior Cameron Bennerman has taken over the scoring lead for NC State, averaging 12.9 points per game. Bennerman, who sent the Wolfpack's eventual victory over Clemson into overtime with a dramatic 3-point shot on Saturday, has been at his best in league games, scoring at an average of 16.3 points per contest. In seven conference games, Bennerman is shooting 56.3 percent from the floor and 88.2 percent from the free throw line.
Cedric Simmons (12.8), Ilian Evtimov (11.4) and Engin Atsur (11.3) are also averaging double figures for the Pack.
