No. 14 Virginia Holds Off NC State, 64-57

RALEIGH, N.C. – Three players scored in double figures to lead No. 14 Virginia (12-3, 8-1 ACC) to a 64-57 win over NC State (7-7, 3-6 ACC) on Wednesday night at PNC Arena.

Sam Hauser (Stevens Point, Wis.) and Trey Murphy III (Durham, N.C.) each had 18 points and Jay Huff (Durham, N.C.) added 12. Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) dished out six assists with eight points and Reece Beekman (Baton Rouge, La.) had eight points.

Virginia shot 46.3 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent, while NC State shot 43.4 percent. UVA converted 20-of-22 free throws. NC State led in rebounds (31-24) and points in the paint (30-22). Jericole Hellems had a game-high 23 points for the Wolfpack.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Hauser scored 11 of the first 19 points for UVA as it took a 19-13 lead at the 10:25 mark in the first half. NC State went on a 9-0 run, all by Hellems, to go ahead 22-19. UVA did not score for four minutes in that span. Huff hit a three to end the run and spark a 9-0 run by the Cavaliers as UVA took a 28-24 lead into the half.

Virginia extended its lead to 36-27 early in the second half after a three-point play by Beekman. The Cavaliers were leading 43-34, but NC State had an 8-0 run over five minutes to regain the lead 44-43 with 6:53 to play. Virginia countered with a 12-2 run capped by a dunk from Murphy III to take a 57-48 lead with 3:19 remaining. The Cavaliers scored on nine of their last 10 possessions before heading to the free throw line down the stretch.

THE GAME BALL GOES TO

Trey Murphy III had 18 points, with two three-pointers three dunks. He scored eight of UVA’s last nine points and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

FROM TONY BENNETT

On what learned about team after NC State came back to take lead:

“The message, I talked about trying not to yield. I thought we yielded a bit too much and at key times against Virginia Tech and I didn’t sense that tonight. Even in the first half, there was a couple possessions, but the stats that stood out to me, were we only allowed three offensive rebounds when we allowed eight in the first half. That was a bit of resiliency. Trey (Murphy III) had a big offensive rebound and then we handled the ball because they started turning up the gas on the press, you could feel that. We have one takeaway, Casey (Morsell) threw one and they went and laid it in. A couple breakdowns, and then I thought we made it hard for them. We made some plays and got to the free throw line through drives and even the threes we missed for the most part were good shots. They showed some, the idea of not yielding. I kept saying that the timeout ‘don’t yield, don’t yield’ and I was glad to see that we hung tough and came away with a good road victory.

NOTES

• UVA went 20 of 22 from the free throw line (both ACC season highs)
• UVA has limited 12 opponents to 64 or fewer points
• The Cavaliers are 13-1 in their last 14 regular-season games against NC State
• UVA has limited the Wolfpack to 57 or fewer points in nine of the last 10 games in the series
• Hauser has reached double figures in 14 of 15 games
• Reece Beekman had a career-best two blocked shots
• Beekman matched a career-high with five rebounds
• Murphy’s 18 points marked an ACC high
• Kihei Clark had a game-high six assists

UP NEXT

Virginia returns home to host Pitt on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.