CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — N.C. State couldn’t find an offensive rhythm until it was too late, allowing Virginia to build a 20-point halftime lead on the way to a 78-60 Cavaliers victory on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena.
Virginia’s Sean Singletary led the way for the Cavaliers with 21 points. State made a late surge to cut the lead to 13, but ultimately fell to 4-9 in conference play.
Junior forward Ben McCauley attributed his team’s latest lackluster effort to over-thinking and hurried decisions.
“We rushed things,” McCauley said. “As you saw in the second half, when we take our time and go inside and run our offense, we’re a pretty good team. Unfortunately we didn’t do that in the first half and that led to turnovers and that led to them getting a big lead.”
Virginia came out of a week-long hiatus looking refreshed, while State looked caught off guard and remained a step behind.
Coach Sidney Lowe said the style of play that dictated the game did not fit well with State’s strengths, and it was difficult for the Pack to gain control of the tempo.
“We’re not a running team, and we don’t make good decisions on the break,” Lowe said. “We need to pull it back and execute our stuff and try to take advantage of match-ups and situations. Sometimes I can’t stand up quick enough to whistle and tell them to slow it down. By that time, it’s too late and they’ve already turned it over.”
State committed turnover after turnover, resulting in the halftime deficit. It compounded the mistakes with cold shooting, hitting only six of 22 shots in the first half.
“I felt like we really knew what we needed to do to come in here and win, but I guess we all were wrong,” redshirt sophomore Brandon Costner said.
Freshman, and leading scorer, J.J. Hickson failed to register a point until 6:06 remaining in the second half and finished with seven points. Senior guard Gavin Grant managed only six points on 2-of-6 shooting while junior guard Courtney Fells had eight points.
Coming in to Sunday’s game, those three players were averaging a combined 40.7 points — 61 percent of State’s offensive output.
“They trapped [Hickson] and came down on him,” Lowe said. “Give them credit, they know where we’re trying to go, but we have to be smart and just kick the ball out as we did in the second half. We don’t seem to be experienced enough to understand that.”
Due to the absence of points from the usual scoring leaders, State was forced to rely on scoring off the bench. Costner led the team with 14 points and sophomore Trevor Ferguson added a career-high 11 points, including three 3-pointers. In total, the bench scored 30 points in the loss.
With two more home games left on the schedule, McCauley said State still has a chance to salvage the season.
“We’re still trying to win,” McCauley said. “As you saw in the second half, we’re not going to quit. We’re going to fight back as hard as we can. I don’t think we’ve forgotten how to win, we’re just a step behind.”
In the end, Costner voiced the frustration that the team- and fans- are feeling in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
“I feel like we’re athletic enough and talented enough,” Costner said. “But when we try to do so much, we confuse the play. It’s a low point in the season, but we’ll see how we bounce back.”
