Sarah Cochran
Redshirt sophomore forward DJ Funderburk makes an attempt to get to the basket during the ACC Tournament game versus Virginia on Thursday, March 14, 2019 in the Spectrum Center. Funderburk scored 12 points and shot 4-6 against the Cavaliers. The Wolfpack lost to Virginia 76-56.
CHARLOTTE — The NC State men’s basketball team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament Thursday afternoon, losing to Virginia 76-56 in the tournament quarterfinals
In a complete turnaround from its first game against Virginia, the Wolfpack (22-10, 9-9 ACC) couldn’t stop Virginia guard Kyle Guy. The Cavaliers (28-2, 16-2 ACC) got off to a hot start, with two 3-pointers and two layups from Guy fueling an early 16-6 lead.
“[Virginia head coach] Tony [Bennett] is a hell of a coach and he does a tremendous job,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “But Kyle Guy was special today, and he made everybody look good.”
Led by redshirt sophomore forward DJ Funderburk’s personal 5-0 run, the Pack answered right back with an 18-2 run to take a 24-18 lead with under nine minutes remaining in the first half. Six different Wolfpack players scored points during the run, getting the crowd energized for the first time.
From the 8:06 mark of the half to 3:45 remaining, a free throw by Virginia center Jack Salt was the only point scored until redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn hit a mid-range jumper to make the score 26-22. The team then traded buckets down the stretch, and the Wolfpack carried a 29-27 lead into halftime of its biggest game of the season.
The Pack did a superb job in limiting the Virginia offense in the first half, holding every player except for Guy to three or fewer points. Guy kept Virginia in the game, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 14 points in the half.
“Kyle Guy was tremendous,” Keatts said. “The shots that he made were back-breakers.”
A three-point play from Jack Salt a couple minutes into the second half cut the NC State lead to one point, but junior guard Markell Johnson nailed a stepback 3-pointer to push the lead back to four points and silence the energized Virginia crowd.
Virginia took the lead back just a few minutes later, with Salt completing another three-point play to give the Cavaliers a 35-34 lead, their first lead since the 10:17 mark of the first half. Funderburk gave the Pack the lead right back with a layup, but an ensuing 22-7 Virginia run put the Cavaliers up 16 points with just under nine minutes to play.
“A lot of things happened in a short amount of time,” Keatts said. “That kind of blew the game open.”
The Cavaliers’ run iced the game, as NC State couldn’t muster any comeback in the final minutes, and a game that was competitive in the first half turned into a blowout at the end.
“I thought we played very well up until halftime,” Keatts said. “Then they made some plays and it kind of got away from us.”
Guy, a First Team All-ACC selection, ran wild beyond the arc all afternoon, constantly losing his defender for open 3-pointers. Guy finished with 29 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including hitting on seven of his nine 3-point attempts.
“When Kyle’s hot he’s hitting tough shots,” said sophomore guard Braxton Beverly. “Him hitting shots like those opens up pocket passes and lanes.”
Guy was at the top of the Pack’s scouting report according to Beverly, and despite mixing up defenders on Guy almost every possession, NC State just had no answer for him.
“A shooter like Kyle Guy … is really good at using screens,” Beverly said. “[Guy] got a little bit of daylight a couple times that we shouldn’t have given him and he took advantage of it.”
Johnson and Funderburk were the only two Wolfpack players in double-digits, with 13 and 12, respectively. After he had a strong first half with 10 points, NC State struggled to get Funderburk touches in the second half; the big man had just two points on one shot in the second half.
“[Virginia] made adjustments in the first half because [Funderburk] hurt them,” Keatts said. “They made some adjustments and kind of took him away.”
With the loss, the Wolfpack’s run in Charlotte is over and it will wait until Sunday night at 6 p.m. to find out if it gets selected for the NCAA Tournament.
“I like our chances,” Keatts said. “If you take half of the people they’re going to say certain teams should be in, and others [will say] certain teams shouldn’t be in. But I feel good about us.”