When Virginia Tech and NC State met for the first time on Jan. 4, the Hokies were coming off a 13-day COVID pause. They looked rusty, and the Wolfpack got the better of them, handing Tech its third ACC loss, 68-63, in Cassell Coliseum.
15 days later, Mike Young and Kevin Keatts face off again.
NC State (9-9, 2-5 ACC) is 1-2 since the last meeting after picking up a win at Louisville on Jan. 12. Tech (9-7, 1-4 ACC) finally got on the ACC leaderboard with a 79-73 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday.
Will the Hokies look like themselves again on Wednesday night in PNC Arena? That's the million-dollar question, but it's much more promising after the win over the Irish.
Nahiem Alleyne (22 points) and Justyn Mutts (24) led the way for a balanced offensive attack, while Keve Aluma added 17 and Storm Murphy dropped 12. The Hokies couldn't miss: 50% from the floor in the first half, 69.6% in the second, 59.2% for the game. Also impressive was the 10-20 (50%) from behind the arc, including 5-8 (62.5%) in the second half.
In the first meeting against NC State, however, that wasn't the case. Though Tech shot 43.4% from the floor and 50% in the second half, the only offense came from Aluma (18 points) and Murphy (14). Alleyne was 2-of-11, Mutts had an uncharacteristic six turnovers, and the Wolfpack outrebounded the Hokies by ten, 36-to-26, while grabbing 14 offensive boards.
That's without mentioning Dereon Seabron and Terquavion Smith, who scored a combined 38 points for NC State, made 14 of their 27 field goals and had 17 total rebounds. Keatts' bunch is lengthy and attacks the basket, and their physicality, particularly on the glass, got to the Hokies in the end.
"Wolfpack are hard to guard with Seabron and Smith," Tech head coach Mike Young said on Monday's ACC teleconference. "[Jericole] Hellems is a difficult matchup. Offensively, we did some really good things, but we got beat in the last six, seven minutes due to poor rebounding and some real shoddy work in terms of our positioning defensively.
"We've got to shore up our rebounding and we've got to be more connected, we've got to be in better spots on the defensive end because as we know, Seabron is such a dynamic scorer, as is Smith. Those two guys got going on us and that was probably the difference in the game."
Seabron, a redshirt sophomore from Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk, averaged just five points and four rebounds in 2020-21. This year, he's been the driving force for the Wolfpack, averaging 19.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game and shooting 53% from the floor. He's a lefty who loves driving to the rack, and he's very difficult to stop.
"Seabron just catches you in between being ball side to help side," Young said, "and now here he goes downhill, and those angles and those gaps are just critical to disrupting driving lanes. I don't recall a charge that we took in that game, he just outruns you. He does a good job of getting fouled. ... We've got our hands full."
Indeed, especially with the problems NC State poses on the boards. Aluma called them "relentless" after the game, and Young said the Hokies' "quickness to the ball was lacking and it was evident." Murphy mentioned the team needed to play with more energy, and Saturday's win over Notre Dame was a good example of that.
Connectivity defensively, something Young and his players have mentioned frequently, is going to be important. Making sure Mutts is involved is crucial, too.
In the first game against NC State, Mutts was quiet. Six points (3-7 FG), seven rebounds, six turnovers. He had an impact on the boards, sure, but he didn't look like himself out there passing the ball. Against Virginia in the following game, Mutts had two points, four rebounds, two assists and a turnover. He spent much of the game sitting out due to foul trouble, and he didn't have a chance to make an imprint on the game.
In the win over the Irish, Mutts looked like his normal self. He was efficient, shared the ball and attacked the rim. He has the ball in his hands so much that Tech needs him to play well, and Young mentioned that he begged Mutts to be more assertive after the UVa game.
"He's a terrific passer and I think he becomes so set in that, in making the right pass, instead of pin your ears back and go play," Young said. "Be aggressive, assertive. He was really good on Saturday, got a three down.
"I just beg him. 'People are going to play you one-on-one because you pass the ball so well. If you're being guarded one-on-one, your first, second, third thought should be score the ball, and he did that on Saturday."
The Hokies are going to need him down the stretch, especially this one coming up. Virginia Tech has four games in the next week, and three of those contests are on the road. A trip to Boston College on Saturday falls before the rescheduled game at North Carolina on Monday, and Miami, the ACC's first-place team, comes to Blacksburg next Wednesday.
Mind you, all games but Boston College are opportunities for a Quadrant 1 or 2 victory. North Carolina (42, away) is a Quad 1 game, while NC State (121, away) and Miami (66, home) are Quad 2 contests.
For a team that is 1-4 in the league, the metrics still like them. The Hokies are 40th in the NET and No. 31 in KenPom. Good results over the next week could go a long way towards a postseason berth in March.