The Wolfpack was the preseason pick to be champions while Virginia was the choice to finish last. The gulf was evident from the get-go, though the Cavaliers showed well and the game seemed more competitive than the final score line would otherwise indicate.
Virginia        55
NC State       82
Positive
Amandine Toi is a stud. After starting the season slowly – 6.3ppg for the first four matches – she’s finding her form. She lead the team in scoring for the fourth straight game, and on the strength of a good night from three – 4 for 8 – she pretty much Virginia in contention in the first quarter. She has an effective, if mechanical, eurostep and she’s constantly in motion.
Positive
Toi picked up her second foul late in the first quarter. Coach Tina Thompson kept her in the game, and Toi may have played even better after that second whistle. Thompson didn’t have much choice because we weren’t going to be the Wolfpack with Toi riding the pine. It was a good call and Toi repaid Thompson’s trust.
Negative
Camryn Taylor had a night to forget, going 2 – 13 and turning the ball over 5 times. Her season trajectory is opposite that of Toi’s. While she was the team’s leading scorer through the first six games, she’s really struggled since. She stayed out of foul trouble since Thompson kept her away from defending NC State’s Elissa Cunane. Fouls have been the problem, but today it was just missing too many makeable shots.
Positive
Virginia shot the 3-ball pretty well today. Lead by Toi’s 4 – 8 shooting on the night, the Cavs were 9 – 18 from deep until the Green Team came in and hoisted a couple of meaningless threes. If Toi and Kaydan Lawson can come close to replicate their shooting feats in this game the rest of the season, Virginia will scare some teams in ACC play.
Negative
Virginia had no answer for NC State point guard Raina Perez. She’s short and stocky and doesn’t look like a basketball player, but she played just about a perfect game. 6 – 6 from the field, 3 – 3 from distance, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and in control every single dribble of the ball. She missed a free throw. That was just about the only blemish on her game.
Negative
It’s going to be a long season. It looks like the team has the building-blocks to be competitive. The women play hard, have a decent point guard in Taylor Valladay who frees Toi to be the scorer, and have a couple of low-post options in Taylor and Eleah Parker. But at this point, every team in the ACC has a winning record. Except Virginia. And we’re nowhere close to that, sitting at 3 – 8 on the season. Virginia will have to scrap for every single win.
Negative
Resetting the shot clock. It has been a surprise to me to see just how many times officials have to head to the monitors to verify the shot clock. It happened three times in the game. And the reviews seem to take longer than it does for the men. I presume the equipment is the same, so it has to be operator error or less experienced referees, but three shot-clock reviews is too many.
Read the Virginia game report here.