UVA Does UVA Things to N.C. State

OK folks. Here's your drunken game story.

Lorenzo Brown, a.k.a. Zon in your official game thread, went down with an ankle injury and N. C. State's chances of ending its road woes seemed to buckle with that ankle.

Brown managed just 10 minutes before his injury. The Wolfpack (16-5, 5-3) weathered the Zon-less storm until halftime, taking a 31-24 lead into the break, but withered in the second half without the all-ACC caliber lead man. State managed a paltry 24 second-half points, allowing Virginia (15-5, 5-2) to not only vault over the Pack in the game, but also in the ACC standings. State, the preseason favorites of the media and the coaches, finds itself sitting three games behind Miami in the loss column and will host the Hurricanes Saturday at the PNC.

Virginia is blessed with exactly one offensive threat, Joe Harris, who abused freshpeople T. J. Warren and Rodney Monroe Purvis (swear to god it's not the beer...color man actually called him Rodney Monroe once) for 22 points. Not good.

Also not good was State's 37.7% shooting. Virginia is good on defense, no doubt, but there were several good looks not converted. And the turnovers. State coughed it up 14 times in the relatively slow-paced game, giving the Whoos a +6 advantage in that pivotal stat.

Silver lining? If there is one, it was Richard Howell, or Captain Dickbeard as I lovingly call him in my drunken moments. Or, all the time. CDB had 12 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. He was on pace for a triple double at halftime, but the offense did not run through him so much after the break, which was likely due to the discombobulated cluster of pointguardlessness brought on by Zon's injury.

Calvin Leslie tried to pick up the slack. Despite battling a bug, Leslie finished with 20 and 13, but he was also guilty of being pushed out of bounds seven times committing seven turnovers. At least he was not on a plane to Belgium, as Akula tweeted, before the game. I'm sure he wasn't joking.

Oh, and dammit. Fuck. Golly.

The thing is, even without Zon, this team outclassed UVa in the talent department. Stop one player and you win. Didn't. Love each other and you win. But CDB and the suddenly disappearing TJW (1-for-7 from the field) quarreled openly on the floor. The same TJW that RT'd TDT's anti-Gott tweet. I can't help but think that the 0-3 on the road goes beyond the floor.

Paging the sports psychologist. Something is amiss. And I need to piss.

Someone kindly write the conclusion in the comments. How does this thing end?