What happened when NC State and Virginia got into half-court skirmish
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Darrion Williams and Sam Lewis got offsetting technicals from shoving.
- Scottie Ebube left the bench, shoved Sam Lewis and was ejected.
- NC State is 19-9; winning remaining games would improve its ACC standing.
N.C. State showed more fight during its on-court skirmish against Virginia on Tuesday night than it did for most of the actual game.
The Wolfpack and Cavaliers got into a brief, but minor, altercation at midcourt midway through UVA’s 90-61 blowout at John Paul Jones Arena that led to double technical fouls and an ejection.
“I was calling timeout and then whatever happened happened,” N.C. State head coach Will Wade said, keeping his answer surface level. “I didn’t get to see a good look at it, but I was trying to get a timeout.”
Official Roger Ayers originally called a technical foul on Wade for being on the court following N.C. State guard Paul McNeil’s 3-pointer; the Wolfpack’s third straight trey. The officials later rescinded the technical foul given to Wade.
During Wade’s animated initial reaction to the call, he explained later, he was calling for a timeout. As the teams were exiting to their respective benches, N.C. State forward Darrion Williams walked past Virginia guard Sam Lewis and shoved him with his shoulder. Lewis retaliated by pushing Williams.
The interaction devolved from that point, with Wolfpack guard Paul McNeil and forward Ven-Allen Lubin stepping in between the two players, which led to shoving between them, Lewis and UVA forward Thijs De Ridder.
N.C. State center Scottie Ebube left the bench and ran parallel to the scorer’s table toward Lewis. Ebube, listed at 6-10 and 280 pounds, shoved the 6-7, 210-pound Lewis several feet backward.
Williams and Lewis were called for offsetting technicals. Despite multiple players leaving both benches, Ebube was the only other player penalized. He was called for a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.
Players from both teams tried to play it off, saying the two teams are highly competitive and wanted to win. Emotions just got a little out of hand, and they had to return to play quickly.
Williams described it as guys “just playing basketball.”
McNeil acknowledged that the players are representing themselves and their universities. They want to play with heart, but they also need to keep things “clean and classy.”
Virginia head coach Ryan Odom said he thought the officiating crew handled the situation well.
“They looked at the film. I think it’s a hotly contested game, and there’s a timeout called, and then there’s a little bit of confusion,” Odom said. “Any time one team is in front of another team’s bench and there’s a timeout called, it just sometimes can happen. I think both teams have a ton of respect for one another, so it wasn’t a big deal.”
The scuffle ultimately did not impact either team. Virginia didn’t appear to be negatively affected, and it was already on a roll. N.C. State, meanwhile, did not experience any sort of consistent surge.
In the end, the Cavaliers continued what they did prior to the stoppage and commanded the court. They held N.C. State to a season-low 29.4% from the field. The Wolfpack’s 61 points tied its season low, also against Virginia in the first meeting of the year.
“We’re not ready to compete with the top of the league right now. It’s just a fact,” Wade said. “We got our doors pulled off twice by Virginia. Virginia is a great team. Give them credit. They’re just they’re better than us.”
The Wolfpack’s postseason outlook
N.C. State sits at 19-9 overall and 10-5 in the ACC. It still has an opportunity to earn a double bye in the ACC Tournament, meaning the Wolfpack wouldn’t begin tournament play until the quarterfinals. The team should earn the double bye comfortably if it won out, but that would include an upset over No. 1 Duke.
However, it can still earn a Top 4 seed by going 2-1, pending the results of other games. A Clemson win over UNC could put the Wolfpack in the top tier. A Miami (22-6, 11-4 ACC) win over Louisville (20-8, 9-6 ACC) would likely do it, too. It should not need both of those results, though.
The Wolfpack has the round-robin record and head-to-head wins over SMU (19-8, 8-6 ACC), Carolina (22-6, 10-5 ACC) and Clemson (20-8, 10-5 ACC), who are clumped together in the conference standings alongside N.C. State and Louisville.
This loss may impact where N.C. State sits in the NCAA Tournament seeding projections, but it was not favored to begin with. The Pack has been projected anywhere from a No. 6 to No. 10 seed this season.
“We definitely know what’s on the line,” McNeil said. “We’ve got the next three games we’ve got to win.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "What happened when NC State and Virginia got into half-court skirmish."
