Paul McNeil Jr. and Quadir Copeland each poured in 21 points and North Carolina State added to its hot stretch by beating Virginia Tech 82-73 for its longest Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season winning streak (six games) in more than a half-century Saturday afternoon at Raleigh, N.C.

Tre Holloman cranked out 16 points, and Ven-Allen Lubin had 11 points for NC State (18-6, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). McNeil made four 3-pointers, and Hollomon hit seven 3s. Copeland provided 10 assists and five steals.

This is the Wolfpack’s best regular-season stretch in conference play within the same season since going 12-0 in 1973-74. They won the last four ACC regular-season games in 1988-89 and their first three in conference play the next season.

Amani Hansberry (19 points) and Tobi Lawal (17 points, 15 rebounds) led Virginia Tech (16-8, 5-6), which had a week off since falling at home to first-place Duke. Neoklis Avdalas added 14 points, and Jaden Schutt made three 3s on the way to 11 points off the bench.

Virginia Tech, which repeatedly failed to string together scoring possessions, went 7-for-25 on 3-pointers. The Hokies finished with 15 turnovers and 14 assists.

NC State overcame a shaky shooting outing from Darrion Williams, who had heated up in recent games, but was limited to four points on 1-for-9 shooting. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech starter Ben Hammond didn’t score in 32 minutes, missing all nine of his shots.

The Wolfpack, fresh off a big comeback Tuesday night at SMU, led 36-24 at halftime. Virginia Tech more than doubled its first-half output in the second half but it wasn’t enough.

Holloman’s 3-pointer gave the Wolfpack a 20-7 lead slightly more than eight minutes into the game. Virginia Tech didn’t have a 2-point basket until more than 10 minutes into the game.

Virginia Tech played again without guard Tyler Johnson, who hasn’t been in a game since prior to Christmas but earlier in the week was considered likely to return.

–Field Level Media

Returning to his hometown, freshman Acaden Lewis scored a career-high 26 points to propel Villanova to an 80-73 Big East Conference victory over Georgetown on Saturday in Washington, D.C.

Duke Brennan put up 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (18-5, 9-3 Big East) who won their third straight and completed a regular season sweep of the Hoyas.

Tyler Perkins added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Malachi Palmer scored all 10 of his points in the second half for Villanova which trailed by six points early in the second half before rallying for the victory.

Lewis fueled the comeback with 17 of his points coming in the final 11 minutes. His consecutive 3-pointers just 47 seconds apart gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game 77-69 with 1:46 left.

Lewis’ performance helped compensate for subpar showing by Villanova’s top scorer Bryce Lindsay, who missed all eight of his shots, while going 0 of 6 from 3-point range as he failed to score for the first time in two seasons.

Malik Mack scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half for the Hoyas (13-11, 5-8) who were gunning for their fifth straight conference win, a feat they had not accomplished since 2013.

Vince Iwuchukwu came off the bench, adding 15 points with 12 rebounds and KJ Lewis added 13 points for Georgetown, which committed 14 turnovers and were outscored off turnovers 23-3.

Early in the second half, Villanova started a 17-4 run which was ignited by a pair of 3-pointers by Palmer. Perkins added a triple and a jumper from the paint as the Wildcats surged to a 61-54 lead with 10:21 left.

A 3-pointer by Mack with 5:41 tied it 64-all. A slam by Iwuchukwu tied it again at 66-66, before Lewis answered with all but one of the points in an 11-3 spurt which put Villanova in command for good.

Georgetown led through most of the first half but never by more than six points. Villanova gained a pair of one-point advantages, but both were brief as they went into halftime down 40-37.

After Villanova opened the second half with 3-pointers from Matt Hodge and Perkins to take a 43-40 lead, Georgetown answered with a 10-1 run.

The spree was bookended by 3-pointers from Caleb Williams and Mack as the Hoyas grabbed a 50-44 advantage.

– Field Level Media

Efficient shooting and ball security have boosted Iowa to a five-game winning streak entering Sunday’s game against Northwestern in Iowa City, Iowa.

A road trip to Oregon and Washington last week showcased the trends anew, as the Hawkeyes combined to shoot 59.3% with only nine turnovers.

“We’ve got unselfish kids,” Iowa coach Ben McCollum said. “We’ve been working on it constantly. Just our drive to the basket reads and coming to stops and attacking when we don’t have a ball screen — those kind of things.”

Iowa (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) is looking for its 11th straight home win against Northwestern. To get there, the Hawkeyes figure to be reliant on top scorers Bennett Stirtz (19.2 points per game), Tavion Banks and Alvaro Folgueiras while reading and reacting to create opportunities for the rest of the rotation.

“We’re just taking what the defense gives us,” Stirtz said. “Sometimes, they take away (Folgueiras). Sometimes, they take away the pocket. Sometimes, they take away me or the shooter. So it’s different every game because we see a lot of different coverages. But it’s the coaches’ job to put us in the right positions and just us adapting.”

Northwestern (10-13, 2-10) will aim to be more competitive than its most recent game as the Wildcats conclude a two-game road trip. Fifth-ranked Illinois thumped the Wildcats 84-44 on Wednesday, limiting Northwestern to 29.2% shooting that included a 4-for-25 effort from long range.

“Right now, we’re struggling. We’re playing a lot of young kids that aren’t really ready for this level right now,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to take some lumps and go through it to figure things out.”

Collins is calling on newcomers including Tyler Kropp, Tre Singleton and Jake West — all freshmen who started against Illinois — to be more resilient, especially in games when the team slumps from the floor from the outset.

Wednesday’s contest fit that bill.

With Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli limited to four points amid swarming defense from the Illini, Collins pledged to help Martinelli “get his pop and verve back.”

“The last couple games, I’ve felt like he’s played a little bit tired, and that’s on us,” Collins added. “We can help. And we need some of those guys to help him, too, because he’s seeing two and three guys on every possession.”

–Field Level Media