CHAPEL HILL— There’s no doubt this season has been a trying one for the NC State men’s basketball team. But in each game this season, all mostly marked by strong effort or attempted comebacks, there has been heart and signs of life throughout.
The same couldn’t be said for the Wolfpack’s (10-12, 3-8 ACC) embarrassing 100-80 loss to the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels (15-6, 7-3 ACC) inside the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday, Jan. 29 during former head coach Roy Williams’ retirement ceremony. NC State allowed the Tar Heels to connect on a whopping 15 3-pointers in the distasteful loss.
“Well, I thought we ran into a red-hot Carolina team on the road,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “It’s tough because they hadn’t shot the ball that well the entire year. And to come out, and obviously, man, they were incredible behind the 3-point line, going 15 for 27. Everybody was good. … We played from behind the entire game. And then I felt like as the game went along, because they were shooting so well, we tried to match some of those shots. And certainly, when you do that, the game can get away from you a little bit.”
NC State hasn’t beaten the Tar Heels in the Dean Dome since January of 2018 and has lost 10 of the last 12 matchups, dating back to 2016. For every loss this season, there’s been a reasonable explanation; had a couple shots fallen or a couple of players been active, things may have been different.
But not this time.
The Wolfpack looked defeated, gassed, disappointing and, worst of all, defeated in the thrashing. By the 7:56 mark in the second half, NC State had seven points from players who weren’t freshman guard Terquavion Smith or senior forward Jericole Hellems. The Pack had just two bench points at that point in the game. NC State got just four non-Hellems/Smith points in the first half and just 21 for the game.
If there was any sort of bright side to the game for the Pack, it would be the performances of Smith and Hellems.
Smith finished with a career-high 34 points, playing his heart out for the duration of the game and causing disruptions where he could — especially late — and ended with four steals and a block. Smith’s 34 points and Hellems’ 25 accounted for 74% of NC State’s score.
“You know me, I’m going hard every time I get the chance,” Smith said. “Even if I’m not hitting, I’m still going hard. I give my all to NC State every time I step on the floor. That’s the reason I came to NC State anyways.”
Alternatively, redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron looked uncharacteristically inactive in the game, posting season-lows in points and rebounds and was a team-low minus-30. Seabron finished shooting a mere 1 of 6 from the floor and was nowhere near as aggressive as he normally is. Keatts gave Seabron some small-ball looks at the five but he didn’t take advantage.
“I just didn’t think he was playing well,” Keatts said. “He’s no different than any other player on our team. When you’re not playing well, you’re not playing good basketball, somebody else obviously gets the opportunity. So it’s more of a coach decision. I just didn’t think he had it tonight, for whatever reason; didn’t think he was playing good basketball.”
To be clear, this was obviously a stock-down performance for Keatts. Despite going down by huge, insurmountable amounts, Keatts never turned to his guards to set the offense and there were seemingly no set plays. Only nine of NC State’s baskets were assisted.
“We always all hold each other accountable,” Smith said. “For me personally, I talk to my teammates on the court, off the court. I let them know when they’re wrong and they let me know when I’m wrong. I can hold it and I can give it out top.”
Chapel Hill looked poised to be an ACC contender prior to the season and, though it hasn’t delivered on those expectations yet, looked every bit the part in the blowout. UNC got contributions from essentially every player in its rotation. RJ Davis and Caleb Love played well at the same time, combining for 38 points and nine assists. The Tar Heels finished the game shooting 54.8% from the floor and 55.6% from 3 on 27 attempts compared to NC State’s 38.8% clip from the field and 40% mark from range.
Armando Bacot dominated the Pack in the middle, as to be expected, putting up 18 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks. Bacot was huge in preventing the Wolfpack attack down the middle, preventing looks at the rim and making some easy shots that much more difficult.
“I thought Bacot did a great job,” Keatts said. “I think he ended up with six blocks in the game. And you know, we ran some stuff to get to the rim. But as we [have] talked about all year long, that’s the way we play. We’ve got to drive the basketball. … As you know we don’t have a back-to-the-basket guy, so it’s really really tough when your guards are driving the basketball [and] we’re not getting finishes or we’re not getting to the free-throw line.”
Brady Manek also gave the Wolfpack problems, scoring five 3-pointers and finishing the game with 17 points.
It was evident what kind of game NC State stepped foot into in the opening minutes of the matchup, with UNC quickly going on a 14-5 run after tip and never looking back. Smith scored the first five points for the Pack but Chapel Hill connected on five 3s in the opening 10 minutes. Any time the Wolfpack would inch closer, UNC would put the game further away.
After Smith made it a 21-13 game mid-way through the first, the Tar Heels went on a 35-18 run to close the half, crushing the spirit of the Pack the whole way.
Any hopes of a miracle comeback were quickly vanquished in the opening minutes of the second half, as UNC went on a 14-6 run behind big 3s from Love and Manek. At that point, NC State was at its lowest and was in danger of having its score total doubled by the opposition.
Smith came on late in the second against UNC’s reserves, scoring 11 points in the last five minutes, but Chapel Hill still managed to put up 100 and give the fans inside the Dean Dome free Bojangles biscuits.
The 20-point drubbing was a distasteful loss in every sense and puts into perspective just how far behind this Wolfpack team is from the other Triangle schools. Then again, when was the last time that wasn’t the case?
“We’re going to be successful with this team,” Keatts said. “We’re limited in some areas. Our defense has to travel every time we play. And if it doesn’t, then we’re going to struggle. We’re good enough offensively, to be able to play against anybody in the country because of our guard play. But at the end of the day, you have to be able to get stops, especially when you’re on the road. … We have to go back into the gym and get better and work on those things and, you know, obviously get better defensively if we’re going to compete like we need to.”
Next up, the Wolfpack returns to PNC Arena Wednesday, Feb. 2 to take on the Syracuse Orange. The game begins at 9 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN2.
“We definitely need to get back on track,” Smith said. “I mean, I feel like we just got to lock in, man. Lock in on the defensive end and get stops. We got to start stacking stops. If we aren’t getting stops, it just [isn’t] going to work.”
Freshman guard Terquavion Smith brings the ball down the court on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022 in the Dean E. Smith Center. Smith scored a career high of 32 points against UNC. The Wolfpack lost to the Tar Heels 100-80.
