CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The men’s basketball team entered the locker room at halftime down three points to No. 3 North Carolina after going toe to toe with the Tar Heels in a first half that saw nine lead changes and five ties. But UNC went on a 14-2 run to begin the second half and never looked back en route to an 89-80 victory over the Wolfpack.
Sophomore Tracy Smith said the opening five minutes of the second half killed the Pack’s momentum.
“In the first five minutes, we didn’t come out with as much energy,” Smith said. “We let them go on a run, and it was hard to fight back into the game.”
The Wolfpack (14-10, 4-7) snapped a two-game win streak while the Tar Heels (24-2, 10-2) extended their win streak to 10 games and increased their lead at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Coach Sidney Lowe, who is now 1-6 against UNC, said he was happy with his team’s effort despite the final result.
“All in all, it wasn’t bad. I thought our guys gave a pretty good effort,” Lowe said. “[UNC] was an experienced team. It’s a team that knows how to win. They know to turn it on, and they did that in the first five minutes [of the second half].”
The Pack’s 15 turnovers did the team in as Carolina notched 26 points off giveaways compared to State’s seven points off Tar Heel mistakes. Four UNC players scored more than 15 points.
It was a record-setting game for senior Tyler Hansbrough, who scored at least 25 points for the 35th time in his career and passed Pete Maravich to become second on the NCAA all-time free throws made list. Wednesday marked the last time the Wolfpack and coach Sidney Lowe will have to face Hansbrough in the regular season.
“I’d love to watch him in the NBA one day,” Lowe said. “I don’t mind seeing him, just with another jersey on.”
Sophomore point guard Javier Gonzalez went 6-for-6 from the field in the first half as he had a season-high 18 points, including 16 before halftime. Gonzalez, who went 0-for-2 from the field finishing with one point the last time he played in the Smith Center, said he brought more confidence to Wednesday’s game.
“I was a freshman, inexperienced, and I struggled a little bit when I came out here,” Gonzalez said. “[Tonight] I just came with a lot of confidence. I had no doubt I can do what I did.”
Senior Courtney Fells, who scored 22 points in the Jan. 31 game against UNC at the RBC Center, scored his first points with just 5:18 left in regulation. Lowe said Fells just didn’t get lucky Wednesday night.
“[Fells] had a tough ballgame, it happens,” Lowe said. “But he came back in later on and did what we asked him to do. He just kept playing. Unfortunately, he didn’t get off early.”
The Wolfpack, which shot 54.1 percent from the field, scored at least 80 points for the fourth straight game. Senior Ben McCauley said State must now focus on limiting the opposing team’s offensive chances.
“If we shoot that percent for the rest of our games, we win every game,” McCauley said. “We just need to get stops. That’s the main thing we’re going to focus on the next couple days, defending.”
