CHAPEL-HILL –NC State men’s basketball entered Tuesday night’s game with questions about its offense after a 24-point showing Saturday against Virginia Tech, but it may have left Chapel Hill with more questions about its defense after a 113-96 drubbing by UNC-Chapel Hill at the Dean Smith Center.
UNC shot 56 percent for the game to improve to 18-4 and 8-1 in conference, while the Wolfpack fell to 16-7 and 4-6 in the ACC and has lost four of its last five games.
“I think this is what defines you as a team,” graduate forward Wyatt Walker said. “We can either all come together and fight and turn the season around and make the most of it or we can lay our heads down and pout.”
It was all Tar Heels early, and UNC’s domination of the glass was just one way the Wolfpack was outplayed.
Tar Heel forward Luke Maye was the main culprit, setting the tone in the first half with seven rebounds. After scoring a game-high 21 points at PNC Arena earlier this season in a win against NC State, Maye added a game-high 31 points against the Pack Tuesday night and finished the game with 12 rebounds.
Carolina outrebounded the Wolfpack 23-11 in the first half, with the Tar Heels grabbing 13 offensive boards. Overall, the Wolfpack was outrebounded 41-27 and surrendered 14 offensive rebounds.
The Wolfpack defense showed little resistance, and the Tar Heels opened up a 56-40 lead going into halftime, benefitting from a 13-for-16 showing from the charity stripe and double-digit scoring from Kenny Williams, Coby White and Maye.
That’s not to say the Pack didn’t play well offensively; NC State more than doubled its offensive output from the first half Saturday, when it managed just 14 points against Virginia Tech, with sophomore Braxton Beverly leading the charge. After an 0-for-12 performance from the field in the aforementioned game against the Hokies, Beverly went a perfect 4 for 4 from 3-point range in the first half, totaling a team-high 12 points.
It was more of the same in the second half. Sloppy play, a multitude of turnovers and fouls and uninspired defense ultimately doomed the Wolfpack and prevented any sort of comeback as NC State never led from start to finish.
Beverly’s first-half performance didn’t carry over to the second, and he only attempted one 3-pointer in the second half, which was blocked by UNC’s Nassir Little, and finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
“I know Braxton Beverly is a competitor,” head coach Keving Keatts said. “I knew he would come back the next opportunity we played an play hard and make shots and he did.”
Fouls were an issue all game for the Pack. The team amassed a season-high 28 fouls, a mark only surpassed by last year’s first round NCAA Tournament loss against Seton Hall, which saw 30 personal fouls by NC State. Carolina sank 31 of 37 free throws while the Pack shot just 15 of 24 from the charity stripe. UNC also won the transition game, scoring 20 points off fastbreaks to NC State’s six.
“They’re a real fast team in transition,” graduate forward Wyatt Walker said. “We try to get up and down fast, and they kind of hit us with our own medicine so that was the tough part tonight.”
The silver lining for NC State is the offense, especially in the second half. The Wolfpack shot 50 percent for the game and went 7 for 17 from beyond the arc while having five players finish in double digits.
“By now, I think everybody knows that you’re competing and playing hard,” Keatts said. “Now we’ve got to start playing smart, and as a coach I have to do a better job of getting those guys to play and taking other teams’ strengths away.”
The Wolfpack’s schedule gets a bit easier from here on out, with the exception of Duke. The Wolfpack will have Pitt on the road Saturday as it tries to reverse its fortunes.
Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly shoots over two UNC defenders on Tuesday, Feb. 5 in the Dean E. Smith Center. Beverly scored 17 points and went 4-5 of three pointers. The Wolfpack lost to the Tar Heels 113-96.
