The No. 15 NC State men’s basketball team came up just short Tuesday night in PNC Arena, falling to rival No. 12 UNC-Chapel Hill 90-82 in a hard-fought ACC battle.
It may have been a very different story for the Wolfpack, one of an uncompetitive blowout, if not for a career-high 21 points from sophomore guard Braxton Beverly in an all-around great game for the sharpshooting guard.
Beverly shot 8 of 14 from the field in the game, going 5 for 7 from 3-point range to keep NC State in the game. He’s caught fire for the Pack as of late, tallying double-digit points in five of his last six games on better than 50 percent shooting over that time.
“I feel pretty good out there,” Beverly said. “That really comes from our coaches working with us before practice and after practice, and my teammates being confident in me and encouraging me to take the shots I have and be aggressive and play my game.”
In the first half Tuesday night, Beverly kept the Wolfpack afloat. After falling behind 12-0 to start the game, Beverly came off the bench and breathed life into an NC State team that couldn’t get anything to fall. He hit five of the first six shots he took after coming into the game, including a perfect 3 for 3 mark from 3-point range.
“It really came from my teammates,” Beverly said. “They were encouraging. They were finding us when we were open. Can’t take all the credit, it goes to our teammates and coaches.”
That third 3-pointer came with 8:11 left to play in the first half, and brought NC State’s deficit to just four points at 29-25. At that point, Beverly was 5 for 6 in the game. The rest of the Wolfpack was just 3 for 14. Beverly was 3 for 3 from deep. The rest of the Wolfpack was 0 for 4.
“If you go back and look at the start of the game, we got some great looks and they just didn’t go in,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “I thought we locked down on the defensive end and started making some shots. I thought Braxton hit a couple shots that kind of loosened everything up for us and we started scoring.”
Beverly’s strong game continued into the second half, as his shots kept falling. He also held onto the ball well late in a game where the Wolfpack struggled with turnovers. Beverly turned the ball over just twice on the night, both in the first half, in a game where NC State gave it away 13 times.
Tuesday night wasn’t the first time that Beverly has showed up for the Pack in a big game either. His season-high from his freshman year, 20 points, came in a win over No. 2 Arizona. Earlier this season, he tallied 15 points with 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range in a win over No. 7 Auburn.
For Beverly, Tuesday night was another strong performance in a game that got away from the Wolfpack. NC State has plenty of ACC basketball left to play, and the Pack is undoubtedly better when Beverly is playing well.
“We knew we were right there,” Beverly said. “We just couldn’t get over that last hump. It’s not like a big tweak we have to make. We know we’re a really good team. We’re just going to take this loss and learn from it.”
