RALEIGH — No. 7 UNC came into PNC Arena Wednesday night and shut down NC State, beating its rivals 67-54 to remain the last undefeated team in ACC play.
For 30 minutes, it was a competitive, physically intense battle, but the Wolfpack’s inability to make shots doomed the home squad.
NC State shot 27% from the field and just 10% from beyond the arc over the course of the evening.
“It was another collectively great effort by the players,” said UNC coach Hubert Davis. “I told them after the game that they’re not playing good defense, they’re playing elite defense. Just taking the challenge to win their individual 1-on-1 matchups, staying on script in terms of what we talked about in preparation for the game, boxing out and rebounding — this is the fourth straight game we’ve out-rebounded an opponent. We’ve identified what allows us to be really good in rebounding and defending.”
While Carolina (12-3, 4-0 ACC) certainly played effective defense against the Wolfpack, there were also a lot of empty-calorie possessions from NC State in which it was unable to convert easy layups and open shots.
“I thought we got great looks,” said NC State coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought we forced a few late in the second half, but I thought we got some great looks. It just didn’t go. They didn’t mean to miss them, they just missed shots. We got some really good looks, I just think they didn’t go down.
“It’s a make or miss game. At the end of the day, if you don’t score the basketball, it’s going to be hard. We scored 52 points. We have to be able to score the basketball. We’re a much better team offensively than we displayed. It wasn’t anything that I felt like they did, just for whatever reason, our shots just didn’t go in.”
Things could have gone sideways quickly for the Heels as Armando Bacot was getting bullied in the post early on by DJ Burns and picked up two quick fouls, RJ Davis was cold — shooting just 2 for 9 from the field — and NC State (11-4, 3-1 ACC) had 15 free-throw opportunities to UNC’s two, but the Wolfpack failed to capitalize on the opportunity afforded to them.
“We really never got going offensively,” Keatts said. “When you look at the first half, I thought our defense completely kept us in the game. It was a two-point game at halftime. It was sort of like the Notre Dame game, but it’s tough when you look at our starting 1, 2 and 3 and we don’t make 3-point shots. It’s going to be tough to beat anybody when we shoot that bad.”
Although Bacot and Davis did start to produce late in the game, it was the players around them that stepped up for the Tar Heels.
Harrison Ingram set a new career high with 19 rebounds along with nine points, Elliot Cadeau had 11 points and six assists, and Jalen Washington and Jaelyn Withers provided some critical rebounding and post defense after Bacot got into foul trouble early into the contest.
“I think what makes them different is that their role players are really playing,” Keatts said about UNC. “I just think the pieces around Armando [Bacot] and RJ [Davis] are really good. They’re older, they’re solid, they know how to play and they made timely shots when they had to.”
Coming out of the half, NC State was unable to get into a much-needed rhythm.
“In the second half, we played offense at our pace,” Hubert Davis said. “NC State is so good defensively and they pressure you. One of the things I just kept repeating to my group is don’t let their pressure, don’t let their defense dictate and decide how we play on the offensive end. I felt like in the first half, they sped us up and then in the second half, I felt like we were playing at our pace and we were able to shoot better, get to the penalty and get enough free throws to be able to extend the lead.”
And it was apparent that while Tar Heels started to settle in, NC State’s discomfort only grew.
“In the second half, I thought we started pressing a little bit when we didn’t make shots and our defense started suffering,” Keatts said. “Late in the second half, when we didn’t make those shots, we gave up transition baskets. We didn’t give up any of that stuff in the first half. When they went up five, six, seven points and we didn’t make shots, I thought we started pressing a little bit at the time.”
NC State will look to rebound in Louisville on Saturday, while UNC returns home to host Syracuse on Saturday.
