#15 NC State Falls 90-82 to #12 UNC at Home

#15 NC State didn’t lead for a single second against #12 UNC tonight, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a game.

The Tar Heels outshot the Wolfpack from the field (45.3% to 42.5%), beyond the arch (40.0% to 28.6%), and at the charity stripe (84.6% to 70.6%). They out-rebounded the Pack by 18 (51-33), with a +4 advantage on the offensive glass. UNC had 26 free throw attempts, compared to NC State’s 17.

Torin Dorn, Markell Johnson and CJ Bryce were an uncharacteristic 13-34 from the field. Johnson got in foul trouble once again in the first half, and went into halftime scoreless. He finished the game with 5 turnovers.

Too many gimme’s were missed around the rim. The Pack forced three-pointers that were ill-timed. Costly turnovers killed runs. The Wolfpack half court offense often looked like one man hell-bent on scoring, instead of moving the ball around.

The Wolfpack were able to tie the game twice in the second half, but the most detrimental stretch of the game came with 10 minutes left in the contest. After cutting the lead to one, NC State turned the ball over in 5 out of the next 7 possessions.

Despite all of this, with a minute left in the game, the Wolfpack was only down 5 points.

Braxton Beverly did his part, scoring a career high 21 points, hitting 5 of his 8 three point attempts. DJ Funderburk was spectacular, finishing with 15 points (6-7 FG), 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

NC State turned over UNC 23 times.

Before the Wolfpack knew it, they were down 16-4 to start the game. After the first 10 minutes of play, UNC was up 29-15. In the final 30 minutes of play, the Wolfpack beat the Tar Heels 67-61.

Can I be that guy and gripe about one foul call? Ok, I will. The foul called against Torin Dorn on Coby White with 1:06 was obscene. At that time NC State was only down 5 points, and had Dorn not been called for a foul for making 0 physical contact with the driving White, the Wolfpack could have possibly run down the court and made it a one possession game with plenty of time on the clock. Rant over.

Plain and simple…NC State played poorly tonight, and UNC deserves credit for some of that, but it’s encouraging the Wolfpack was in the game until the very end.

NC State will host Pitt on Saturday at Noon in PNC Arena on Raycom Sports.