NC State’s poor second-half shooting costs Wolfpack in loss at No. 9 North Carolina 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — NC State took an 8-point lead to the halftime locker room at No. 9 North Carolina on Saturday afternoon after it shot 57.6% from the field in the opening half. 

The Wolfpack had everything going its way in the period. The red and white nailed seven three-pointers and it scored 13 points off UNC’s five turnovers. NC State seemed to be in the driver’s seat in a very hostile Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill. 

“It felt great, man, but we knew we had another 20 minutes, so you can’t really ride that high too long,” NC State graduate guard DJ Horne said. “We knew we got to go back out there and play another 20 minutes.”

The next 20 minutes, well, those did not go the same way as the first set. NC State had its worst shooting drought of the year, which allowed UNC to get out in front to win 79-70 in the back and forth contest. 

NC State’s drought wasn’t a short stretch in the second half. No, it went without a field goal for 10:40 of game time and the Tar Heels went on a 17-7 advantage to take the lead. The Wolfpack went 0-for-15 from the field in that span, which proved to be costly on the road. 

Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts did not think it was a byproduct of the Tar Heels’ defense. Instead, it was the simple reason for the team’s shots missing the mark. 

“I think our shots weren’t falling,” Keatts said. “In college basketball, guys can tend to get a little frustrated when your shots are not falling. I think it hurt us defensively.”

Junior guard Jayden Taylor, who led the Pack with 22 points off the bench, didn’t think the Tar Heels’ defense made them miss that many shots as well. 

“It’s just us — shots not going in,” Taylor said. “I don’t feel like they did anything different. I feel like they were more aggressive in the second half. We should have come out punching.”

NC State’s defense, which has been the strength of the team for much of the season, only added two points off of three forced turnovers in the final 20 minutes. The Wolfpack has used its defense to get its offense rolling at times this season, but it could not generate much from it like it did in the first half. 

Though the Pack struggled shooting for an extended stretch to start the second half, it was not in too deep of a deficit, trailing by just 10 points. It was not the ideal scenario, but NC State had an opportunity to claw its way back into the game. 

“We were getting frustrated when the ball’s not going in the basket and we’re playing the right way,” Horne said. “We were kind of just telling ourselves during that time to just keep playing solid defense, so they didn’t run away with it. Carolina’s a very good team and they’re more than capable of doing it.”

It did just that, and was able to make it a 5-point game with just under three minutes to play, but its offense could not close the gap any more. Keatts thought graduate forward DJ Burns’ four fouls, which kept the big man off the floor for a long stretch in the second half, hurt the most. 

Without Burns on the court, NC State’s inside presence took a hit without its key post scorer. It also took one of the Wolfpack’s better passers off the court, which did not help NC State’s offense to keep the ball moving as much. 

And since NC State missed its big man down low, UNC’s guards were able to attach themselves to the Pack’s perimeter shooters down the stretch. That included Horne, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the opening 20 minutes. 

Since Horne could not get going, and neither did graduate guard Casey Morsell after he fouled out with less than eight minutes to go, NC State’s offense was not able to run smooth the rest of the way. 

“Some of it is on us, obviously shots are not falling,” Keatts said. “Our shot makers, we don’t have a lot of those guys, even though we have a bunch of guys on the team. We have two or three guys that have to get going, and if they struggle a little bit during those segments, we struggle.”

But it all comes back to the 0-for-15 stretch from the field, and Keatts’ sentiment of the Pack’s scorers not finding their rhythm, was evident in that long period. Horne missed four shots during that drought, while Morsell had three of the misfires. Taylor, the hot hand in the last three games, took just one shot that missed in the lull.

In all, the Pack shot just 6-of-24 from the field in the second half. Though NC State did not ever find the groove it had going in the first half, Keatts said he did not see his players panic on the floor. 

“I didn’t think we ever got rattled,” Keatts said. “I thought we stopped missing shots. I thought we did some good things, I thought we moved the ball a little bit. I just think we didn’t make shots. I didn’t see anybody that I thought got rattled.”

Now, NC State has a quick turnaround with No. 10 Duke set to arrive at PNC Arena on Monday night. The Pack knows it can compete with a top-10 team, just like it did against UNC, but the next game might have a little more on the line with a log jam of teams in the middle of the ACC standings. 

Taylor, NC State’s constant on the offensive end as of late, did not think there will be any added pressure against the Blue Devils. Instead, it’s a simple three letter word: win.

“We got to win,” Taylor said. “I don’t think it’s pressure, we just got to go win.”