CHAPEL HILL — The second half has proven to be NC State’s undoing in both losses to rival North Carolina this season.
NC State shot 22.2 percent from the field after halftime to counteract a terrific first half Saturday to fall 79-70 to North Carolina in front of 21,750 fans at the Dean E. Smith Center.
NC State went cold after senior wing Casey Morsell hit a jumper to start the second half in building a 47-37 lead. The Wolfpack missed its next 15 shots and fell behind 66-53 with 9:14 left in the game. It proved to be a deficit too hard to overcome, with NCSU whittling it down to five points with 2:49 left, but the Tar Heels responded with 6-2 run to close out the win.
NC State fell to 17-12 overall and 9-9 in the ACC, and No. 9-ranked North Carolina improved to 23-6 and 15-3 in the league. NCSU has a quick turn-around to host Duke at 7 p.m. Monday on ESPN.
“I’d just say we lost our focus,” NC State senior guard D.J. Horne said. “We were getting frustrated when the ball wasn’t going in the basket. When you are playing the right way, it’s kind of frustrating. We just kind of told ourselves during that time to play solid defense.”
Poise proved to be the difference in the second half, with the Tar Heels intensifying the defensive pressure against NC State’s perimeter players.
“There was a segment of about two minutes, where it kind of got away from us,” Keatts said. “We had a couple things didn’t go our way. We didn’t respond well on both ends of the floor and it got away.”
Keatts didn’t think the Woflpack got rattled after halftime, but the shots got harder and they committed seven turnovers in the final 20 minutes. He did sense frustration due to the players’ shots not falling and senior center D.J. Burns fouled out with 11:28 left in the game, when it was 54-52.
Junior shooting guard Jayden Taylor finished with 22 points and went 5 of 7 from three-point land, and Horne had 20 points.
“With adversity, that is when you are tested the most,” Taylor said. “That is really who you are. When adversity comes, we just want to harp on ourselves to keep fighting and keep going. We don’t want to lose focus and to stay connected.”
The topsy-turvy ACC have seven teams that are between 7-to-9 league losses. The first half showed NC State could play with North Carolina, when locked in at both ends of the court. The Wolfpack shot a blistering 7 of 11 from three-point land and had just two turnovers in the first half.
“We got the best of them in the first half and they obviously did a really good job in the second half to get the best of us,” Keatts said. “We did some good things. We really shared the basketball. Defensively in the first half, I thought we really were locked in and made things really tough for R.J. [Davis], who is one of the toughest guys to guard in the league.”
UNC junior forward Harrison Ingram proved to be a tough matchup, and freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau took advantage of the added defensive attention against Davis. Ingram had 13 of his 22 points in the first half, and Cadeau finished with 15 points, seven assists and two turnovers.
NC State senior wing Casey Morsell and Taylor took turns against Davis, the likely ACC player of the year winner. NC State held him to 4 of 11 shooting for 14 points, but he did chip in seven rebounds and five assists.
“The MVP of their team tonight was Cadeau,” Keatts said.
NC State lost to North Carolina 67-54 on Jan. 10 in somewhat similar fashion. UNC held a 52-48 lead with 8:52 left in the game, and went on a devastating 15-2 run to help put the game away. The Wolfpack shot an abysmal 9 of 34 in the second half and finished the game at 26.9 percent from the field.
The play in the first half was clearly superior to the Jan. 10 performance, but putting together a complete 40-minute game against a quality team has proven elusive this season for the Wolfpack.
“We will keep fighting,” Keatts said. “We got a bunch of people clogged up right now (in the ACC standings).
“This is my opinion, but in my seven years in the league, this is the most balanced in the league.”
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