NC State men’s basketball head coach Mark Gottfried said his youthful team has responded well with two good practices since falling at Miami on Saturday.

The Wolfpack got a sampling of how different ACC action is compared to the non-conference slate. NCSU started slow, fell behind Miami and never challenged the Hurricanes in the second half of an eventual 81-63 loss.

Losing by 18 points to the Hurricanes increased the urgency for Wednesday’s home game against No. 21 Virginia Tech and the contest at No. 14 North Carolina at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Nine ACC teams were among the top 28 in the latest Associated Press poll, including five in the top 14.

Gottfried hopes his players now understand how hard it is to win an ACC game.

“When you make mistakes, they make you pay,” Gottfried said. “Good teams make you pay. We have to learn how to win and what it takes to win.

“You come out with your cool jacket on, you are going to get your [butt] kicked. That is the bottom line in this conference. That is part of learning.”

Gottfried emphasized that a few mistakes here and there and the Wolfpack could be down by 12 points against a good opponent. Four of the players saw ACC action last year, while three others watched while sitting out.

“You play bad teams, they just miss a shot even when you don’t play good defense,” Gottfried said. “These guys need to grow up quick. They need to learn fast what it takes at this level and paying attention to detail.”

Virginia Tech is off to a 12-1 start and won its ACC opener against Duke in convincing fashion, 89-75. The Hokies featured six players in double figures, shot 55.2 percent from the field and went 8 of 13 on three-pointers against the Blue Devils.

Gottfried is more worried about what the Wolfpack are doing in comparison to who they play, but he knows the Hokies like to penetrate and are shooting the three-point shot well.

“They are playing as good as they’ve played in a long time,” Gottfried said. “Buzz [Williams] has them playing well. They are quick, they penetrate and get to the rim.”

Virginia Tech is also easily the best opponent to play at PNC Arena this season.

“We got great fans and I love our fans, but what I tell our team is that I don’t care if there are five people there or 55,000,” Gottfried said. “That shouldn’t have anything to do with how hard our team plays.”