The hype and energy was there for NC State to pull off a big win against North Carolina, but not perimeter shooting.
NC State’s guards had a miserable performance and UNC managed enough offense to pull off a 67-54 win Wednesday in front of a sold out PNC Arena. NC State fell to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the ACC, and play at Louisville on Saturday.
The backcourt of seniors D.J. Horne and Casey Morsell and junior Jayden Taylor combined to go 7 of 35 from the field and 1 of 13 on three-pointers. That set the tone for the Wolfpack to shoot 26.9 percent from the field and 2 of 21 on three-pointers.
Morsell didn’t think the Wolfpack were too energized, leading to rushing shots.
“We had a stretch where we were right there with them, but we got disconnected for a stint, and they ran away with the lead,” Morsell said. “We’ve been in this position before. Everyone is a good shooter.
“We try and protect home [court] but it wasn’t falling. For me in particular, it’s been the last few games.”
NCSU coach Kevin Keatts has been in this position before this season.
NC State has had some past games where the shots weren’t falling — namely a 72-52 loss against Ole Miss on Dec. 12, and a recent 54-52 win over Notre Dame. Morsell had 12 points against the Rebels, but the starting trio of Morsell, Horne and Taylor went a combined 9 of 34 from the field and 2 of 18 on three-pointers.
The Notre Dame game had the trio go 9 of 37 from the field and 3 of 13 from beyond the arc. NCSU couldn’t overcome that kind of shooting against the Rebels, and needed some breaks in the last minute to rally past the Fighting Irish.
“We had some good looks and D.J. [Burns] did a great job once they doubled him,” Keatts said. “We hit two three’s on the night, and one came from [power forward] Mo [Diarra]. In the first half, they bothered us. Then I thought we started pressing a little bit when we didn’t make shots in the second half. Our defense started to suffer when we didn’t make shots.”
NC State watched the game slip away with UNC clinging to a 52-48 lead with 8:52 left in the game. The Tar Heels went on a 15-2 run to put the game away and eventually build a 17-point lead. It wasn’t any particular UNC player, but good good ball movement led to good shots attempted.
The Tar Heels didn’t score a point over the final 4:06 of the game, but didn’t need any points either. The lack of scoring started to affect the Wolfpack on the defensive end of the court — NCSU couldn’t press as much with the lack of basketball — and it affected the team’s shot selection.
“It’s going to be tough for us to beat anybody when we shoot the ball that bad,” Keatts said. “We have to figure out how to get going.”
What proved frustrating is that NC State was able to limit UNC star senior center Armando Bacot to nine points and 23:08 foul-plagued minutes. Senior combo guard R.J. Davis hit four three-pointers and had a team-high 16. Points, but he also needed 19 field-goal attempts to do it. Parts of NC State’s defensive game plan came through in flying colors.
“It’s a make or miss game, and Bacot was out part of the game, but if we don’t score the basketball, it’s going to be hard,” Keatts said. “We are a much better team than we displayed. It wasn’t anything they did.”
UNC improved to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the ACC. In the topsy-turvy world of the league, Miami lost at home to Louisville and Clemson got whipped at Virginia Tech, helping the Tar Heels out.
Keatts said trying to figure out the ACC is a futile endeavor due to any of the teams showing they can beat the top teams. He firmly believes that teams from other leagues would lose on the road to a good number of ACC teams.
“Duke is a good basketball team and we haven’t played them — they lost to Georgia Tech,” Keatts said. “Notre Dame in a down year, have lost a couple of tough ones and beat Virginia by 22 points. You look at Louisville, and they go to Miami.
“There is not one game on my schedule that I could ever look at and say, ‘We are going to win.’ We have to play the games. This league is really good.”
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