North Carolina led for over 36 minutes and controlled most of the game Saturday, but NC State found itself within striking distance down six at the under-four minute timeout of the second half.

In a less than three-minute stretch beginning at the 6:46 mark, the Wolfpack outscored the Tar Heels 13-5.

UNC (10-5, 5-3 ACC) responded by making seven of its eight free throws for the game in the final 3:26 to defeat NC State (6-5, 2-4 ACC) 86-76.

The Pack was in a similar position at the end of the first half, down just two points with four minutes to go before halftime. Carolina was able to finish the opening half on a 10-2 run and took a 10-point lead into the locker room.

“I thought we played a really hard, inspiring game,” NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said. “When you look at it, I thought the difference in the game probably was the last three or four minutes of the first half. It kind of got away from us a little bit.”

Another culprit was North Carolina’s dominance on the offensive glass. The Tar Heels grabbed 14 offensive rebounds compared to just seven from the Wolfpack.

Carolina also outscored State 17-12 on second-chance points.

“We were able to take away the transition, but we couldn't keep them off the glass because we gave up 14 offensive rebounds, and that's something that we've got to work on,” Keatts said.

Saturday marked the third time this season that NC State forfeited 80 or more points to its opponent, all of which resulted in losses.

The Pack first gave up 80 points to Saint Louis in an 11-point road loss to the Billikens in its first game back from a two-week pause in mid-December. In State’s most recent game before Saturday, the Wolfpack gave up 105 points to a Florida State team that shot 71 percent from the field in a 32-point shellacking to the Seminoles, the program’s widest margin of defeat under Keatts.

North Carolina entered the game shooting just 42.2 percent from the field, which ranked 265th among Division I teams. The Tar Heels were able to shoot 54.4 percent Saturday and outscored the Pack 48-40 in the paint.

“Our biggest problem is they came in and they've worked the last couple of days on pounding the ball inside as much as they can,” Keatts said. “When you look at those guys, they shot 4-for-11 from three, 8-for-18 from the free throw line. I think the difference is they were shooting around the basket.

“Give Armando Bacot and Day'Ron Sharpe a lot of credit, they were very effective around the basket. When you have guys shooting two-footers and three-footers around the basket, the percentage is going to be good.”

Redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates was still listed as questionable an hour before tipoff but ended up playing a productive 30 minutes in the loss.

Bates, who missed the Florida State game due to a grade-two ankle sprain, scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and produced one steal in Chapel Hill.

He also blocked seven shots Saturday, a new personal best for the rim protector against ACC competition.

Bates’ seven blocks against North Carolina tied Cedric Simmons’ seven-block performance against Miami in 2005 for the program record of most blocked shots in a single contest against conference competition.

“I started out feeling a little off but as the game progressed, I kind of just got back in the rhythm of things,” Bates said. “By halftime, I started feeling good.”

Senior guard Braxton Beverly has also been impacted by an ankle injury in the month of January. He first missed the 74-70 overtime loss to Clemson on Jan. 5 and scored just four combined points in limited minutes against Miami and Florida State.

He was able to get his mojo back Saturday, however

Beverly scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a 2-of-4 mark from the three-point line. He also added five steals and four assists.

His last make from the perimeter marked his 200th career three-point make, becoming just the fifth player in program history to do so.

“I had a good conversation with our sports medicine department, we were just playing him on game day, and that was tough because he's a guy who needs to play and practice to get a little bit of rhythm,” Keatts said. “I think that's really affected the way he's played early on. Because he was able to get more reps leading up to this game, I knew he would play better than he's played in the last few games.

“It's tough because it's a great balancing act with him, whether you just save him for just the games, and what I've asked for is let me get him for 15 to 20 reps in practice so he'll be prepared when the game starts. It was good to see him play well.”

For the second time this season, NC State had to postpone multiple games due to a COVID outbreak within the program that caused the program to enter the ACC’s COVID protocols.

Saturday marked the first time the Wolfpack played a game in 10 days, and it was also the first time it had an entirely healthy roster for 40 minutes since the win over UMass Lowell on Dec. 3.

The Pack didn’t use the break as an excuse for the loss, but the lack of practice time during the 10-day stretch didn't help matters in an already difficult matchup.

“Pauses hurt,” Keatts said. “Here's a crazy thing. Coaches, we love to have control, but we cannot control what happens with this virus so it's unfortunate because we may have another one. We could have one in the next couple of days.

“Certainly, it's no excuse, but every coach in the country is going to go through this. Your team is just not the same team when you don't have a chance to practice as much as you can be, and you have to live with that. You got to get better, you got to live with it and try to figure it out.”

Fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels, who scored a team-high 21 points and added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block, agreed that the team bears the responsibility for the loss, regardless of the context leading up to it.

“At the end of the day, we've got to come out here and play basketball,” Daniels said. “No matter if we practice for two weeks straight, we practice for a week straight, or we haven't had everybody in two weeks. At the end of the day, we got to play as hard as we can out here.

“We're finding our rhythm as a team. That can help with some practice, but defense is about playing hard, having each other's backs. We got to get a little bit more passionate, and we got to get a little bit more stingy on defense. People have been scoring too easy on us.”

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