Notebook: Pack’s second-half struggles continue in 64-59 loss to Miami

NC State had a case of deja vu Saturday afternoon in PNC Arena.

For the second straight game, the Wolfpack (6-3, 2-2 ACC) forfeited a late second-half lead, this time resulting in a 64-59 loss to Miami (5-5, 1-4 ACC).

The Pack led by six points with 6:18 remaining, eerily similar to the seven-point lead it had with just over six minutes left in regulation in the 74-70 road loss to No. 19 Clemson in overtime Tuesday.

NC State shut out Miami for a seven-and-a-half minute period in the second half to build the six-point lead, but the Hurricanes were able to close the game on a 19-8 run to come away with their first conference victory of the season.

Redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen made a three from the corner with 57 seconds left to cut Miami’s lead to one point, but the Pack couldn’t build upon it due to continued struggles in the half-court offense and six Hurricanes points in the final minute.

“For whatever reason, I didn't think we were clicking offensively,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Give Miami's defense, maybe give those guys some credit for the way we didn't play on the offensive end. We've got to get better. This is one of those games where usually we play a little bit better on the offensive end, but we just couldn't get going. Very seldom does it happen with us in two different halves. Typically we could find it in the second half, but we did not have it today.”

The Wolfpack has now been outscored in the second half in all four of its conference games thus far. Saturday, the Pack was outpaced 33-27.

Miami was as hot as NC State was cold in the final 20 minutes.

The Pack went just 35.5 percent from the field in the second half, making just 11-of-31 attempts, while the Hurricanes were able to shoot 52.4 percent from the field after halftime despite going scoreless for a stretch of over seven minutes.

“We just missed important stops,” Fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk said. “Then we couldn't convert on offense sometimes. They came down, and they were tougher than us. They got to the line 20 times, and Isaiah Wong did a great job of just making great plays for his team. Unfortunately, it just didn't come out positive for us.

“Sometimes teams come in and they're a little bit more aggressive than you. They came to punch the clock at 12 o'clock today, we didn't. It's just simple as that. That doesn't mean that they're tougher than us, but in this game, yeah, that's what happened.”

Five days ago, NC State led the NCAA with an average turnover margin of +9.1. After three straight games of losing the turnover battle, that seems like a distant memory.

For the second consecutive contest, the Wolfpack turned the ball over 16 times.

The sloppiness was spread evenly too. Eight Pack players committed at least one turnover, and fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels and junior forward Jericole Hellems tied for a team-high of three apiece.

“That's something that we have to figure out,” Keatts said. “We lost the turnover battle, which is tough because we typically don't lose that. When you look at us today, we had 11 assists and 16 turnovers. We've got to get in practice and really work on ball security. That was some of the things that we concentrated on the last couple of days, that's what we talked about going into the game, and it's so many guys that are doing it that we all have to do a better job in that area.”

The Wolfpack’s defensive identity is built around forcing turnovers and scoring off of them in transition. The Pack forced 13 Miami turnovers and outscored the Hurricanes 15-14 in points off of takeaways, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the disparity in the first half.

NC State turned the ball over 12 times in the opening 20 minutes, the most of any half this season, and the Hurricanes scored all 14 of their points off of turnovers in the first half.

“I didn't think it was a lack of urgency,” Keatts said. “What we talked about is that 12-noon games are tough games. I think every team is prepared to play, but whoever can find the most energy at the beginning of the game is typically the team that's going to win the game. Not that we didn't have energy, we just couldn't find the rim offensively.

“I don't know what it was. I'll go back and say this, Miami won the game, give them a lot of credit. They're a team who have lost several games at the buzzer, could very well have a winning record in our league, and they found a way to win today and we found a way to lose. We got to figure out how to correct that, and we got to get back to winning the turnover battle. Those are the things that we got to get better at.”

One positive NC State can take away from the disappointing loss Saturday was the offensive performance of redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen.

Allen had a season-high 14 points to lead the Pack in scoring against the Hurricanes.

The Nebraska transfer went 5-of-8 from the field including 4-of-5 on three-point attempts, marking a new season-high of number of makes from the perimeter.

He also had three rebounds, one assist, one steal and was the only Wolfpack player to commit zero turnovers other than freshman forward Jaylon Gibson, who played just one minute.

“He and I have had long conversations,” Keatts said. “He's got a green light, but at times he won't take a shot. That's just the personality that he has. He's getting the opportunity. We need him to score the basketball, especially when he gets great looks. We talked about that going into this game, obviously, I wanted him to look for a shot.

"He's a weapon that we want to explore. I want him to take more shots behind the three-point line.”

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