Quick hits from NC State's loss to Miami

Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 64-59 loss to Miami inside of PNC Arena in Raleigh, on Saturday afternoon.

With the game tied at 54-54 and the clock ticking under two minutes left, Miami was barely in control of its possession. It had several near turnovers and had to save the ball from going out of bounds a couple of times.

With the shot clock rolling down, Miami sophomore guard Isaiah Wong went on a desperate drive to the basket and threw up a shot at the basket which bounced three times on the rim before going in, giving the Hurricanes the lead for good with 1:51 left.

Wong did a little bit of everything and was the best player on the court Saturday.

He finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and was clutch at the line, making 7 of 9 free throws. He also added a team-high nine rebounds, all on the defensive end. Wong blocked a shot and had a co-game-high of three steals.

Head coach Kevin Keatts rolled out his fifth different version of a starting lineup on Saturday, bringing senior guard Braxton Beverly back into the group after he missed Tuesday's overtime loss at Clemson with an ankle injury.

Freshman guard Cam Hayes started for Beverly against the Tigers, and he was once again back in the first five on Saturday. Coming off the bench for the first time this season was redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen.

Ironically, Allen responded with his best game of the year, reaching double digits for the first time in a Wolfpack uniform with 14 points, including connecting on 4 of 5 three-pointers. His 30 minutes of playing time was the second-most of the year behind the 34 minutes he played when NC State was down five players at Saint Louis.

Hayes, despite starting, would play just 14 minutes and finished with five points, two assists, two rebounds and two turnovers. Beverly struggled in 15 minutes, missing all six of his shot attempts and going 1 for 2 at the line.

NC State led much of the first half, which has been its custom thus far in ACC action, and was up 32-31 at the break. NC State has led at halftime of every game of the season. But on Saturday that was on the strength of 17 fast break points in the first half. When it was not in transition, it had just 15 points.

A big problem NC State faced in the second half: zero fast break points. That meant that the Wolfpack had to play entirely in the half court offense, and on a day where Keatts criticized the offensive performance during his post game press conference, NC State was held to 27 second half points. The only time it had fewer points in a half this year was when it scored 23 points in Tuesday's overtime defeat at Clemson.

Those are the only two games where NC State had less than 30 points in a half this season.

Here's a bit of an odd stat. NC State, despite being 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC, has led the majority of all nine games it has played this season.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:48: NC State 7, Miami 4

15:48-11:53: NC State 7, Miami 6

11:53-7:57: Miami 8, NC State 6

7:57-3:56: NC State 5, Miami 3

3:56-Halftime: Miami 10, NC State 7

Second half

20:00-16:00: Miami 9, NC State 4

16:00-11:44: Miami 5, NC State 4

11:44-7:50: NC State 9, Miami 0

7:50-4:13: NC State 5, Miami 5

4:13-Final: Miami 14, NC State 6

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU:

• Junior forward Jericole Hellems: +8 (23 minutes played)

• Beverly: +1 (15)

• Freshman forward Jaylon Gibson: +1 (1)

• Freshman guard Shakeel Moore: 0 (23)

• Fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels: -3 (34)

• Allen: -3 (30)

• Fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk: -4 (29)

• Redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron: -4 (7)

• Hayes: -9 (14)

• Redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates: -12 (24)

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Funderburk — 14.6

Allen — 12.2

Bates — 9.1

Daniels — 5.8

Hayes — 1.2

Gibson — 0.3

Moore — 0.1

Hellems — -0.4

Seabron — -2.7

Beverly — -3.9

NC State falls to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC while Miami is 5-5 and 1-4. The Wolfpack is now 5-1 on a home floor and 3-1 in day games (tipoff before 6 p.m.). This is just the second time NC State has played a weekend game, and it is 1-1 in those contests.

This game was televised on RSN. Throughout the year we will keep track of the Pack's record on the different channels:

• ACC Network: 4-1

• ESPNU: 1-0

• RSN: 1-2

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 2-0

• December: 4-1

• January: 0-2

• Both teams had 26 points in the paint.

• The Hurricanes had a slight edge in fast-break points, 18-17.

• The Pack's' bench outscored Miami's reserves, 28-7.

• Miami won the turnover margin, 16-13, but NC State had the advantage in points off turnovers, 15-14.

• NC State won on the boards 38-30 in overall rebounds and had a 16-7 edge on the offensive glass. That led to the Wolfpack had a 16-7 advantage in second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had four blocks and seven steals. Miami had four blocks and added six steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was eight points and it led for 26:02. Miami's largest advantage was seven points and it led for 11:22.

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