Quick hits from NC State's 113-96 loss at UNC
Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 113-96 loss at North Carolina in front of 21,124 fans at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill Tuesday evening.
Play of the game
NC State hung with UNC for the first 10 minutes, trailing 23-19 when UNC senior forward Luke Maye went to work on the block in the post against NC State freshman Jericole Hellems. He dribbled with his left hand to his left before turning to the right, leaning into Hellems and drawing contact while making the short shot.
Maye’s three-point play with 9:33 left put the Heels up 26-19 and started an 11-2 for the Heels that gave UNC a double digit lead. NC State never got the deficit down to single digits.
Highlight of the game
Hellems had a pretty no-look pass to NC State redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk for a dunk, cutting UNC’s lead to 15-12 with 14:46 left in the first half.
Player of the game
NC State fans won’t be hurt if this is the last time it ever saw Maye play against the Pack. Maye once again owned NC State. He made 10 of 15 shots, and also connected on all 10 of his free throw attempts, for 31 points and added 12 rebounds in just 27 minutes of action.
Earlier this year, Maye scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Raleigh. That was his highest points total in the ACC before Tuesday, which was a new season-high. It was two points off his career, set last year against the Pack.
Over the past two seasons, in four games against NC State, Maye is averaging 29.0 points and 13.0 rebounds a contest while shooting 58.9 percent from the field.
On Hollinger’s measure of productivity game score, where 10.0 is average and 40.0 is the highest, Maye had an impressive game score of 26.8.
Just not clicking
What if we told you in the aftermath of a one-point overtime loss to Virginia that NC State would hold Virginia Tech to 47 points in the next contest and then score 96 points on the road at UNC. Odds are you would have anticipated two wins, perhaps by good margins.
Instead, NC State lost both by a combined 40 points. One game after shooting the worst field goal percentage in ACC history while scoring 24 points, a school-record for fewest in the shot clock era, the Pack gave up its second most points in school history in allowing UNC to score 113 points. Maryland holds the record with 124 points in a 14-point win in College Park in 1979.
The 96 points, which itself was three points off the Wolfpack's record for most ever against UNC, were somewhat misleading considering NC State ended the game on a 10-0 run against UNC’s reserves, most of the time a heavy walk-on squad for the Heels. That said, NCSU shot 50.0 percent from the field and made a respectable 7 of 17 three-pointers.
That was no match for UNC shooting 56.1 percent. That was the highest percentage allowed by NC State in a game this year.
Outhustled
Give UNC credit, it played at an extremely high level on this evening. Its top six players had game scores of at least 10.4. It also played with great energy and seemingly won every loose basketball and more importantly crushed NC State on the boards.
UNC had a 41-27 edge on the glass, but it was more pronounced in the first half when the Heels raced out to a 56-40 halftime lead. Chapel Hill had a 23-11 rebounding advantage then and owned a 16-3 edge in second chance points.
Pack stars not stepping up
It’s been said often this year that this NC State team’s strength is its numbers. It may not have star talent, but it has a deep bench. That said, it was understood going into the year that its two fringe all-conference candidates were junior guard Markell Johnson and fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn.
Johnson had his second straight clunker of a game. He was 0 for 5 against Virginia Tech and finished with just two points, two assists and four turnovers in 23 minutes. Against UNC, Johnson played only 18 minutes before finishing the contest with six points, four assists, three turnovers and four fouls.
Dorn’s final numbers appear modest — 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting and five rebounds in 27 minutes. But that was a bit misleading. At halftime, Dorn was scoreless after going 0 for 3 and had just one rebound. Dorn is the team’s leading rebounder and his lack of presence on the boards played a role in the Pack getting owned on the glass early.
Over his last four games, Dorn is averaging 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 16 of 43 from the field, or 37.2 percent.
Free throw disparity pops up again
This has been noted before in this column but we are bringing it up again as UNC outscored NC State by 16 points at the line. In the first half, UNC was 13 of 16 at the line and NC State was just 1 of 5 while the Heels built what proved to be an insurmountable lead.
That’s not new for NC State this year in a trend that has been a significant problem in ACC play. Here are the point-disparities in league games only:
• At Miami: plus-2 Miami (Hurricanes shot 11 more attempts)
• Vs. UNC: plus-10 UNC (Heels shot nine more attempts)
• Vs. Pitt: plus-5 Pitt (Panthers shot three more attempts)
• At Wake Forest: plus-16 Wake (Deacons shot 19 more attempts)
• At Notre Dame: plus-8 Notre Dame (Irish shot nine more attempts)
• At Louisville: plus-19 Louisville (Cards shot 22 more attempts)
• Vs. Clemson: plus-5 Clemson (Tigers shot 13 more attempts)
• Vs. Virginia: even (Wolfpack shot two more attempts)
• Vs. Virginia Tech: plus-5 Virginia Tech (Hokies shot seven more attempts)
• At UNC: plus-16 UNC (Heels shot 13 more attempts)
Scoring between official timeouts
This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:
First half
20:00-15:02: UNC 14, NC State 10
15:02-11:00: UNC 8, NC State 6
11:00-8:01: UNC 9, NC State 5
8:01-3:50: UNC 13, NC State 8
3:50-Halftime: UNC 12, NC State 11
Second half
20:00-15:28: UNC 13, NC State 8
15:28-11:53: UNC 11, NC State 6
11:53-7:53: NC State 18, UNC 14
7:53-3:37: UNC 13, NC State 7
3:37-Final: NC State 17, UNC 6
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly: 15.5
Funderburk: 11.1
Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce: 10.0
Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker: 9.3
Fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett: 7.2
Dorn: 5.7
Sophomore guard Blake Harris: 4.8
Johnson: 3.1
Hellems: 1.7
Redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels: 0.5
What the loss means
The Pack is 16-7 overall on the season and 4-6 in the ACC. UNC is 18-4 and 8-1. The Pack leads the all-time series 157-78, including 75-24 in Chapel Hill and 26-7 at the Dean Dome.
NC State falls to 4-4 away from home, including 2-4 in true road games, 8-6 in night games (tips after 6 p.m.). It is 7-6 on weeknight contests and falls to 1-6 when trailing at halftime.
The game was broadcast on Raycom. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- ESPN2: 2-2
- Raycom: 3-4
- ESPN: 0-1
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-4
- February: 0-2
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• Both teams had 50 points in the paint.
• The Heels had a decisive 20-6 win in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had six blocks and nine steals. UNC had seven steals and seven rejections.
• UNC’s overall rebound advantage was 41-27, but both teams had 14 offensive rebounds. UNC had a 21-18 advantage in second chance points.
• NC State’s bench outscored the Heels’ reserves 39-19.
• For the second straight game, NC State never led.
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