Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 75-65 loss UNC in front of 19,533 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Monday evening.

NC State looked like it was finally poised to make a run at UNC, scoring six straight points to cut what had been a 10-point lead down to 65-61. After receiving another stop, Wolfpack redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels threw up a runner that didn’t fall despite being a good look.

On the other end, UNC junior guard Andrew Platek had a shot that bounced a few times on the rim before going in, a sequence exemplifying somewhat how the game went Monday. Instead of being a two-point game, Platek scored the first of what was six unanswered UNC points to drive the lead back up to 10.

With five minutes to go in the first half, UNC junior forward Garrison Brooks was the Heels’ offense. He had 15 of Chapel Hill’s 28 points while UNC nursed a 28-25 lead at that point.

Brooks finished with 25 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds. That is the fourth time in the last seven games that Brooks has gone for a double-double with 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds.

On the first possession of the second half, NC State executed a pretty play to get sophomore forward Jericole Hellems a reverse layup to cut UNC’s lead to 39-37.

After that point, the Heels stretched its lead to 65-55 with 8:11 left in the game. NC State had actually scored well in that stretch, adding 28 points in that span, and yet it lost ground.

How did that happen?

The simple answer is the Pack failed to get stops. UNC scored on 12 of its first 17 second half possessions, three times thanks to offensive rebounds. They also came from unlikely places.

Freshman center Armando Bacot, who in eight prior ACC games had shot 22 of 38 from the line for 57.9 percent, made all four of his free throw attempts during that stretch.

Senior grad transfer Christian Keeling, who was averaging 3.5 points per game in ACC action, hit back-to-back jumpers. Another grad transfer, forward Justin Pierce, had been 4 of 20 on threes in league play but made one in that stretch.

Four different times NC State cut the lead to three points. Each time UNC answered with a score.

UNC cooled off after that point. The Heels made 8 of 13 shots to begin the half and finished 4 of its last 14. They also missed four free throws in the final stages of the game, yet NC State, other than one run to slice the lead to four, couldn’t cut into the advantage.

How did that happen?

An inability to get the offense going. After Daniels had a steal and dunk to cut the Heels’ lead to 65-61 with 6:44 left in the game, NC State missed eight straight shots, including freshman center Manny Bates missing a point blank layup, and added a turnover over the next 5:10 to remain stuck on 61 points.

By the time Daniels made a bucket with 1:34 left, UNC had regained its double-digit advantage.

He had missed two games with a concussion but was cleared to return Monday. He came off the bench for the first time this season.

Keatts’ hope was to play him about 12 minutes, but foul trouble with Hellems forced him to be on the court for 16:31 before Bates himself fouled out. He finished with a game-high five blocked shots, giving him 58 on the season in 19 games players, an average of 3.1 a contest.

It appeared that senior forward Pat Andree was cleared to play and he participated in warmups, but Andree did not get into the game.

The football coaches were seen coming down through the court before taking their seats accompanying a few recruits, including recently offered offensive tackle Diego Pounds from Millbrook High in Raleigh.

Sitting behind the Wolfpack bench were a pair of signees — four-star guard Cam Hayes from Greensboro (N.C.) Day and four-star forward Nick Farrar from Apex (N.C.) Friendship.

During the game, both outgoing director of the Wolfpack Club Bobby Purcell and the NC State baseball team were honored.

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

First half

20:00-15:20: NC State 12, North Carolina 6

15:23-11:45: North Carolina 12, NC State 5

11:45-7:42: NC State 4, North Carolina 2

7:42-2:49: NC State 10, North Carolina 10

2:49-Halftime: North Carolina 9, NC State 4

Second half

20:00-15:11: North Carolina 8, NC State 5

15:11-9:56: North Carolina 13, NC State 12

9:56-7:18: NC State 5, North Carolina 5

7:18-3:25: North Carolina 6, NC State 4

3:25-Final: NC State 4, North Carolina 4

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

Funderburk: 20.4

Hellems: 5.5

Senior guard Markell Johnson: 4.5

Daniels: 2.8

Junior guard Braxton Beverly: 2.8

Bates: 0.5

Senior center Danny Dixon: -0.5

Fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce: -3.7

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

• Funderburk -1 (36:43 played)

• Daniels -4 (39:06)

• Dixon -5 (7:11)

• Beverly -5 (23:01)

• Bates -7 (16:31)

• Hellems -9 (14:39)

• Bryce -9 (26:39)

• Johnson -10 (36:10)

NC State is 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the ACC, and North Carolina is 10-10 and 3-6.

The Pack is 11-2 at home this year. NC State is 7-3 in night games (played after 6 p.m.), 6-4 in weekday games and 1-6 when trailing at halftime.

The game was broadcast on ESPN. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- ACC Network Extra: 3-0

- ESPN+: 1-0

- RSN: 4-2

- ACC Network: 3-2

- ESPN: 1-1

- ESPN2: 2-2

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

- November: 5-2

- December: 5-1

- January: 4-4

• Both teams had 40 points in the paint.

• UNC a slight edge in fast break points, 10-9.

• North Carolina’s bench beat NC State’s reserves, 9-8.

• The Pack had the edge in turnover margin 13-10, but North Carolina more importantly won the points off turnovers, 13-12.

• UNC won the battle on the boards, 42-31 overall and 14-11 on the offensive glass. The Heels had an 14-10 advantage on second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had seven blocks, altered two shots and nabbed seven steals. The Heels had two blocks, seven alters and four steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was seven points, while North Carolina’s was 11. NC State led for 12:03 compared to 26:05 for the UNC. The game was tied for 1:52.

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