Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 77-68 loss to Syracuse inside PNC Arena on Tuesday evening.

Syracuse had taken a 65-55 lead when head coach Kevin Keatts called a timeout with 8:17 left. The Pack responded with 7-0 run to get back into the contest, and it had a chance to get closer.

However, whereas freshman guard Cam Hayes was trying to feed redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates in the paint, Bates thought Hayes was going up for a shot. Had Bates been on the same page with Hayes, he probably has a high percentage shot at the rim. Instead it was one of the many turnovers on the night for NC State.

On the other end, Syracuse sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier grabbed an offensive rebound, which was also a second-half problem for the Pack, and battled for a short hook shot on the second chance that ended the Wolfpack's run with 5:00 left.

After going back-to-back games without a blocked shot, Bates made sure that trend did not continue

NC State would not mind avoiding Syracuse junior guard Alan Griffin in the ACC Tournament. On Tuesday, the Illinois transfer made 9 of 17 shots from the field, including 4 of 7 threes for a game-high 22 points.

Griffin had a team-high 19 points when the Orange beat NC State on Jan. 31 in the Carrier Dome. He made 6 of 13 shots that game, including 3 of 7 threes.

In 12 games against the higher-level of competition, which was 11 conference contests plus a road date at St. Louis, there has been some startling differences between first half and second half margins for NC State.

The Wolfpack has outscored those teams collectively by 31 points in the first half, leading at the break in eight of them. It should be noted that included Florida State trouncing the Pack by 25 points in the first half. If you remove that, NC State has a plus-56 margin at the break in the other 10 games.

Yet the second half, the Wolfpack is down 81 points in those 11 contests. Only once has NC State not been outscored, and that was when it had the same amount of points as UNC in a loss in Chapel Hill. (In fairness, NC State likely would have won the second half at Boston College had Keatts not played deep reserves late in the game.)

The basic story of this game is very simple: NC State turned it over way too many times — 20 to be exact. That included 13 in the first half and seven in the second.

The amazing thing is that it was not one or two primary culprits, but rather a team effort to turn it over:

• Bates: Four turnovers (most in a game this season)

• Junior forward Jericole Hellems: Four turnovers (second most)

• Fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk: Three turnovers (second most)

• Hayes: Three turnovers (matched season high)

• Redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen: Two turnovers (one off season-high)

• Senior guard Braxton Beverly: Two turnovers (one off season-high)

• Freshman guard Shakeel Moore: Two turnovers

The lone player not to commit multiple turnovers in the game is redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron, who had none on the evening but also had the fewest playing time at six minutes.

NC State's 20 turnovers were a season-high, as were the 21 points allowed off turnovers. It was only the third time this year an opponent had more points off turnovers than NC State (Syracuse had 21 and NC State had 16).

For the first time in a while, Keatts decided to go with a big lineup at times with Bates and Funderburk. Unofficially, the two combined to be on the court together for 10:20 in this game, over a quarter of the action.

In that span, the plus/minus was a net zero.

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

First half

20:00-15:32: Syracuse 9, NC State 8

15:32-11:46: NC State 8, Syracuse 5

11:46-8:00: NC State 7, Syracuse 4

8:00-3:20: Syracuse 7, NC State 5

3:20-Halftime: Syracuse 9, NC State 5

Second half

20:00-15:28: Syracuse 8, NC State 4

15:28-10:44: Syracuse 17, NC State 14

10:44-7:42: NC State 6, Syracuse 6

7:42-2:48: Syracuse 8, NC State 7

2:48-Final: NC State 4, Syracuse 4

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

• Funderburk: +3 (23 minutes played)

• Moore: +1 (12)

• Allen: -2 (35)

• Beverly: -4 (34)

• Seabron: -5 (6)

• Hayes: -8 (30)

• Bates: -10 (27)

• Hellems: -12 (30)

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

Funderburk — 12.5

Allen — 12.1

Beverly — 6.9

Hellems — 6.0

Bates — 5.6

Hayes — 1.2

Moore — 1.2

Seabron — 0.9

NC State drops to 8-8 overall and 4-7 in the ACC while Syracuse is 11-6 and 5-5. The Wolfpack is now 6-3 at home and 4-6 in night games (tipoff after 6 p.m.). NC State is 6-5 in weekday contests.

The Orange leads the all-time series against the Pack, 9-6, and it is 4-2 in PNC Arena.

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

• ESPNU: 1-0

• ACC Network: 6-5

• RSN: 1-2

• ESPN: 1-0

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

• November: 2-0

• December: 4-1

• January: 1-5

• February: 1-2

• Syracuse won the points in the paint, 28-20.

• The Orange had the edge in fast-break points, 12-9.

• The Pack bench outscored Syracuse's reserves, 19-13.

• Syracuse won the turnover margin 20-12, and it had a 21-16 edge in points off them.

• The Orange won on the boards, 32-28 in overall rebounds and 14-8 on the offensive glass. Syracuse had a 15-8 advantage in second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and six steals. Syracuse had four blocks and added 11 steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was five points and it led for 7:30. Syracuse's largest advantage was 11 points and it led for 25:38.

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