Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 64-57 loss to No. 14 Virginia inside of PNC Arena in Raleigh on Wednesday evening.

The key moment came with under six minutes left. The teams had traded the lead four times, the last coming after Virginia junior forward Trey Murphy connected on a pair of free throws with 6:01 left, putting the Cavaliers up 47-46.

On the next possession, NC State redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates' pass to a cutting junior forward Jericole Hellems could not be handled, and the result was a turnover that led to a quick transition three for Virginia senior forward Sam Hauser.

That three was the start of a 14-5 decisive run for Virginia that allowed the Cavaliers to prevail.

Bates had a nice alley-oop dunk, and freshman guard Shakeel Moore had an impressive steal and fast break dunk, but the edge goes to fifth-year senior Wolfpack forward DJ Funderburk's own steal and open court dunk that gave the Wolfpack a lead at 44-43 with 6:58 left.

That was NC State's first lead since it was up 22-19 before Virginia senior center Jay Huff tied it with a three-pointer with 3:56 remaining in the first half.

For his second straight contest, Hellems was the center piece of NC State's offense in the absence of leading scorer Devon Daniels, who has been lost for the season with a torn ACL.

Hellems followed up his 24-point, 10-rebound performance in a loss at Syracuse with 23 points and five boards against Virginia. Hellems made 9 of 15 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 three-pointers.

Making his first career start was redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron, fresh off a strong performance in a loss at Syracuse. That meant it was the ninth different starting combination for head coach Kevin Keatts this season.

Here are the records of the different starting combos:

• Redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen, senior guard Braxton Beverly, Bates, Daniels and Hellems — 5-1

• Allen, Bates, Beverly, Daniels, Funderburk — 1-0

• Allen, Bates, Beverly, Funderburk, Hellems — 1-0

• Allen, Bates, Beverly, Hellems and freshman guard Cam Hayes — 0-1

• Allen, Bates, Daniels, Hayes, Hellems — 0-1

• Allen, Bates, Daniels, Funderburk, Hellems — 0-1

• Allen, Bates, Beverly, Hellems, Seabron — 0-1

• Bates, Beverly, Daniels, Hayes, Hellems — 0-1

• Daniels, Funderburk, Hayes, Hellems, Moore — 0-1

In his first career start, Seabron scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field, missing his one three-point attempt, and grabbed three rebounds with one turnover in 17 minutes.

After the game, Keatts noted the lack of production of the Wolfpack guards. The combination of Allen, Beverly, Hayes and Moore struggled to produce in the absence of Daniels.

Against Virginia, that foursome went a combined 6 of 16 from the field for 14 points. They collectively made 1 of 7 three-pointers and went 1 of 3 at the free throw line (all from Beverly). They did contribute eight assists, but they also turned it over six times, with the freshmen guards of Hayes and Moore doing so twice apiece.

At Syracuse, in the first contest without Daniels, the freshmen plus Allen went a combined 3 of 17 from the field, including 2 of 13 on threes, and had eight assists with five turnovers. Beverly at least did perform well with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting and four assists without a turnover.

Although there was no official clarification on the reason why Funderburk was a bit of a late scratch for last Sunday's loss at Syracuse, other than to report it was a university-related issue, he was back on the court Wednesday evening.

Funderburk struggled in the first half, but he scored nine of NC State's 11 points in a 11-2 run that turned what was a 41-33 deficit into a 44-43 lead. However, down the stretch, Keatts chose to go exclusively with Bates in the post.

After the game, Keatts was asked about that decision.

"They hired me, I'm the coach," Keatts said. "I felt like Manny was going to be the guy that was going to play. We wanted Manny in there.

"Obviously, DJ had scored, but I also wanted a guy that could be able to stop them from scoring. We needed to get stops to even get the ball back. I don't feel like I answer questions why so-and-so plays or not. Manny Bates has been playing tremendous for us. That was my decision, and my decision only."

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

First half

20:00-15:14: NC State 7, Virginia 7

15:14-11:06: Virginia 7, NC State 6

11:06-7:54: NC State 5, Virginia 5

7:54-3:23: NC State 4, Virginia 3

3:23-Halftime: Virginia 6, NC State 2

Second half

20:00-14:32: Virginia 10, NC State 9

14:32-11:06: NC State 6, Virginia 5

11:06-7:42: NC State 3, Virginia 0

7:42-2:57: Virginia 14, NC State 9

2:57-Final: Virginia 7, NC State 6

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

• Moore: +7 (19 minutes played)

• Hellems: +1 (37)

• Seabron: -1 (17)

• Hayes: -3 (23)

• Funderburk: -4 (18)

• Beverly: -8 (36)

• Bates: -11 (25)

• Allen: -16 (25)

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

Hellems — 16.0

Bates — 5.9

Funderburk — 3.9

Hayes — 3.4

Beverly — 2.9

Allen — 1.8

Moore — 0.2

Seabron — -0.1

NC State falls to 7-7 overall and 3-6 in the ACC while Virginia is 12-3 and 8-1. The Wolfpack is now 6-2 at home and 4-5 in night games (tipoff after 6 p.m.). NC State is 6-4 in weekday contests (3-2 on Wednesdays).

The Wolfpack leads the all-time series against the Cavs, 83-68, but Virginia is now 9-7 at 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: 5-4

• 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: 0-1

• NC State won the points in the paint, 30-22.

• NC State had a slight edge in fast-break points, 11-9.

• The Pack bench outscored Virginia's reserves, 15-0.

• Virginia won the turnover margin, 12-11, and that translated to the Cavs advantage in points off turnovers, 16-12.

• NC State won on the boards 31-24 in overall rebounds and 11-3 on the offensive glass. Both teams had two second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State did not block a shot in a game for the first time this year and had six steals. Virginia had three blocks and added five steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was three points and it led for 5:36. Virginia's largest advantage was nine points and it led for 28:12.

——

• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook