Close but no Cigar: NC State Wolfpack loses to UNC 81-79

Two tough losses in one week.  Sandwiched in between the losses was an exciting Blue Devil beating that gave us all a glimpse of how good this team can be.  Last night, the NC State Wolfpack  dropped a closely contested game at PNC Arena to the North Carolina Tarheels 81-79.  NC State (12-6,3-2)  lost the game to UNC (13-4,3-1) after a hard fought drama-filled evening that came down to literally the last tenth of  a second, as the Wolfpack’s Cody Martin got a hand on the ball for a desperation game tying tip.  Another valiant effort, like the Virginia game seven days earlier.

The game began with State and Carolina going toe to toe and the Pack doing what they needed to win the game.  Roy Williams’ strategy was simple: Stop Trevor Lacey and out rebound the Wolfpack.

Defense Frustrates NC State Wolfpack

UNC’s J. P. Tokoto did his job.  Trevor Lacey who ended the evening with 19 points struggled much of the game on 4-13 shooting and was only 1-6 from 3-pt. range.  Fortunately, others like Kyle Washington and Abdul-Malik Abu picked up some of the scoring slack allowing the Pack to keep it close.

Ralston Turner did his usual thing lighting it up from outside, though his shooting percentage was down and early foul trouble caused some problems.  Strategy #2 for Coach Williams was a failure as the Wolfpack out-rebounded the Tarheels on the boards by pulling down 18 offensive rebounds to help offset a poor 33% first half team shooting performance.  Freshman Abu led the Wolfpack with nine rebounds.

Jan 14, 2015; Raleigh, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Isaiah Hicks (22) controls the ball in front of North Carolina State Wolfpack forward Kyle Washington (32) during the second half at PNC Arena. The Tarheels won 81-79. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Halftime:  UNC 32  –  NC State 26

NC State sealed its own fate midway through the second half when they turned the ball over on 4 of 6 possessions allowing the Tarheels to extend their lead to 10 and eventually eleven points.

Fortunately, what this team lacks in experience it makes up in character, as the Pack began a fierce comeback led by the improved shooting of Lacey and Turner. Trailing by 11 points with 3:45 remaining in the game, State went on a 14-4 run to cut the lead to 77-76 in the final seconds.

UNC sophomore guard Nate Britt made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to extend their lead to three.  Mr. Everything Marcus Paige then hit two more with 1 second to go for an 81-78 lead.  NC State would get the ball back and shoot 2 free throws thanks to  a UNC intentional (strategic) foul with two-tenths of a second left.  Abdul-Malik Abu hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second allowing fellow freshman Cody Martin the opportunity to get a tip.  Martin got a hand on the ball, but was not successful.  Game over.

Close but no cigar.

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In response to why his team was not successful in defeating the Tarheels, Coach Mark Gottfried said, “The second half we came out and played basketball. … But we didn’t do it for 40 minutes. We did it for 20 minutes.”

Senior Ralston Turner echoed those sentiments when the said, “We learned a valuable lesson tonight.  We learned that we have tp play 40 minutes and not twenty.”

Preseason All-American Marcus Paige scored 23 points and dished out 9 assists in the win.  Teammate Kennedy Meeks had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

QUICK STATS

Trevor Lacey- 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists

Ralston Turner- 20 points, 2 rebounds

Anthony “Cat” Barber- 5 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists

Kyle Washington -17 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block

Caleb Martin – 3 points, 1 rebounds

Cody Martin- 2 points, 3 rebounds

BeeJay Anya- 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks

Abdul-Malik Abu- 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block

Notables:

• NC State had 17 second chance points (UNC 11)
• NC State  shot 7-22 from 3-point range (31.8%)
• NC State out-rebounded UNC 37-33
• NC State had 18 offensive rebounds
• Roy Williams improved to 23-2 against N.C. State as UNC coach

UP NEXT for the NC State Wolfpack:

at Florida State– January 17, 2015 @ 1:30pm

TV: ACC Network