Pack looking for its offensive touch

There were moments in N.C. State's loss at North Carolina on Thursday when Wolfpack senior C.J. Williams didn't recognize his own team.

The Wolfpack could not create enough shots from the perimeter and struggled to get shots off from the interior.

"That's not how we played the first 20 games," said Williams, who finished with eight points and four assists. "We're disappointed in how we played."

N.C. State (15-6, 4-2 ACC) will have to find its offense, and quickly, with No. 19 Virginia (16-3, 3-2), one of the best defensive teams in the country, visiting the RBC Center tonight (8 p.m., ESPN2).

The Wolfpack shot just 36.8 percent against the Tar Heels, even with three banked-in 3-pointers - notably, one from 80 feet by guard Lorenzo Brown. N.C. State scored a season-low 55 points, with just 23 in the first half as a relatively close game - UNC led 27-20 with 4:30 minutes left in the first half - turned into what junior Scott Wood called a "disaster."

Wood, who had 21 points in last Sunday's win at Miami, finished with a team-best 11 but had only one shot attempt in the first 16 minutes of the game. He was held scoreless at the half as UNC stretched out their lead to a 37-23 advantage.

"I have to work harder to get open," said Wood, who made three of his six 3-point attempts in the second half.

First-year coach Mark Gottfried credited UNC's defensive effort, led by John Henson's five blocks, but he also said his team didn't play with enough poise or patience on offense.

"We didn't screen very well, we didn't cut very well," Gottfried said. "We were not very sharp offensively."

N.C. State entered the UNC game as the third-highest scoring team in the ACC, at 75.9 points per game. It is the only ACC team with five players who average at least 10 points a game. Thursday night, however, Wood was N.C. State's only player to reach double-figures.

Forwards C.J. Leslie (nine points) and Richard Howell (eight points) struggled against UNC's taller frontcourt. Over all, N.C. State forwards were 7 of 21 from the floor with seven made field goals and five turnovers between them.

UVa has forward Mike Scott, one of the best offensive players in the league, but he's not the caliber of defender as either Henson or Tyler Zeller. The Cavaliers also recently lost its best post defender in 7-footer Assane Sene, who's out for six weeks with an ankle injury. Sene had four blocks in UVa's 69-58 home win over N.C. State last season, the only meeting between the two teams last year.

Against North Carolina, the Wolfpack's balance and production were off. The key, Wood said, is to get back to playing the way N.C. State played before the UNC game and putting the lopsided loss behind them.

"It's one game whether you lose by 33 or 1, you still lost," Wood said. "We still have 10 more league games. If we pull a couple of those out, we'll be alright."

Gottfried, who has been quick to point out all season that the program has a "long way to go," backed off that talking point on Thursday and encouraged his players.

"I like my team," Gottfried said in Thursday's post-game press conference. "We have battled from Day One, and I believe we will keep battling. Tonight's disappointing, we all agree, but we're a better basketball team than we were tonight."

The Wolfpack can't afford to let the loss to the Tar Heels turn into a second tonight against Virginia.