NC State basketball routed at UNC. Pack trailed by 20 or more for all of second half
Perhaps the only thing that kept the fans in their seats at halftime was the Roy Williams ceremony.
By intermission, the game was over. At least, it felt that way.
It was ‘Roy Williams Day’ at the Dean Dome, fitting with N.C. State in town. During his 18-year career coaching UNC, Williams had his way with N.C. State, going 33-5. In his first meeting with the Wolfpack, first-year Tar Heels’ head coach Hubert Davis got off to a good start, with a 100-80 win that never seemed in doubt.
UNC threw one haymaker after another early. N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts has praised his team for their fight all year. The Wolfpack didn’t have it against the Tar Heels.
UNC was on fire and led by 25 at the break. That tied the largest halftime deficit of the Keatts era.
“We ran into a red-hot Carolina team on the road,” Keatts said. “It was tough because they hadn’t shot the ball that well the entire year. They were incredible behind the three-point line. Everybody was good. Everybody shot a great percentage.”
When Williams was honored at halftime, he encouraged the fans to cheer louder so the team could “beat these guys in red a helluva lot more.”
Williams was the coach when UNC beat N.C. State by 51 at the Smith Center in 2018. That game was postponed 17 hours because of a snowstorm. The Wolfpack looked like it could have used an additional 17 hours to prepare.
That might not have been enough to slow down the Tar Heels.
“Defensively, I thought they hit some really, really tough shots today,” Keatts said about the Heels. “Our defense has to travel every time we play and if it doesn’t, we’re going to struggle.”
From the first basket of the game, a 3 from Brady Manek (17 points, 5-7 from three) that barely moved the net, to a 3 from R.J. Davis to start the second half, the Heels were on fire.
UNC connected on 15 3-pointers, the most N.C. State has given up all year. At one point Heels’ point guard Caleb Love had eight points by himself and the Wolfpack only had seven. The score was 16-7 at the time and even that felt like a much larger deficit. It was the second game this season that N.C. State never held a lead.
The Wolfpack dug itself a hole by leaving Manek and company open for way too many 3s. On the rare occasions the Pack challenged shots, they still went in for the Heels. UNC shot 56 percent from three.
Six different players hit at least one 3 for UNC. Jericole Hellems and Terquavion Smith were the only players who got anything going for the Wolfpack (10-12, 3-8). The duo combined for 59, including a career-high 34 from Smith. They didn’t get much help from anywhere else. N.C. State’s bench scored just nine points.
Dereon Seabron, the leading scorer for the Pack coming into the contest, finished with a season-low two points, the first time this season he didn’t score in double figures. The Norfolk native played just four minutes in the second half.
“I just didn’t think he was playing well,” Keatts said. “It’s not different from anyone else on our team, when you’re not playing good basketball somebody else, obviously, gets the opportunity. I just didn’t think he had it tonight for whatever reason.”
His presence might not have much of a difference. Carolina honored the 1982 National Title team at a timeout in the second half. N.C. State made the 2021-22 Heels look like the second coming of that team all day.
“They were really hot tonight,” Keatts said. “I don’t know if they’ll shoot the ball that well again the rest of the year.”
Four different players scored in double-figures for the Heels. Love led North Carolina with 21 points. Coming into the game, Carolina’s play in the post was expected to be a huge advantage. It was closer than expected, 28-22, in favor of the Heels. The Wolfpack may have used all its good shooting mojo two games ago against Virginia. N.C. State connected on 12 triples against the Cavaliers. In the two games since, the Pack has shot 31 and 40 percent from three.
The Wolfpack dropped to 7-29 against UNC inside the Smith Center. N.C. State at least gets its next three games in the friendly confines of PNC. Syracuse, Notre Dame and Wake Forest are next in order for Keatts and company.
The Pack, after going 3-6 in January, ended the month with its worst loss of the season.
“We just have to bounce back,” Smith said. “We have to lock in on the defensive end. We have to start stacking stops. If we don’t stack stops it’s not going to work.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
