Wolfpack insists disappointing 13-point loss to UNC won’t ‘wreck’ its season
When N.C. State’s locker room opened Wednesday night, after Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts had said his piece, D.J. Horne stood in front of his stall, knowing what was to come and ready for it.
The Wolfpack had been beaten 67-54 by North Carolina, which finally quieted a sellout crowd of 19,500 at PNC Arena with a strongly efficient second half.
Horne, from Cary, was playing the Heels for the first time. He was pumped for it. He grew up watching State play Carolina and the transfer from Arizona State was so eager to finally be a part of it, and soak it all in.
“As a basketball player you can’t ask for nothing better than that,” Horne said. “Wolfpack nation showed out tonight.”
And then he missed 14 of his 16 shots. He scored six points. Try as he might, he could not make a difference in the rivalry game although he did have a team-high 10 rebounds.
But he did not hide in the showers after the game or beg off for some postgame treatment. He was ready with some answers.
“They made shots and we didn’t,” he said in assessing the game. “We had some breakdowns defensively and they didn’t. And that’s ultimately what led to us losing.”
At halftime, the Pack trailed 30-28. Had the Wolfpack not gone 1-for-11 on 3-pointers, it could have had the lead.
On the Wolfpack’s locker room wall were a number of “Halftime Notes” and many were positive. Horne had a team-high six deflections. The Pack had fewer turnovers and more steals. State had made more free throws than Carolina.
Despite shooting 27% from the field, the Pack was right there.
As Keatts put it, “Our defense completely kept us in the game at halftime.”
But the Tar Heels didn’t blink. R.J. Davis, after a poor first half, finished with a game-high 16 points, Freshman guard Elliot Cadeau had a tidy 11 points and six assists.
Had Harrison Ingram made a late free throw, he would have had a double-double for UNC. But his 19 rebounds, including a game-high five offensive boards, were a UNC record against the Pack, topping the 18 (twice) by Armando Bacot and former All-American Billy Cunningham.
The Pack offense continued to suffer. The Wolfpack would miss 19 of its 21 shots from 3-point range – big man Mohamed Diarra, who had made three of 13 this season, had one of the Pack’s two 3’s.
Horne wasn’t the only one having a tough night. Casey Morsell was 3-of-12 from the field, missing all five of his 3’s, in scoring 12 points and Jayden Taylor and freshman Dennis Parker Jr. both were 2-for-7.
“Give them credit. They took us out of our flow and ultimately that led to us kind of playing soft, which we can’t do,” Taylor said. “We just couldn’t get into a flow.”
Diarra’s 3 pulled the Pack within 46-44 with 11 minutes left in the game. It had the Wolfpack crowd jumping, but the Heels methodically pulled away in the final nine minutes.
“We started pressing a little bit when we didn’t make shots in the second half,” Keatts said. “I think our defense started suffering because we didn’t make shots.”
Added Horne: “I thought the intensity was there. We just didn’t make as many defensive stops as we needed to win the game. They started making shots and that opened the floodgates for them.”
Keatts’ message to the team after the game: think Louisville, not North Carolina.
“He said we can’t forget who we are,” Taylor said. “He kind of broke it down in the big scheme of things, saying that we’re 3-1 in the ACC and we’re going to Louisville on Saturday and we’ve got to go get back on the winning side.”
The Wolfpack players already were aware after the game that Louisville had won Wednesday at Miami. That was an eye-opener.
“We’ve got to scratch this one and go get the win at Louisville,” Horne said. “We’ve got to keep the focus on our end goal, which is March and everything like that.
“We can’t let this one weigh on us too heavily. This game is not going to wreck our whole season. You’ve just got to stay true to that.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
