NC State’s Kevin Keatts says Wolfpack is not proud of loss to UNC, but not ‘embarrassed’
With a flick of the wrist, Kevin Keatts dismissively tossed the small microphone back onto the table in the Virginia Tech media room after answering for Ben Middlebrooks if N.C. State was embarrassed after blowing a 15-point lead to the Hokies.
The microphone landed with a thud, just like the team’s finish in Blacksburg, but Keatts said the team had nothing to be embarrassed about.
“We lost a tough, hard fight for a game,” Keatts said on Jan. 15. “These guys played really well. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out with their win. But nobody in that program is embarrassed.”
A little more than a month later, Keatts remained steadfast. The Wolfpack lost to rival North Carolina, 97-73, on Wednesday, in the Pack’s worst defensive performance of the season. N.C. State’s 24-point loss represented its second-largest margin of defeat, as well.
Keatts, however, wouldn’t describe the loss, the performance or the team’s feelings as embarrassing.
“I don’t use (the) word embarrassment,” Keatts said.
He credited Carolina for the way it played. He said the Tar Heels played better than N.C. State, made more shots and got more rebounds.
“They did what was necessary to win,” he said.
Just about everything that could go wrong went wrong; it’s impossible to pick one thing when — like the weather outside — everything snowballed quickly.
Trouble on the boards
The Wolfpack (10-16, 3-12 ACC) has been one of the nation’s worst rebounding teams this season, and that was clear again against the Tar Heels.
In the first half, Carolina (16-11, 9-6) outrebounded N.C. State, 21-12. The Heels scored 17 second-chance points off the Pack’s inability to grab a defensive rebound, and UNC finished with a rebounding advantage of 40-21. The Tar Heels grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, matching the Wolfpack’s total on the defensive end. N.C. State ended the game with a 21-13 second-chance point deficit, N.C. State’s second-worst of the season, and the largest rebounding deficit of the season.
N.C. State sits at the bottom of the ACC standings in overall rebounding, averaging just under 32 boards per game. That ranks in the bottom five of the conference and bottom 300 of the country. Additionally, the Pack is pulling down 22 defensive rebounds per game.
On one play in the second half, RJ Davis missed a 3. Instead of Michael O’Connell muscling his way for a rebound, Ven-Allen Lubin came flying from the backcourt for the two-handed slam.
The team’s inability to secure a rebound — several ended up being out of bounds turnovers — hurt N.C. State mightily.
Turnovers, and bench points
Turnovers were another issue. N.C. State entered the game as the most disciplined team in the ACC, averaging 9.2 turnovers per game. The Wolfpack committed nine in the first half, and UNC turned those mistakes into 13 points. Freshman Trey Parker committed a trio of turnovers in his first three minutes of play, two of which the Heels used to generate offense.
UNC got into transition, as well, scoring six first-half fast break points and finishing with 14. The Tar Heels commanded the paint, as well. They notched 24 first-half paint points and ended the game with 52. N.C. State finished with a 26-point deficit for scoring in the lane, the second-worst of the season.
The Heels’ bench scored 26 points in the first frame, too, and notched 43 total.
Carolina used a 10-0 run, 7-0 run and 6-0 run all in the first half to go up by more than 20 points.
N.C. State went to the locker room trailing the Tar Heels, 54-26. Its 28-point deficit was its largest of the season, topping its 14-point hole against Louisville a week ago. Its 26 points were also the second-fewest first-half points this season. The fewest came against Carolina in Raleigh, when the Pack scored 20.
“The game was probably won in the first half. I thought our guys really, really battled in the second half, but we had such a deep hole that we had to climb out of it,” Keatts said. “Are we proud of the way we played in the first half? Absolutely not. We’re not embarrassed. We’re not proud about how we played. Obviously, we wish we could have played better, but we didn’t.”
‘We’ll get better’
N.C. State cleaned things up in the second half, outscoring the Tar Heels, 47-43. It only turned the ball over once and Paul McNeil scored a career-high 14 points. Jayden Taylor led the Wolfpack with 19 points. Dontrez Styles contributed 18 points and five rebounds. But, the damage was done.
The Wolfpack created a hole that a solid second 20 minutes couldn’t fix. It allowed the Heels to secure ACC season highs in field goal percentage, bench points, rebounding margin and second-chance points.
“It’s tough, just how this game went and how they came out, just hit us, and we didn’t respond at all,” Dontrez Styles said. “It was kind of over after that. We can’t afford to do that at all at this point in the season.”
Styles said every loss hurts, but this is probably the worst the team has felt.
“I’m glad they feel that way, because I do. In our program, we have shared responsibility,” Keatts said. “You’re never going to see me walk into a press conference and blame it on their players. I’ll take the blame myself, but I’m glad that they feel that way. … I don’t want guys to, after a game, feel great, even if it’s a two point game. (There are) some things that we can do better. We’ll get better. We’ll work on it.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
