N.C. State dug an early hole against UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday afternoon, a hole from which it never recovered, falling, 84-70, to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.
Sophomore forward T.J. Warren led the Wolfpack (14-8 overall, 4-5 ACC) with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals. But Warren, the Pack’s leading scorer this season, was mostly invisible on the offensive end until the end of the game, failing to score in the second half until the 8:38 mark.
With Warren floundering offensively, the baton fell to junior guard Desmond Lee, who scored all 18 of his points in the second half. Lee almost single-handedly kept the Pack in the game late, but Carolina’s offensive firepower proved too much for the Wolfpack.
UNC’s junior forward James Michael McAdoo led the Tar Heels (14-7 overall, 4-4 ACC) on Saturday with a 16 point, 13 rebound performance against the Pack. Senior guard Leslie McDonald and sophomore guard Marcus Paige, with 20 and 15 points, respectively, also played big roles in helping Carolina come out on top. Paige, in addition to his scoring, hit all seven of his free throw attempts and added five assists in the winning effort.
UNC hit the gas pedal out of the gates, going on a 20-6 run over the game’s first 9:16. The Tar Heels’ run and gun offense attacked State’s big men throughout the first half, drawing a total of 16 free throws, nine more than the Pack in the same period. Carolina led, 40-23, at the break.
State’s offense looked completely out of sync throughout the first half. The Pack shot a dismal 25 percent (10-40) from the field and made just two of seven free throws in the opening half.
Poor off-ball movement forced State’s point guards to be overly aggressive, with freshman guard Anthony “Cat” Barber jacking up 11 shots in 14 minutes of play in the first half, making only three. Barber finished the game with 12 points.
UNC’s defense, for its part, protected the rim effectively, collecting six blocks as Carolina allowed only four of State’s players to score in a sloppy first half by both teams.
The Wolfpack’s 23 points over the game’s first 20 minutes is State’s third-lowest point total in a first half this season.
UNC ran out to a 49-27 lead at the start of the second half, but State hit a 13-6 run and slowly started chipping away at the Heels’ lead, thanks to an impressive spurt from junior guard Desmond Lee.
Lee briefly took over on the offensive end for the Wolfpack, scoring eight straight points, highlighted by an impressive defensive rebound to set up a coast-to-coast finish. The Norfolk, Va., native helped State rack up 47 points in the second half, with the Pack shooting over 65 percent (17-for-26) from the field.
But Carolina responded quickly and brutally, hitting a 15-6 run to stretch its lead to 70-48.
The Wolfpack resorted to a three-guard lineup as the game wore on, hoping to stretch the floor and lessen UNC’s lead. But the Tar Heels exploited the height mismatch and dominated the glass on both ends, outrebounding State 25-11 in the second half.
Despite being down by 21 with less than seven minutes remaining, State was far from finished. Warren re-emerged to lead the Pack on a 10-1 run, lessening UNC’s lead to 11 with 4:15 remaining.
The Tar Heels, however, would not be denied the victory. A pair of free throws from Paige and a jumper from freshman guard Nate Britt with 3:30 remaining essentially sealed Carolina’s victory, sending State home with its fifth conference loss of the season.
