By Adam Lucas
1. NC State had one of the program’s most thorough wins in the history of this series with an 82-58 win over Carolina in Raleigh. It’s State’s biggest win in the series since before man walked on the moon.
2. Carolina played without Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar. In the history of the ACC, the Tar Heels have now played three games without both of the team’s top two scorers. Those three: tonight’s game, the win over Pitt on Saturday and a 1978 loss at NC State when Phil Ford and Mike O’Koren did not play.
3. Regardless of the available personnel, the Tar Heels simply didn’t play well enough offensively, defensively or competitively to win the game. They hoisted 33 of their 60 shots from three-point range on a night they made just five of those trifectas (15.2 percent). The Heels were decent from two, 14-for-27, but didn’t consistently try to score from that range (and their two best two-point options were sitting on the bench). More offensive issues: Carolina, a team that has taken care of the ball this year, committed 12 turnovers (State only had four of them).
4. State took advantage of Carolina’s lack of rim protection by continually isolating their guards and watching them back down whoever happened to be guarding them. The Pack shot 48.4 percent from the field and used the spacing created by those drives to hit 9-for-20 from three. State had a 40-28 edge in points in the paint.
5. Fortunately, Zayden High got on the bus to Raleigh. High had 10 of Carolina’s 26 first-half points and was by far the most active Tar Heel. It was largely the High and Jarin Stevenson show in the first half, when Stevenson had seven points and seven rebounds. High finished with the first double-double of his college career, scoring 13 points to go with a career-high 10 rebounds.
6. The Tar Heels did not play a good first half. They shot 25 percent from the field, allowed State to shoot 53.1 percent, and attempted half their shots from three-point range while shooting 1-for-16 from that distance.
7. UNC also had just two assists in the first 20 minutes (on eight field goals). They picked up seven in the second half (led by Kyan Evans with three for the game), but the damage had been done.
8. Playing a freshman point guard means you’re going to have to endure some stretches like this for Derek Dixon. The rookie is now 4-for-26 from the field in his last three games and 2-for-18 from three. Dixon was far from the only offender on Tuesday. Almost everyone in the UNC backcourt struggled (Seth Trimble was 1-for-9, for example, and Evans didn’t score).
9. Remember when Dean Smith said a team could compensate for the loss of a key player for one game? That was Saturday against Pittsburgh. This was a case of Carolina simply not having enough firepower to compete, and then compounding the problem by getting outplayed in almost every way.
10. Since the ACC began, State had only beaten Carolina by 20+ points on four occasions, the last being a 22-point win in 2002. They’ve now done it again and they certainly seemed excited about it, with benchwarmer Jordan Snell getting a technical foul with 1:29 left after running his mouth constantly after entering the game. Carolina has five 20+ point wins over State in the last 15 years but couldn’t summon that type of effort on Tuesday.
11. That loss makes it very difficult for Carolina to get a double bye in the ACC Tournament. The Heels now sit 8-5 in the ACC, in sixth place. But two teams above them (Miami and State) already hold the tiebreaker with a game against Clemson remaining and Monday’s showdown with Louisville looming as an elimination game in the double bye race.
12. The Tar Heels must respond on Saturday at Syracuse. It’s less about who is available for that game and more about simply playing better.
