RALEIGH – It wasn’t as if NC State was scorching from the field, or even lukewarm before North Carolina shut it down in closing out a 67-54 victory on Wednesday night.
But it doesn’t make what the Tar Heels did any less impressive. And, in fairness to the matter of the moment for the Heels, State had converted five of seven shots from the field before UNC clamped down, effectively neutering the Wolfpack in front of its fans at PNC Arena.
State was just 15-for-48 (31.2 percent) from the field through the first 29:40 of the contest, and was in the midst of that noted 5-for-7 stretch, cutting the No.7 Tar Heels’ lead to 48-46. The Pack was right in the game, its crowd was frenzied, and Carolina was going to have to dig down to pull out another big ACC road win.
And that’s exactly what happened.
From that moment on, UNC limited State to 3-for-18 from the floor sprinkling in layups by Mo Diarra at 8:52, and two by Casey Morsell at 4:47 and 3:48. But by then, the damage had been done and the outcome was nothing more than a formality.
“We are really a together group right now,” graduate guard Cormac Ryan said, when discussing the Heels closing out the game, as they did at Pittsburgh and Clemson last week. “We have felt connected from the beginning and now we get a chance to show it. Especially on the road, it is so important to stick together, especially in big environments like this, we did a great job.
“We stayed together and we were able to crack it open down the stretch.”
Carolina (12-3, 4-0 ACC) outrebounded State by four over that last stretch while also forcing four turnovers. On the other hand, UNC scored 19 points in exactly six game minutes putting the game into the win column. The Heels did it with defense, but also turning that into offense.
Eight of Carolina’s 18 fast break points on the night came in that stretch. Of the Heels’ final seven field goals, four were layups, one was a dunk, one was a mid-range jumper, and the other was a 3-pointer. Toss in four free throws, and that’s how the Heels got it done.
“I think, in the second half, what happened was we started pressing a little bit when we didn’t make shots in the second half,” NC State Coach Kevin Keatts said. “I think our defense started suffering because we didn’t make shots.”
For the improving Tar Heels, their mission-mindedness has been at the core of them embracing mandates issued by head coach Hubert Davis.
Much of this was gained from playing such a demanding early nonconference schedule, as many needs were exposed. Four of UNC’s opponents outside the ACC are ranked among the top nine this week. The Heels split with those teams, losing to Connecticut and Kentucky on neutral sites, and beating Oklahoma in Charlotte and Tennessee at home.
UNC closed out Oklahoma 11-4 to secure a 12-point win, out-did Pittsburgh 21-13 over the final nine minutes for a 13-point win, and they held CLemson scoreless over the final five minutes for a 10-point win last weekend. Iron has sharpened iron here.
“I've just believed the level of teams that we played, the different situations that we've been in, has not only hardened us and given us toughness, but an experience of being in a true road game,” Davis said. “I just hear them in the huddle all the time saying, ‘we've been here before, we were here before against UConn, we were here before against Tennessee.’
And our guys are just gaining strength from being in those situations, and I just really feel like the experience in the early season has given us confidence to be able to step in environments like this and be able to execute on both ends.”
A dozen or more arrows are pointed in the right direction for the Tar Heels. And as they have now closed out three straight ACC teams on the road combining defense, rebounding, offense and plenty of grit, are absolutely among those arrows.
