CHAPEL HILL - It was a tale of two halves in Chapel Hill on Saturday, as No. 9 ranked North Carolina earned the season-sweep of NC State with a 79-70 victory over the Wolfpack.
In the first half, the Tar Heels had no answers for the Wolfpack backcourt duo of D.J.Horne and Jayden Taylor. But they did after the intermission.
Horne quieted the Smith Center crowd to end the first half, draining a stepback jumpshot to give the Wolfpack a 45-37 lead going into the locker room.
His seventh field goal of the frame signaled a 14-1 run for Kevin Keatts’ team, as Horne and fellow guard Jayden Taylor combined for 28 first half points, including six three-pointers.
“NC State was shooting nearly 60 percent from the field [and] that’s just not going to get it done,” said UNC Coach Hubert Davis. “They were running their offense like they did in shootaround, getting wide open shots. We weren’t impactful [or] getting looks on the ball.”
While the Wolfpack was an impressive 7-for-11 from three-point range and 19-for-33 from the field, it was the lack of focus for UNC that allowed the late surge.
“[We lacked] intensity, attention to detail, and just our want and need,” said UNC guard Seth Trimble. “I kind of feel like they wanted it more than us in the first half.”
The inability to take care of the basketball also hindered Carolina, as the Wolfpack outscored the No. 1 team in the ACC, 13-2, in points off of turnovers by the intermission.
The Tar Heels’ surrendered their highest first-half point total of the season, and appeared headed for more trouble after Casey Morsell’s turnaround jumper to open up the second half extended State’s lead to 10 and its run to 16-1.
Then, the lauded defense that once had North Carolina ranked No. 3 in the country and winners of 10-straight games showed up.
NC State failed to convert on their next 15 shot attempts, going nearly 11 minutes without a field goal.
The Tar Heels used their lockdown effort to muster a 29-6 run, ballooning their lead to 66-53 with 9:14 remaining.
“All year for this team, it’s always the defense that fuels the offense,” said Hubert Davis. “That’s something that I talk about, that’s something that I preach. It’s what our team is. For us to be the best that we can be, we have to step it up on the defensive end.”
North Carolina’s defensive intensity held Horne and Taylor to a combined 3-for-12 from the field and 12 points in the second half, forcing three turnovers and allowing zero assists from the backcourt duo.
Their defensive adjustments were reminiscent of that in Coral Gables in their 75-72 win over Miami on Feb. 10. Norchad Omier and Nijel Pack combined for 34 of the Hurricanes' 41 first half points, but were held to six points and two field goals in the final frame.
“I think we did a good job of just being more impactful on the ball and forcing them into these tough shots,” said Carolina guard R.J. Davis. “We contested, and if they made it then congrats to them. [We were] just being sound in our defense, we did a good job doing that.”
As a team, NC State recorded a .85 assist-to-turnover ratio in the final frame, coughing up the basketball on seven separate occasions.
The Wolfpack made 11 free throws to just six field goals in the final 20 minutes, as the Tar Heels limited NC State to 22.2 percent shooting from the field, the lowest by any opponent in the second half this season.
Of the nine Wolfpack who saw action in the second half, just two made multiple shot attempts and zero shot better than 40 percent from the floor.
Much like throughout the course of the season, North Carolina answered Hubert Davis’ defensive challenge in the halftime locker room to earn the regular season sweep of NC State for the 15th time in the last 20 seasons.
“We did not want to lose to State and we definitely didn’t want to lose to State at home,” said Trimble. “We knew what was on the line and we were just hungry to go get it.”
Their hunger translated to a near perfect second half performance on defense and has them one win away from at least a share of the ACC regular season title.
