UNC overcomes second-half woes to defeat N.C. State

When it was all over at the Smith Center Saturday afternoon, North Carolina defeated N.C. State 84-70 — its second widest margin of victory in conference play.

But the final score belied a second-half breakdown by the Tar Heels.

“(N.C.) State dominated us in the second half,” coach Roy Williams said. “They shoot 65 percent, we shoot 39 percent. They cut it to 20 or 21, something like that, and they kept making better plays than we made.”

The Tar Heels (14-7, 4-4 ACC) were bolstered by a quick first-half lead and led by as many as 17 before halftime — a cushion that was crucial for UNC as it began executing sloppy plays on both ends of the floor in the second half.

At times, UNC took center stage in a comedy of errors that included four missed alley-oop opportunities.

With a little more than four minutes gone in the second half, freshman center Kennedy Meeks caught the ball down low.

He squared up, took the close-range shot. Missed.

McAdoo rebounded and dished it to Nate Britt for a shot. Missed.

Meeks gobbled up the rebound and went for the put-back. Missed.

Meeks went up for the rebound and follow against N.C. State guard Ralston Turner. Foul.

Meeks finished the play at the line with two free throws.

It was a scenario that played out over and over again for the Tar Heels throughout the course of the game — though it didn’t always end with a trip to the charity stripe.

“We, me included, missed an amazing amount of (chip shots) today, which is frustrating,” McAdoo said. “We can’t have games like that today where not just one guy, like myself is missing a lot of layups, but a lot of guys. It seemed to be contagious.

“They’re a good team, but I feel like we’re going to go up against a lot bigger guys than what we faced today, so it’s definitely something we’re going focus on.”

UNC missed 38 shots in the paint and scored only 20 points off of 22 offensive rebounds — less than half of the second-chance points possible.

When its offense sagged, the Tar Heels compensated with a tight defense that forced the Wolfpack (14-8, 4-5 ACC) to miss nine of its first 10 shots and finish shooting 25 percent in the first half.

But UNC’s stalwart defense showed weakness in the second half when it allowed N.C. State to shoot 65.4 percent from the field — good for 40.9 percent for the game.

The second-half defensive breakdowns compounded with a shoddy performance in the paint left Williams nearly incredulous that his team pulled out the win.

“First half I was very frustrated because we didn’t finish plays at the basket,” Williams said. “Second half, we didn’t finish plays at the basket and we didn’t guard them either.

“But when you go 17 for 45 in the three-second lane … most of the time you don’t win. But we caught (N.C.) State on a day where they didn’t make a bunch of their shots.”

The win, though ugly at times, pushed the team to .500 in the ACC and moved the Tar Heels further away from the conference basement.

The players aren’t satisfied with mediocrity. With half of the conference schedule in front of them, the Tar Heels are set on clawing their way back to relevancy.

“It’s better than being 1-4 and nobody below you in the standings,” Paige said. “It’s definitely a little bit of a relief to not be in the cellar, I guess. But this isn’t where our goals are. Our goals aren’t to be a middle-of-the-pack ACC team, and I think we have enough time and enough games to make a run to try to chase some of the teams up at the top and just try to get back into contention.”

“Those were the goals we set, so it’s satisfying but definitely not something we’re happy and complacent with.”

sports@dailytarheel.com