Miami can't break through in 2nd half, fall on road to NC State

Published Jan. 30, 2016 5:13 p.m. ET

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- No. 15 Miami settled for outside shots, couldn't keep North Carolina State off the boards and kept committing fouls to put the Wolfpack on the line.

It added up to what coach Jim Larranaga called "just a very bad day at the office."

Miami trailed most of the way in Saturday's 85-69 road loss, including the entire second half against a team that had won just once since the start of 2016. The Hurricanes didn't match the energy, even desperation, of an N.C. State team aiming to respond after its coach publicly criticized the team after a midweek loss.

"They were able to do what they wanted to do," Larranaga said, "and we didn't show much resistance."

The rebounding was particularly glaring. Three days after being beaten 43-35 on the boards by Georgia Tech, the Wolfpack took a 41-23 rebounding edge against the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes also launched 26 3-point tries on 58 shots, failing to attack the paint and get to the foul line as they have in many of their wins. Miami came in ranked 13th nationally by making nearly 76 percent of its free throws, but shot none in the first half before making 15 of 16 after halftime.

"Our game plan was to come in and attack and get fouled because ... Georgia Tech spent a lot of time at the free-throw line," Miami big man Tonye Jekiri said. "But we came out and settled. We didn't have enough guys crashing the offensive boards for second shots. That was the offense we had and it was really bad."

The Hurricanes had a chance to move into a tie for second in the ACC with No. 16 Louisville after the Cardinals' home loss to No. 11 Virginia earlier Saturday. But Anthony "Cat" Barber scored 30 points while Abdul-Malik Abu added 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (12-10, 2-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who led the entire second half and shot 51 percent to snap a three-game skid and earn its first home win in 2016.

Sheldon McClellan scored 18 points to lead the Hurricanes (16-4, 5-3), who never managed to dig themselves out a first-half hole that only grew deeper in the second half.

Miami trailed by 10 midway through the first half and closed to within 64-59 with about 4 minutes left, but the Wolfpack ran off seven straight scoring possessions to stretch the lead back out.

This was what Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried was hoping to see after Wednesday's Georgia Tech loss, a performance that left the fifth-year coach furious with what he described as a lack of effort in the first half.

The Wolfpack came out with plenty of energy against the Hurricanes, leading most of the first half and controlling the boards to take a 37-32 lead at the break.

N.C. State then shot 58 percent after halftime while Miami struggled to find any flow of its own.

TIP-INS

Miami: Angel Rodriguez had 15 points and six assists. ... Davon Reed had 12 points. ... The Hurricanes made 2 of 12 3-pointers after halftime.

N.C. State: Caleb Martin added 13 points. ... This was N.C. State's first home win since beating Northeastern on Dec. 29. Its only ACC win had come at Pittsburgh on Jan. 19. ... Abu was one of four players to grab seven rebounds for the Wolfpack.

DOMINANT BARBER

Barber, the ACC's leading scorer at 22.8 points per game, made 10 of 18 shots and all 10 of his free throws. He also drew three charges in the second half and picked up four fouls on Rodriguez while playing all 40 minutes.

All that came three days after he scored 36 points in the Georgia Tech loss.

UP NEXT

Miami hosts No. 25 Notre Dame on Wednesday.

N.C. State travels to Florida State on Wednesday.