Scrapping for everything
North Carolina ran into a buzzsaw in Raleigh. NC State has the fourth-ranked defense in the ACC, giving up just 66.9 points per game. UNC has the best offense in the ACC, scoring 84.4 points per game, but with RJ Davis struggling from the floor (5/13 shooting, 1/3 from three), the Tar Heels had to dig deep on the defensive end.
The bigger Wolfpack were able to grab 16 offensive rebounds during the game, but only scored nine second-chance points. There were some funky bounces and scraps for loose balls, but overall, UNC wasn't punished terribly for how many extra possessions they surrendered on the boards.
At the end of the day, North Carolina out-rebounded NC State 40 to 38. That's no small feat with all of the mishandling Ven Allen-Lubin and Jalen Washington had earlier in the game.