RALEIGH, N.C. — No. 16 North Carolina’s 82-58 loss Tuesday night at the Lenovo Center was its largest defeat to N.C. State since 1962. 

The Tar Heels had an abysmal shooting night that resulted in both a season-low 31.7 percent (19-for-60) shooting from the floor and 15.2 percent (5-for-33) from beyond the arc. This included Derek Dixon’s continued scoring struggles, where he finished 2-for-12 from the field, including 1-for-9 from three. 

Five N.C. State players scored in double figures, as Quadir Copeland led all scorers with 20 points. Zayden High supplied 13 points and 10 rebounds in his second start for UNC, but the Wolfpack dominated points in the paint 40-28. 

Watch Hubert Davis’ postgame press conference below, and scroll to read some of his most noteworthy excerpts.

How would you describe the emotions over the last week and a half, from the high after the Duke game to the emotions after this game tonight? 

“Over the last eight days? I mean, that’s life. I don’t know how else to put it. I’d like to hear if anybody in this room has had consistent, sunny, clear sky, no wind days. I mean, things you have to adjust to, the only thing you have control over is how you react and respond. And so we’ll get back to work and move forward.” 

How would you gauge the energy and effort from tonight? 

“I just felt like our competitive fight wasn’t there. Especially from a defensive standpoint, they didn’t feel us defensively. Didn’t feel our presence at all. We talked about that, and at the end of the day, it’s going to end up being one-on-one defense. Can we defend them without fouling? Are we man enough when the ball goes up in there on the ground? Can we go get it? And I don’t think we did a very good job of that.” 

“I’ve been consistent with this all year, that our heartbeat, our lifeline… it starts with defense and us rebounding. That’s what leads us to really good offense, and we weren’t tough enough. We weren’t good enough on the defensive end. Now, we did get offensive rebounds, but the physical presence that you have to have defensively, we just didn’t do that today.”

What is Henri Veesaar’s outlook moving forward? 

“His outlook is day to day. Every day, he’s getting better. In regard to the lower extremities, he’s getting better, also with his flu. He’s making huge strides every day, and every day we’ll evaluate and see when he’s available to practice, and then when he’s able to practice, see when he’s able to play.” 

How did you think your guards did defensively against Copeland and how was he able to be so successful in the paint against UNC?

“Quadir, I mean, I felt like he controlled the game. I mean, his talent out there is real. He’s, a 6-7 guard and is able to handle the basketball. Really makes great decisions when he has the ball, whether it’s for himself or for his teammates. Because of his length and his size, he can shoot the three. He’s got a good percentage, but he doesn’t settle for it, and he really is persistent and stubborn in getting to the basket and being able to score, get fouled, pass the ball from that position.”

What do you think hindered UNC offensively tonight? 

“One, I want to give credit to State’s defense. They do a really good job of getting in the passing lanes and swiping and getting steals and deflections. And so we knew that we needed to be sound with the basketball on the offensive end and make the easy play. We just couldn’t — outside of Jaren and Zayden — we just couldn’t generate any good shots consistently. Whether it was off dribble, drive, pick and roll, D.H.O isolations, we just couldn’t generate consistent paint touches, putting two on the ball and being able to generate consistent, really good shots. That being said, of the 33 threes that we took, it was a good portion that were wide open, and we just didn’t make them. And so going into this game, we knew that we needed the ability to be able to shoot from three and make, and we just didn’t do it tonight.”