CHAPEL HILL – N.C. State’s biggest weapon entering Thursday night’s rivalry game was its overflowing confidence.

But with every shot that North Carolina center Tyler Zeller altered and every offensive rebound he pulled down, that confidence deteriorated.

Every block Tar Heels’ forward John Henson sent back at the Wolfpack eased its determination. Not even at Lorenzo Brown’s buzzer-beater from the opposite free-throw line could bring back N.C. State’s swagger.

The Wolfpack lost its mojo before halftime against rival North Carolina, and it won’t have a long time to find it.

N.C. State plays host to Virginia at 8 tonight just 
hoping to recover its former self.

“I like my team,” coach Mark Gottfried said. “We have battled from Day 1, and I believe we will keep battling. (Thursday was) disappointing, we all agree, but we’re a better basketball team than we were (Thursday).

“Give North Carolina a lot of credit for that, they deserve the credit, but I like my team. I like my team, and we have to get ourselves ready to go play Virginia.”

After N.C. State’s most recent victory, last Sunday against Miami, Gottfried said his team still had a long way to go.

On Thursday, N.C. State (15-6 overall, 4-2 ACC) showed that Gottfried was right on the mark.

The Wolfpack did fight back against North Carolina. N.C. State went down nine points, only to claw back within one possession. But the Wolfpack folded after it fell behind a second time.

“It’s a game we have to learn from, but at the same time, we have to get ourselves ready to play again real quick, “ Gottfried said.

N.C. State has faced good competition this season already with close losses to Stanford, Syracuse and Indiana – all less than 12 points – but nothing like Thursday night.

The energy was nonexistent for N.C. State against the Tar Heels.

When the conference’s leader in 3-pointers doesn’t hit a shot in the first half and misses six shots from behind the arc all game, it’s usually a lack of hustle.

Not just on Scott Wood’s part, but on the entire team.

Bad screens and cuts kept N.C. State from finding open shots, while Henson and Zeller shut down everything inside.

N.C. State shot less than 50 percent in the paint.

“We were not very sharp offensively,” Gottfried said. “We’ve played against good defensive teams this year. (North Carolina was) very good. We were not very good. The combination of the two, here we are.”

Justin Hite can be reached at 407-9951 or at jhite@rmtelegram.com.