Hodge's efforts come up short

RALEIGH — Six minutes into Tuesday’s game against UNC, N.C. State’s Julius Hodge broke down a defender, took two steps and rose toward the basket.

Arm outstretched, Hodge softly released the ball as the official scorer prepared to add two more points to Hodge’s prolific four-year total.

But he came up short.

And did so twice more on layups during the remainder of the game.

It’s fitting, then, that when Hodge finally caught fire late in the second half — scoring 11 points in the final six minutes — his effort to rally State to a comeback fell short as well.

“Julius made four out of five 3s — something that isn’t usually a part of his game,” said Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek. “I thought he battled like the rest of our guys.”

Hodge fought his way through a difficult game to post a solid final line in the box score, tallying 20 points, four rebounds and five assists while shooting 7-of-16 from the floor and nailing a season-high four 3-pointers.

But anyone solely reading the stat line would hold a false impression of his play, because the Harlem-bred senior tallied only nine points on 3-of-10 shooting before his late flurry.

Even though Hodge struggled for much of the game, Sendek didn’t believe that it left the Wolfpack without a rudder.

“Julius is a very recognizable piece of our team,” Sendek said. “But I don’t think the rest of the guys are leaning on him. We tried to attack it as a team.”

The Tar Heels dared Hodge to beat them from the outside, and the senior couldn’t take advantage until North Carolina had established a comfortable 12-point lead.

“I think he was 4-for-20 for the year in conference play for 3s, so when they ran a screen off the ball, we decided to go behind him,” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “And that was really smart coaching because he made four of them. We changed at the end, but by that time we had already allowed him to make a couple.”

The job of guarding Hodge — who entered the game leading the Wolfpack in points, rebounds and assists — would ordinarily fall to defensive stopper Jackie Manuel.

But Manuel found himself on the bench for the majority of the first half after picking up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game.

Hodge failed to take advantage of the opportunity, finishing the period with seven points on only six shots.

He struggled mightily against the defense of backup swingman David Noel, whose play Roy Williams lauded — despite the fact that Noel didn’t contribute to UNC’s point total.

Noel’s night served as a stark contrast to Hodge’s. The box score shows that Noel recorded just one assist and two rebounds in the 19 minutes he played.

But unlike Hodge, who filled up the box with numbers, Noel’s effort didn’t come up short.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.