CHARLOTTE – Low scoring, grinding, physical; both teams shooting under 35%.

This was the aesthetically displeasing game that Wake Forest had to have against North Carolina in a quarterfinal matchup of the ACC tournament. All season, the Deacons have been a defensive-minded and — for the most part — offensively challenged team.

It was enough until it wasn’t.

UNC knocked out the Deacons with a 68-59 result in Spectrum Center on Thursday, coming out on the other side of a back-and-forth second half that saw 10 lead changes in the last 12 minutes.

The Tar Heels (22-12) advance to play top-seeded Duke — without ACC player of the year Cooper Flagg — in a semifinal on Friday night. Depending on how things shake out for the rest of the week, Thursday’s game was either what pushed the Tar Heels into the NCAA tournament or they’ll have to beat Duke to punch their ticket.

That scenario was available to Wake Forest (21-11). It looked like it would transpire, given the Deacons rallied from a 10-point deficit early in the second half to turn this into a tight game for most of the second half.

Ultimately, Wake’s defensive prowess only took the Deacons so far. In this game and in the season that might have ended here in Charlotte.

“I feel like our identity is one of the things we really want to emphasize. Gritty, grimy, tough, we just want to play as hard as we can,” senior guard Cameron Hildreth told Deacons Illustrated. “We always take pride in our defense because we know that’s one of the things we can control, especially if things aren’t going well offensively.”

Things were going poorly on both ends when UNC had a 42-32 lead after a few minutes in the second half. That led to a timeout by Steve Forbes.

Wake Forest responded with a 14-3 run, notching its sixth and seventh “kills” — three straight defensive stops — of the game. Its senior guards, Hunter Sallis and Hildreth, scored six points apiece in that run.

The following eight minutes saw the lead yo-yo, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead. The Deacons held UNC without a field goal for more than 10 minutes, but the Tar Heels were 9-for-10 at the free-throw line during that span.

Jae’Lyn Withers’ 3-pointer with 4:34 left cracked the seal and provided the final lead change. A couple of minutes later, with a one-point lead, RJ Davis drained a deep 3-pointer to make it a 61-57 game.

Wake Forest turned the ball over on the ensuing possession; the Deacons got a stop in the form of a missed 3, but UNC’s Ven-Allen Lubin ran through a sleepy interior defense for a put-back dunk that made it a six-point lead with 1:27 left — and that was all for the competitive portion of this game.

“Down the stretch offensively, we just struggled to score and execute,” Forbes said. “Had a couple turnovers. Just we needed to match — when they scored, we needed to score.”

That was a problem in this game as much as it was one for the past four months.

“We knew the game was going to be back and forth. Even when we got on that run, we knew it was going to be a dogfight till the end,” freshman Juke Harris told Deacons Illustrated. “We knew it was going to be … a lot of defensive possessions and just a whole back-and-forth game, so we were ready for it.

“Just, stuff happens. I feel like we played great.”

Harris checked in off the bench and drained a 3-pointer early in the game. A couple of minutes later, Hunter Sallis pulled up in transition and buried another one.

The Deacons finished the game 2-for-22 from 3-point range, missing their last 18.

Wake’s 3-point percentage for the season is 28.5%. As of late Thursday night, it’s the sixth-worst percentage in the country. The 3-point line was introduced to college basketball for the 1986-87 season and before this one, the Deacons had never had a season of shooting under 30%.

“It's hard to win games in March when you only make two 3s and go 2-for-22,” Forbes said. “But the defensive effort was off the charts. … I mean, I'm really proud of my team, how hard they played. They have nothing to be ashamed of. It was a hard-fought game.

“Credit to Carolina. It's going to be hard not to be able to have Hunter and Cameron and Efton (Reid III). Those guys are really good players and really good people.”

TIP-INS: Wake Forest was undecided, per sources, on whether it would accept a bid to the NIT. New rules dictate that as one of the top two finishers in the ACC that doesn’t receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, Wake Forest would automatically be invited. … Spillers entered the arena with a walking boot on his left foot but played 34 minutes, with 10 points and nine rebounds. In the locker room afterward, his left foot was in a small tub of ice and water. … Sallis scored 25 points to lead Wake Forest. Hildreth had nine points and was 4-for-15 from the field; Reid and Ty-Laur Johnson were both 0-for-5 from the field and scored two points apiece. ... UNC’s 33 points in the first half were the least it had in a first half across the last nine games. The Tar Heels’ previous low was 42.

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