BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — The confidence that had become N.C. State's trademark was missing Sunday night in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The dominant performances by junior stars C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown, those were gone, too.

All that was left for the sixth-ranked Wolfpack was a humbling 76-56 loss to hungry, aggressive Oklahoma State team.

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico — Richard Howell got in early foul trouble in the first half of N.C. State's first game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Thursday.

That spelled trouble for the Wolfpack last season. But it's a new season for N.C. State and freshman T.J. Warren picked up the slack and led the sixth-ranked Wolfpack to a 72-55 win over Penn State.

Warren scored 22 points, on 9-of-12 shooting, to give N.C. State lift when its veteran were either struggling or in foul trouble.

updated: 11:55 p.m.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  North Carolina struggled to score Friday night, committed too many turnovers, didn’t play aggressively enough, and failed to have a leader emerge.