NC State took full advantage of its injured in-state rival on Tuesday night.
The Wolfpack rolled to a dominant 82-58 blowout win over No. 16 North Carolina at the Lenovo Center, marking their first win over the Tar Heels in nearly two years and their largest over North Carolina since 1962. It also marked North Carolina’s second loss to an unranked opponent in a three-game span after its huge upset win over No. 4 Duke earlier this month.
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After a back and forth on the first few possessions, NC State opened the game on a 16-8 run and never looked back. The Wolfpack took a 16-point lead into the locker room at halftime, and then Matt Able pushed that to 20 with a tip-in near the midway point of the second period. From there, the deficit was too big for North Carolina to overcome. NC State rolled to grab the 24-point win without any issue.
Zayden High led North Carolina with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jarin Stevenson added 13 points and nine rebounds. They were the only North Carolina players to hit double figures in the loss, and the Tar Heels went just 5 of 33 from behind the arc.
To North Carolina’s credit, it was extremely shorthanded. The Tar Heels were without forward Caleb Wilson, who is out with a recent hand fracture he suffered early in the team’s loss to Miami. He is on track to return “soon,” though it’s unclear when he’ll be back. Wilson is averaging 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Center Henri Veesaar was also ruled out with a lower body injury, which kept him out of the team’s win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. James Brown and Ivan Matlekovic were out, too.
The loss dropped North Carolina to 20-6 on the season. The Tar Heels will take on Syracuse next on Saturday. While they are still very much a NCAA tournament team, they are rapidly running out of time to get healthy and back on track before March.
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Quadir Copeland led NC State with 20 points after he shot 7 of 16 from the field. Able added 19 points off the bench. While it came against a down North Carolina team, it was easily the Wolfpack’s biggest win of the season so far. It also came after they had lost back-to-back games, including a 41-point loss at Louisville in which they allowed 118 points.
The victory, their second against a ranked opponent, got them to 19-8 on the year and very likely secured a spot in the NCAA tournament barring a late collapse down the stretch. The Wolfpack will travel to No. 14 Virginia on Saturday, and will still have to host No. 3 Duke to close out the regular season.
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