In this renewing of the rivalry between UNC and NCST, the two schools were both coming off of massive wins. North Carolina broke down Montrezl Harrell and the Louisville Cardinals in the Dean Dome on Saturday, and the next day, North Carolina State upheaved the Duke Blue Devils in Raleigh. Even with the Wolfpack victory, North Carolina came into this game as the slight favorite behind catalyst guard Marcus Paige and a flurry of talented big men down low. Could the hot-shooting backcourt of NC State prevail behind the support of a raucous crowd tonight?
It was a back and forth game throughout the matchup. A wide variety of scorers emerged for the Tar Heels, including Kennedy Meeks down low, Brice Johnson, J.P. Tokoto, and Isaiah Hicks consistently driving to the basket, and Justin Jackson knocking down the occasional jumper. However, Marcus Paige was the leader, creating offense and energy for the Heels. The junior was 5-5 shooting from beyond the arc tonight, and ended with 23 critical points. He also dished 9 assists, grabbed 5 rebounds, and swiped 4 steals.
North Carolina State had some great play as well, but some of their stars had poor shooting nights. 12-35 combined shooting for their backcourt starts, Cat Barber, Trevor Lacey, and Ralston Turner. Turner had a better night shooting than Lacey and Barber, bringing the Wolfpack back late in the game with some massive 3-pointers, but battled foul trouble throughout the game, hindering the flow of the Pack's strategy.
In the 2nd half, it seemed that the Tar Heels could run away with the game at any whipstitch. After 2 consecutive 3-point plays by Justin Jackson and J.P. Tokoto, and 2 consecutive dunks right after that by Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, North Carolina drove the lead to 64-52 with 8 minutes left in the ballgame.
However, Mark Gottfried's squad didn't have any quit in them. Kyle Washington, who pitched in his usual big game down low with 17 points, started a NCST run with 3:30 left with a step-back jumper. Ralston Turner took over from there, knocking down a trey while getting fouled in the process, converting the costless throw for the 4 point play. After Kennedy Meeks went 1-2 from the FT line on the other end of the court, Turner hit another one from beyond the arc to cut the gap to 74-71. After two Paige costless throws, Trevor Lacey went down the court and shot the long ball to make it 76-74.
With 3 seconds left, Marcus Paige drained two more costless throws to give the Heels a 3 point advantage. As a part of UNC's strategy, Isaiah Hicks fouled Abdul-Malik Abu. Abu made the important 1st shot, and intentionally missed the 2nd with 1 tick on the clock. In an almost-perfectly executed tip-in attempt, Cody Martin garnered the recap, but his shot just barely missed going in, giving North Carolina a hard-fought victory, 81-79, in Raleigh in front of 19,500 roaring Wolfpack fans.
This was an important win for the Tar Heels, avoiding a let down after the massive win this past Saturday against Louisville. Marcus Paige is continually proving that he should be a candidate for the Wooden Award, pacing his squad to victories with his effort and accurate shooting.
The Wolfpack had a lot of fight in them, but some sloppiness throughout cost them in this game. Careless fouls gave UNC many opportunities at the line, where they went 30-54 on the night. Mark Gottfried needs to try to get his kids to tighten up on defense, and when they head to Chapel Hill next month, they may be able to avenge their loss tonight.
North Carolina will look to keep rolling when they invite the struggling Virginia Tech Hokies to the Dean Dome on Sunday, while North Carolina State wants to get their wheels back on the train track by getting a victory against Florida State in Tallahassee on Saturday.
