NC State demolishes short-handed No. 16 UNC 82-58
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Quadir Copeland scored 20 points and Matt Able added 19 off the bench as N.C. State snapped a two-game losing streak with an 82-58 thumping of rival North Carolina on Tuesday night.
By the end, N.C. State had its biggest margin of victory in the series since a 28-point win (85-57) in February 1962.
"I thought our guys were locked in and ready to go," Wade said. "I felt the last couple of days, we had a couple of good days of prep. The guys got off the mat. You talk about you've always got to do your best work in tough circumstances. Our guys certainly did that."
The Tar Heels came in ranked No. 16 in the country but were without their two leading scorers, Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar, for the second consecutive game.
It didn't matter against Pitt, but against a Wolfpack team hungry for a signature win, their absence was heavily felt.
The Wolfpack desperately needed this win to regroup after a 41-point loss at Louisville and a final-minute collapse in a home loss to Miami. And that had pushed Will Wade's first N.C. State team onto shakier footing when it came to securing its ticket to March Madness.
But N.C. State pressed the attack all night against their injury-depleted Tobacco Road rival, backed by a boisterous crowd. The Wolfpack shot 53.1% to build a 16-point halftime lead.
"I thought we played with way more, kind of, bite to us tonight," Wade said.
The Wolfpack (19-8, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) kept up the intensity to open the second half, and the cold-shooting Tar Heels (20-6, 8-5 ACC) never threatened.
Three other Wolfpack players scored in double figures: Darrion Williams had 13, Ven-Allen Lubin added 12, and Paul McNeil Jr. chipped in with 10.
Lubin got a chance to beat his former team after playing for UNC last year. That included sporting a bedazzled N.C. State belt over his shoulder in a postgame news conference, a nod to Wilson's prop featured in a Slam magazine preseason interview in which Wilson had talked about the Tar Heels "putting a belt to whoever we beat."
"They were talking a lot of, 'North Carolina schools this, North Carolina schools that,' so it's crazy how fast the tables turn," Copeland said with a chuckle. "We bedazzled our belt too for them."
Copeland added six rebounds and seven assists, no turnovers, and consistently overpowered UNC's smaller guards, barking and flexing after multiple driving baskets.
The 6-6 Williams got off to his own fast start, backing down smaller UNC freshman Derek Dixon for a quick basket, hitting an elbow jumper, and then knocking down a 3-pointer in the opening 4 minutes.
Then came his scary fall when he fouled Jarin Stevenson while trying to defend in transition, with Williams hitting his face on the court and trainers needing multiple towels to tend to the bleeding near his left eyebrow.
When he originally returned from the locker room, he sported a fresh No. 34 jersey with no name on the back thanks to the amount of blood on his customary No. 1 jersey. He was back in the No. 1 by the second half.
"Straight dog," Able said.
"He was getting ready to unload," Wade added.
The Tar Heels, meanwhile, didn't have nearly that resolve in their response.
"I just felt like our competitive fight wasn't there," UNC coach Hubert Davis said. "Especially from a defensive standpoint. They didn't feel us defensively. They didn't feel our presence at all."
The Wolfpack made 9-of-20 3-pointers (45%) while the Tar Heels struggled beyond the arc, sinking just 5-of-33 (15%). North Carolina shot just 31.7% from the floor.
Jarin Stevenson and Zayden High each scored 13 points for the Tar Heels, who again missed Wilson (fractured hand) and Veesaar (lower-body injury). Wilson and Veesaar are UNC's top two scorers and rebounders, accounting for more than 40% of its points and rebounds.
With the 7-foot Veesaar and 6-10 Wilson out, the Tar Heels leaned on a 3-point shot that never arrived. UNC missed 17 of its first 18 3s as Wilson and Veesaar sat on the bench.
The Tar Heels will look to regroup on Saturday when they visit Syracuse.
The Wolfpack next faces another Top 25 test when they travel to No. 14 Virginia next Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed.
