“If it’s important to our fans, it’s important to us,” said head coach Will Wade.
Regardless of the sport, NC State fans make it clear — winning rivalries is not optional. Tonight, NC State men’s basketball delivered with an 82-58 pounding against No. 16 North Carolina.
“Our fan support has been phenomenal,” Wade said. “They told me the students were lining up early today, I thought the student section was awesome and everybody was great. Look, I’m glad we could deliver for our folks, that’s important.”
The Wolfpack (19-8, 10-4 ACC) holds its own against the Tar Heels (20-6, 8-5 ACC) in most sports, however men’s basketball is a different story. No matter how good the two teams were, Carolina consistently had NC State’s number in years past.
Tuesday night was different.
From the jump, NC State appeared to be in control. The Wolfpack took the bull by the horns early and ran away with the game before halftime. The red-and-white wasn’t satisfied with a 16 point halftime lead. The Pack showed no mercy in the second half and continued to bury the Tar Heels, leading to the Wolfpack’s largest win over Carolina since 1962.
“They was talking,” said senior guard Quadir Copeland. “It’s crazy how fast the tables turn. We bedazzled our belt too for them.”
Despite returning only two players from last year’s roster, this year’s NC State team appeared more comfortable in the rivalry than previous teams. Playing with swagger and unwavering confidence, the Wolfpack looked like they belonged in the moment. There was no pressure to perform in front of an amped up crowd; instead the Pack let the crowd fuel itself.
“There was some stuff transpired after the game here last year that we felt was disrespectful,” said senior guard Jordan Snell. “My job was really just telling these guys the importance, we’ve had amazing crowds this whole year, I told them the tension in the building was gonna be a lot different.”
On the other side, Carolina appeared rattled inside Lenovo Center. The Wolfpack crowd always creates a hostile environment when the Heels come to town, but tonight it finally impacted UNC. Carolina only hit 15% of its shots from deep, gave away 12 turnovers and had no answer for Copeland.
The opening minutes of the game represented NC State’s effort tonight. Senior guard Tre Holloman and senior forward Darrion Williams both went down before the first timeout of the game. Most NC State teams would have folded without its senior starters on the court.
Instead, this team just fought harder. The Wolfpack steadily built its lead before Holloman and Williams returned later in the half, which only helped NC State pour it on. Williams in particular was a spark plug playing immediately after getting stitches in the locker room.
“We all saw him bleeding,” said freshman guard Matt Able. “I mean it was pretty bad… seeing him go through that, I’m like maybe I get hit or something hurts, it makes you not even feel that cause it’s like look at D Will he’s got stitches on his eye and he’s still out here playing.”
The toughness, swagger and most of all the dominance displayed by NC State is the biggest sign yet of Wade’s reckoning. The Wolfpack hasn’t played like this in decades, especially against Carolina. It’s a new chapter in the State–Carolina rivalry and the Wolfpack is writing the story its way.
NC State is now tasked with building on the win. To truly live up to the program’s high expectations it will need to stack nights like tonight. However, at least for one raucous Tuesday evening, the Red Reckoning was on full display.
The Wolfpack can’t celebrate the rivalry win for too long with a game at No. 14 Virginia on the horizon. Tipoff in Charlottesville is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24 on ACC Network.
