No. 15 Tar Heels Face Hungry Wolfpack In Hostile PNC Arena

The No. 15 North Carolina men’s basketball team, 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, hits the road Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff in PNC Arena against the N.C. State Wolfpack, 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the ACC.

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Coming off an upset over No. 4 Duke Sunday, the Wolfpack will be confident they can make it two in a row, this time against the hated Tar Heels.

The Wolfpack had everything clicking in their 87-75 victory over the Blue Devils last weekend.

The performance merited high praise from UNC head coach Roy Williams.

“I think they handled Duke’s pressure really well. That was about as impressive a show as you’ve seen in quite a while. They had Duke by 19. […] I think they were just on the top of their game,” Coach Williams says.

The Tar Heels should expect another solid outing from the Wolfpack when the two rivals face off in a vital ACC meeting. Both squads find themselves near the top of the league standings and another marquee win for N.C. State would do wonders for its NCAA Tournament resume.

Last season, the two schools authored a classic chapter in their long-standing hardwood rivalry that stands at 150-76 in favor of Carolina.

Former Wolfpack star T.J. Warren went head-to-head down the stretch with UNC junior Marcus Paige before the Tar Heels were able to pull out the thrilling overtime win, 85-84, in Raleigh.

But this season, N.C. State is without Warren and Paige hasn’t been producing at the same level.

Coach Williams says the difference now is the ‘tough little nut’, as he commonly refers to Paige, is being zeroed in on by opposing defenses.

“He’s gotten so much more attention than he did at least the first half of last year. Maybe it was halfway through the season before he started to get all that attention. He’s got all the defensive attention from the first game this year. Perhaps that has something to do with it. He’s been a really good player, but when the other team’s defense is aimed at you, it’s really hard,” Coach Williams says.

With the pieces seemingly coming together for the men in red, N.C. State’s offense is much more dynamic. And although Trevor Lacey and Ralston Turner do most of the heavy lifting, sophomore forward Kyle Washington may be the X-factor.

Coach Gotttfried says Washington’s growth has been integral to the Wolfpack success this season.

“I think you said it right. He has no fear. He’s aggressive offensively. I think he did a great job rebounding the ball. A lot of those rebounds were in traffic – tough rebounds that we needed him to get. We need scoring, and we need scoring from those guys inside. Kyle stepped up and played with a lot of confidence,” Coach Gottfried says.

A healthy Marcus Paige will be key for the Tar Heels’ chances. So how is Paige feeling after a nasty rolled ankle last weekend against Louisville?

He says he’s ready to go and will fight through the pain, if necessary.

“I think yesterday [Monday] and today [Tuesday] are the best it’s felt in the last two weeks. It’s on the upswing. Games usually make it hurt a lot more the next day. We’ll see how it holds up after tomorrow [Wednesday], but going into tomorrow, it feels pretty good,” Paige says.

Although Coach Gottfried recognizes the wealth of talent on the UNC roster, he says his guys will be concentrating most of their attention on Paige.

“I think Paige is a great player. I think North Carolina is a tremendously talented roster from one-ten. They’ve got a lot of really good players. But I do think it starts with Paige. He’s the guy that makes them go. We’ve got to do a great job on him,” Coach Gottfried says.

As usual on the road in the brutal ACC, the Tar Heels will be playing in an unfriendly venue.

Coach Williams says he’ll be using some mind tricks Wednesday night to help his players cope with the hostile environment that awaits them.

“It will be hostile, there’s no question about that. It will be unique, interesting, but hostile will fit too. We haven’t talked about it, but we’ll tell them it’s a great road game, a great opportunity, and we got to pretend they’re yelling for us,” Coach Williams says.

Although it’s Carolina who has dominated the series lately, winning 16 of the last 17 games, the 227^th installment in this heated in-state rivalry promises to be compelling entertainment.