Tuesday the 24th of Feb. 2015 we saw an intra-state rivalry game between the unranked North Carolina State Wolfpack 17-11 playing the No.15 North Carolina Tar Heels 19-9 both of the ACC Conference, and the game was played at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the game tipped-off at 8 PM ET and seen on ESPN 3.
The Wolf Pack of NCST upset the No. 15 UNC and it was the first time that happened in the last 12 years that they beat North Carolina on their home court. The final score in the game was a low scoring NCST with 58 points and UNC with 46 points.
The Wolfpack-North Carolina State team was very persistent in this game and it showed in their scoring talent in both quarters of the game. In the 1st quarter they scored 29 points, while the Tar Heels of North Carolina only managed 18 points, thus the game went to half time NCST 29 UNC 18 and therefore the favored Tar Heels had a deficit of 11 points ending the 1st half. In the 2nd half of the game the Wolfpack scored 29 points again while the Tar Heels scored 28 points and that was not enough to overcome their 1st half deficit.
In the scoring in the game the Wolfpack of NCST had 58 points, as they attempted 57 Field Goal shots making 20 for a .351 completion rate, on 3-Pointers they attempted 20 making 7 for a .350 rate, then on Foul shots they had 16 making 11 for a .688 completion rate. In the game they committed 13 fouls.
The Tar Heels of UNC had 46 points, as they attempted 55 Field Goal shots making 19 for a .345 completion rate as neither team shot well in this game. On 3-Pointers they attempted 12 making 3 for a .250 rate. On Foul shots they had 9 making 5 for a .566 completion rate. Then in the game they committed some 16 fouls.
The leading top 5 performances for the Wolfpack of North Carolina State were guard-Barber-15 points 4 rebounds and 4 assists, guard-Lacey-14 points 6 rebounds 3 assists, guard-Turner-14 points 5 rebounds, forward-Amya-5 points 6 rebounds 2 assists and forward-Freeman-3points and 6 rebounds.
The top 5 leading performers for the Tar Heels of North Carolina was guard/forward-Jackson-16 points 3 rebounds 1 assist, forwar-Meeks-12 points 14 rebounds 1 assist, guard-Paige-7 points 3 rebounds 7 assists, forward-Johnson-4 points 5 rebounds 1 assist and forward-Tokoto-3 points 7 rebounds and 1 assist.
In this match-up the leaders for points scoring were Barber for NCST with 15 and Jackson of UNC with 16 points. On rebounds for NCST it was Lacey with 6 and Meeks of UNC with 14 rebounds. For assists it was Barber for NCST with 4 and Paige for UNC with 7 assists. On steals for NCST it was Lacey with 2 and Tokoto for UNC with 3 steals. On Blocks for NCST it was Anya with 6 and Meeks for UNC with 3 blocks.
In this game the Wolfpack had in mind winning another game to improve their chances on getting a bid to the upcoming NCAA tournament, and with this win they may have improved their chances for a bid this 2015, while they also ended a 12 year dry spell of not beat UNC with this Tuesday night win. What the also did in the game was to hold the Tar Heels to their lowest scoring games in close to 30 years in their games played at this Dean E. Smith Center.
So in this game we saw the UNC Tar Heels with one of their worst offensive performances from their starting 5, shooting only 35% in this game, while the NCST Wolfpack defensively controlled the game and had a 41-38 rebounding advantage over UNC.
For those that Bet on College hoops at a Sportsbook, the upcoming games for both these teams will be this next Saturday the 28th of Feb. 2015 as NCST Wolfpack will play at Boston College while the UNC Tar Heels play at Miami. All four teams are of the ACC Conference.