UNC basketball erases second-half deficit, extends NC State rivalry misery in 79-70 win

For a rivalry that helped build the ACC into what it long was, that helped college basketball become like a religion in this state, Saturday lacked the usual anticipation between North Carolina and N.C. State. Some of the juice or buzz or hype — take your pick — was missing.

That’s what happens in a rivalry when one team has won 37 of the past 43 games, as the Tar Heels had against the Wolfpack, entering Saturday, over the past 20 years. Any way the numbers come, they’re lopsided.

UNC had won eight the past 10. Sixteen of the past 20. Twenty-five of the past 30.

The Wolfpack, entering Saturday, hadn’t won in the Smith Center since 2018, and had won just twice here in the past 20 years — and seven times in the building’s 38-year existence. And so Saturday, and UNC’s 79-70 victory, seemed almost preordained, though at least it came with a different script, and in a different way.

The Tar Heels have often made it look easy in this rivalry, especially over the past two or three decades. But they had to work for it on Saturday, after the Wolfpack built a 10-point lead, its largest, early in the second half. A full house at the Smith Center grew restless, with the Tar Heels laboring and trying to work their way through a prolonged funk.

The struggle did not last. Does it ever in this rivalry for the Tar Heels?

After State built that 10-point lead, UNC scored the next nine points, which awakened the crowd, and that was just the beginning. A 14-4 UNC run turned into a 29-6 onslaught that left the Tar Heels with a 66-53 lead with a little more than nine minutes remaining. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, missed 15 consecutive attempts from the field during one eight-minute stretch of the second half.

And that was pretty much that. Well, almost.

State, which trailed by as many as 13, did manage to cut its deficit to five with a little less than three minutes remaining. From there, UNC senior guard RJ Davis scored the next four points to push the lead back out a bit, and State came no closer. Davis finished with 13 points. Harrison Ingram led the Tar Heels with 22. Jayden Taylor scored 22 for the Wolfpack, and DJ Horne 20.

The takeaways from a familiar outcome when these teams get together:

1. Another Wolfpack basketball horror story against UNC

State played one of its best halves of the season during the first 20 minutes. The Wolfpack shot better than 50%. It made seven of 11 3-point attempts. Every time it looked like UNC, which led for most of the half, was about to pull away, State responded. It saved its best for last, too, and closed the half on a 14-1 run that gave it an eight-point halftime lead.

But there’s a reason why no N.C. State fan could’ve felt comfortable, even with State playing as well as it was. Hardened Wolfpack fans had seen this show before, with State raising hopes against Carolina only for the Tar Heels to deflate them, and quickly.

And, well, that’s pretty much how it happened. The 10-point lead State built early in the second half was gone in a jiffy, over the course of a 16-4 run that had the Smith Center rocking, and UNC back with a 53-51 lead with 14 and a half minutes left. Just like that, everything had shifted. That 16-4 run, too, turned into an 26-6 run over a little less than 10 minutes.

By then, with nine and a half minutes remaining, UNC held a 63-53 lead. The home crowd was back in it, rollicking, and N.C. State’s body language relayed the story of a broken, beaten team.

The Wolfpack entering Saturday had won just twice here in the past 20 years. The misery continued.

2. The Tar Heels pass their first March test

This is the time of year that separates the good teams from the great ones, and UNC entered March with championship aspirations. The tests only grow more difficult from here, the stages (well, most of them) only brighter. UNC’s comeback Saturday, then, bodes well for the month ahead.

It was often not pretty for the Tar Heels, by any stretch. Their offense went missing late in the first half. Every mistake they made, they seemed to allow State to take advantage. There were plenty of empty possessions and gaffes and a few blooper-reel-worthy moments, like when Armando Bacot somehow missed a point-blank dunk early in the second half.

In other words, sometimes it was ugly. But UNC found a way, and without playing anything close to its “A” game. After scoring 42 points last Monday night against Miami, RJ Davis was quieter Saturday. Bacot, who did some heavy battling with State’s Burns in the paint, finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

It was fitting, perhaps, that Ingram, the Tar Heels’ do-everything gritty wing forward, was UNC’s best offensive player Saturday. He scored 13 of his 22 points in the first half, before his teammates awakened in the second and did enough to secure the victory.

The win does not clinch anything for the Tar Heels, who have regular season games remaining at home against Notre Dame Tuesday and at Duke on Saturday. But UNC is in a good position to win at least a tie of ACC regular season championship. Its goal of earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament is also alive and well, too.

3. Encouraging sign for UNC: Elliot Cadeau had one of his best games

It has long been a college basketball cliche, that great guard play is a must in March, and it became a cliche for good reason: it’s true. Teams with the best backcourts often have the best chance to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. And UNC’s might just be rounding into peak form.

Davis, the frontrunner for the ACC Player of the Year honors, proved again what he’s capable of in that game against Miami, with his 42-point outburst — and 21 in each half. Saturday belonged more to Cadeau, the Tar Heels freshman point guard who continues to mature. He played one of his better games of the season, and finished with 15 points and seven assists.

Cadeau had already proved his capability as a passer. He did that in the first few weeks of the season. In recent weeks, he has developed confidence in other parts of the game. He didn’t hesitate to take the ball to the rim on Saturday, and when he did good things happened — either for him, with scoring chances, or for teammates he found open.