Tar Heels Blitz Wolfpack, 97-73

Wednesday, February 19

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

16-11,9-6ACC

NC State

10-16,3-12ACC

NC State

North Carolina

Drake Powell

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 19, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—North Carolina seized momentum almost immediately, built a big lead and never trailed, cruising to a 97-73 win over North Carolina State on Wednesday night in the Smith Center. It was Carolina's biggest win over the Wolfpack in eight seasons since beating NCSU by 24 at PNC Arena on February 15, 2017.

Ten different Tar Heels scored baskets, and Carolina shot 60 percent in the second half and 57.4 percent overall in a dominant performance. UNC hit 8 of 20 three-point attempts, out-rebounded State, 40-21, and doubled up the Pack in the paint, 52-26.

RJ Davis led the way with 21 points despite missing 7 of his 8 three-point attempts. He connected on all eight of his free throw tries, was 6 for 10 from two-point range and added five assists in a team-high 30 minutes.

Seth Trimble scored 15 points and had his usual, team-high seven rebounds from the guard position. Ven-Allen Lubin scored all 13 of his points in the second half while also grabbing five boards. Ian Jackson continued his recent hot shooting with a 4 for 6 day (including 2 for 2 from three-point range) for 12 points.

"I thought it was one of our most–if not the most–complete game that we've played all season," head coach Hubert Davis said afterward. "I thought our energy, our effort, our attention to detail on both ends of the floor were really good. The energy from the bench was sustained–or even better."

The Tar Heels sliced through the Wolfpack defense from the outset and essentially ended the game before halftime. Carolina shot 56 percent and built a 28-point lead by forcing nine turnovers and limiting NCSU to 36 percent from the floor in leading, 54-26, at the break.

Davis scored 13 first-half points, leading five different Tar Heels who hit first-half three-pointers. That included two from Jae'Lyn Withers and two from Cade Tyson off the bench. The Wolfpack was only 2 of 10 from long range in the first half.

Due to wintry weather in the area, Carolina Athletics officials opened arena doors to fans 90 minutes prior to game time, no ticket required. The result was a student-heavy and rowdy crowd from start to finish. It was the third game in Smith Center history to have been opened to all fans who could get to the arena, joining 1994 and 2000 contests against Maryland. The official attendance for the game was 21,750 based on tickets distributed, but the estimated actual attendance is approximately 14,000.

"I just want to give a huge shout out to the fans that came through," RJ Davis said. "I think that given the weather and the conditions, to just come through tonight and show their support is huge. I feel like we fed off of their energy. There were a lot of students, so that young energy was gifted to us. They put themselves at risk given the snowstorm and we really appreciate that."

Jayden Taylor scored 19 points for the Wolfpack, and former Tar Heel and current NCSU forward Dontrez Styles added 18 with five rebounds.

Carolina continued its recent dominance in the series with NC State.

UNC-NCSU Series Notes:
• Carolina is 168-81 all-time against NC State, including 83-23 in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels are 32-7 against the Wolfpack in the Smith Center and have won seven in a row at home in the series.
• UNC is 40-7 vs. NCSU in the last 22 seasons, including 33-5 under Roy Williams and 7-2 under Hubert Davis.
• Carolina's 168 wins vs. the Wolfpack are the most by UNC against any opponent.
• Carolina is the only original ACC school to have at least one home-and-home sweep of an opponent in every year of ACC competition.
• Since 2004-05, Carolina has won both regular season matchups against NC State in 15 out of the last 21 seasons.

How It Happened
First Half
• The Tar Heels wore retro uniforms from the 1970s-80s era.
• Carolina played aggressively from the outset and used a 10-0 run in 2:10 to take a 16-6 lead in the first 6:12 of the game.
• UNC opened up a 28-10 lead at the midway point of the first half and was pulling away at 37-15 with 7:55 to go before the break.
• Leading 54-26, UNC scored at least 50 in the first half for the second time this season (it had 51 in the first half against Elon in the season opener on November 4).
• UNC held NC State to 26 points in the first half, the fewest in a half by a Tar Heel opponent since Cal had 24 second-half on January 15.

Second Half
• Lubin scored Carolina's first seven points of the second half as the Tar Heels continued to dominate.
• Both teams shot well to start the second half with the Pack starting 7 for 11 (including 3 for 4 from three-point range) while Carolina started 5 for 9.
• The Tar Heel lead never dipped below 20 points in an anticlimactic second half.

Up Next
Carolina will host Virginia on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Smith Center.