MENS BASKETBALL

North Carolina 67, North Carolina State 54

BY AARON BEARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

RALEIGH, N.C. - RJ Davis scored 16 points and Harrison Ingram had a career-best 19 rebounds to help No. 7 North Carolina take over in the second half and beat rival North Carolina State 67-54.

Freshman guard Elliott Cadeau added 11 points and six assists for the Tar Heels (12-3, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who grinded through a tough shooting night for both teams by finally stretching out a lead midway through the second half. UNC ran off a 15-2 spurt, getting a terrific wraparound bounce feed from Cadeau to Armando Bacot for a dunk before the rookie made two free throws that put UNC up 63-48 near the 5-minute mark.

Davis, who leads the ACC in scoring at 20.6 points per game, overcame a 2-for-9 first half to score 11 points after the break — including a 3-pointer at the 4:06 mark to make it 67-50 and largely silence the Wolfpack’s rowdy home crowd.

UNC won despite shooting 38%.

Casey Morsell had 12 points and six rebounds to lead the Wolfpack (11-4, 3-1), who struggled offensively all night. N.C. State shot just 26.9% for the game, including 2 for 21 from 3-point range, and couldn’t answer when UNC began to stretch its lead.

The rivalry renewal had some added zip this week considering it marked the first time in 50 years, and only the third time ever, that the teams were meeting with each standing at 3-0 or better in the ACC.

BIG PICTURE

UNC: The Tar Heels were off to their first 3-0 start in ACC play since opening 8-0 during the 2015-16 season, and were coming off a weekend win at No. 21 Clemson. Now they have three ACC road wins in as many tries.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack’s 3-0 ACC start marked a first for the program since the 2012-13 season. But N.C. State’s offense never got in a rhythm Wednesday, with leading scorer D.J. Horne (14.4 ppg) finishing with six points on 2-for-16 shooting.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

North Carolina athletics press release

January 10, 2024