Are UNC basketball fans going to take over PNC when NC State hosts the Tar Heels?
Attendance at PNC Arena has not been great this season.
A small part of it is the country is still in the late stages of a pandemic. A bigger part has been the product on the floor.
The N.C. State men’s basketball team is 11-17 and 4-13 in conference play. Only one of those ACC wins happened at PNC, a 77-63 victory over Virginia on Jan. 22.
Most of the year when visitors look up and see red, it’s been the cloth on the seats and not the shirts of the Wolfpack faithful. Late in the game against Boston College on Wednesday, the sounds of the Eagles celebrating rang out in the hollow lower bowl. By the time the clock hit zero, the majority of the crowd was already in the parking lot.
With North Carolina coming to town on Saturday, will the lower levels of PNC be filled with blue instead of red?
It’s a real possibility.
The Tar Heels (20-8, 12-5) are still playing for the postseason. N.C. State is only playing for pride.
The rivalry game has typically been the best crowd at PNC, with the exception of last season, when they played in front of family only during the pandemic. During the 2019-20 season, 19,533 fans piled into PNC to watch the two teams play on a Monday night.
Attendance against the Eagles on Thursday was 11,282. The biggest crowd N.C. State played in front of at home this season was against Notre Dame on Saturday, Feb. 22. That day 13,690 fans showed up. Capacity at PNC Arena is 19,772.
The Wolfpack was averaging around 13,191 fans for league games this season. That leaves a lot of empty seats on any given night.
Saturday’s game is set for a 2 p.m. tipoff. It’s also Senior Day and the school will honor Jericole Hellems and Thomas Allen.
Coach Kevin Keatts told the media after the contest on Wednesday that Allen suffered a foot injury and would miss the game Saturday. The fifth-year coach hopes fans will come out for the two seniors.
“It’s Senior Day,” Keatts said. “If nothing else I would hope that everyone would respect the fight that we pride ourselves with at N.C. State and that’s punching the clock. I hope everyone would come out to send those seniors off the right way.”
On Jan. 29, UNC thumped N.C. State by 20 in front of 21,750 fans at the Dean Dome, one of their best crowds of the season. Will UNC fans, hoping to improve their resume, and always jumping at any opportunity to irritate the Pack, flock to PNC this weekend?
As of Thursday, there were still seats available in the lower bowl.
On vividseats.com, lower level seats, including the student section across from the benches, range from $80 to $176. Stubhub also shows seats available in the lower level ranging from $90 to $300. Tickets in the lower bowl were going for as low as $55 on Craigslist.
Fans have been able to infiltrate the student sections during the season with seats available.
The Tar Heels have won seven of the past eight games at PNC.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 5:10 AM.
