Lacking toughness without two stars, UNC picked apart in loss to NC State

North Carolina fans, you can exhale now. It’s over.

The taunting. The flexing. The red bedazzled belt. The easy backdowns for Quadir Copeland and Darrion Williams in the paint. The 28 Tar Heel 3-point attempts that clanked off the rim. The uneasy realization, long before the final horn, that this wasn’t one of those rivalry games that would turn on a late run. That this wasn’t a grab-a-lead-in-the-last-0.4-seconds situation.

Instead, it turned into something far more lopsided — and historic.

A hamstrung UNC squad was picked apart in seemingly every way possible Tuesday night, falling 82-58 to N.C. State at Lenovo Center in the lone guaranteed meeting between the rivals this season.

It was the Wolfpack’s largest margin of victory in the series since 1962. And it felt every bit that emphatic.

No. 16 North Carolina (20-6, 8-5 ACC) again played without its top two scorers in Caleb Wilson (fractured left hand) and Henri Veesaar (lower-body injury). For one game, as Dean Smith used to say, you can compensate for the loss of a star player. The Tar Heels did that Saturday against Pitt, 79-65.

Two games in four days, without two star players, is another matter.

“Just felt like our competitive fight wasn’t there,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “Especially from a defensive standpoint. They didn’t feel us defensively. Didn’t feel our presence at all.”

Tar Heels had no answers for Copeland

N.C. State (19-8, 10-4 ACC) felt plenty comfortable Tuesday night — both to score at will and talk smack about it afterward.

Copeland controlled the game from the opening minutes, backing down smaller guards, finishing in the lane and spraying passes to shooters when help came. He finished with 20 points, seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and no turnovers.

“I felt like he controlled the game,” Davis said.

When North Carolina switched, N.C. State hunted mismatches. When UNC stayed home, the Wolfpack drove anyway and still found success in one-on-one matchups.

The result: a 40-28 edge in points in the paint and 48.4% shooting overall for N.C. State.

With no Veesaar protecting the rim, no Wilson creating offense and neither cleaning the glass, the Tar Heels leaned on a 3-point shot that never arrived. They hoisted 33 threes and made five — a 15.2% success rate. In the first half, UNC was 1-for-16 from deep and shot 25% overall, its worst shooting performance in any half this season.

“We definitely could have shot the ball better,” UNC junior Jarin Stevenson, who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, said. “We had some solid looks, but I think what it just comes down to is fighting back. We gotta be more physical. They were making plays and I feel like we weren’t responding the way we should’ve. Even if we’re missing shots, we still gotta be fighting back.”

UNC couldn’t match NC State’s will

The numbers told part of the story. The body language told the rest.

N.C. State, publicly called “soft” again by its coach after the Wolfpack blew a late lead to Miami on Saturday, took it personally. Especially Ven-Allen Lubin, the former Tar Heel who scored 12 points against his old team. Will Wade said he told Lubin before tipoff: “We got your back.”

“He’s not the most vocal guy in the world,” Wade said. “But it meant a lot... he’s not one that’s going to outwardly show it too much. But I know he had a little extra in it.”

So did the rest of the Wolfpack.

Darrion Williams hit the floor hard in the first half, leaving blood on the court and heading to the locker room for stitches before returning in a fresh jersey. Tre Holloman appeared to tweak an ankle on the opening possession. Musa Sagnia went down briefly.

N.C. State fought through its own adversity and kept pressing.

North Carolina, meanwhile, struggled to generate paint touches outside of Zayden High and Stevenson. High delivered the first double-double of his career — 13 points and 10 rebounds — and Stevenson added 13 points and nine boards. But the backcourt faltered. Seth Trimble went 1-for-9. Derek Dixon is now 4-for-26 over his last three games. Kyan Evans didn’t score. The Tar Heels managed just two assists in the first half.

And on the other end?

Copeland barked after finishes. The Wolfpack bench chirped. Jordan Snell picked up a technical in the final 90 seconds for jawing after checking in. In the handshake line, Copeland had words for Wilson — “Lace ‘em up next time,” he later said.

UNC heard it. The Tar Heels heard all the trash talk in the offseason, too.

“I mean, yeah, we hear it all,” Trimble said after Saturday’s win over Pitt. “We hear it all. We’ll let them talk, but we hear it.”

On Tuesday, the Tar Heels heard it without the firepower to answer.

Playing without Veesaar, Wilson takes a toll

To be clear, injuries matter. Wilson and Veesaar combine for 36.2 points and 18.4 rebounds per game. They are the team’s top two scorers and rebounders. In 72 previous ACC seasons, North Carolina had played just one game without its top two end-of-season scorers — a 1978 loss at N.C. State when Phil Ford and Mike O’Koren sat.

Now it has done so twice in four days.

But Davis didn’t hide behind that.

“I’ve been consistent with this all year,” he said. “Our heartbeat, our lifeline … it starts with us, with defensive rebounding. That leads us to really good offense. And we weren’t tough enough.”

That reality complicates the ACC Tournament picture. The loss makes a double bye into the quarterfinals increasingly difficult. UNC now sits tied for sixth in the league, trailing Miami (21-5, 10-3 ACC) and N.C. State with both those teams holding tiebreakers over the Tar Heels. Looming matchups against Clemson (20-6, 10-3 ACC) and Louisville (19-7, 8-5 ACC) will further shape the top four.

There’s also the sting of context.

For the first time in more than a century, this rivalry will not feature a guaranteed home-and-home. The ACC’s move from 20 to 18 conference games — designed to improve NCAA Tournament positioning across the league — reduced some annual matchups to once per season.

Wade understands the tradeoff.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow for the fans,” he said. “Both administrations probably want to play at home. It’s a game both teams sell out. But, like I said, it’s all for the greater good, I believe.”

Translation: if these teams see each other again, it will be in March.

And that is far from guaranteed.

That’s what made Tuesday feel so final — so loud, so raw, so definitive. Rivalries in the Triangle are supposed to simmer, then boil again in a few weeks. This one erupted and vanished in a single night.

There was passion. There was hatred. There was blood on the floor and words in the handshake line.

There was also a 24-point margin that North Carolina couldn’t dent.

So yes, Tar Heel fans, you can take that deep breath now.

But the unfortunate truth is this: if UNC wants another crack at N.C. State this season — healthy, whole and ready to respond — it will have to earn it. Both teams will.

This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 9:43 AM.