There’s nothing wrong with North Carolina that NC State can’t fix
If there was ever a second-half lead this North Carolina team couldn’t blow, throw away, waste or otherwise squander, it would of course be a second-half lead against N.C. State.
Whatever crazy things have gone awry for the Tar Heels this season, whatever twisted karma, whatever sour mojo, there’s nothing wrong with North Carolina that a game against the Wolfpack can’t fix.
That’s true in most seasons, but particularly true in this oddball one. Tuesday’s 85-79 win over N.C. State was North Carolina’s first against anyone since the Tar Heels beat … N.C. State almost a month ago.
There is something calming about this, a comfortable and reassuring rhythm, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Even in the worst UNC season in a generation, the Tar Heels can still sweep the Wolfpack. If no one else. And literally, this season, no one else.
On this evening renewal of the old Big Four, with Wake Forest beating Duke in double overtime in Winston-Salem, North Carolina finally managed to close out a second half, finally made free throws, finally made plays that mattered in the final moments. The Tar Heels have had eight double-digit second-half leads in ACC play. This was only the third they actually won.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams had one of his dizzy spells late in the game — not a bad one by his standards — but still had a message to deliver in a late timeout. It came after N.C. State closed the gap to three points with two minutes to go after the Tar Heels had gone on a 22-4 run to take control.
“I told them we were going to play our tail off, that’s what we were going to do,” Williams said. “Do it now. That’s all I said. They had to do it themselves.”
That was also as close as the Wolfpack would get as Garrison Brooks was 6-for-6 from the line late, the missing link in so many of North Carolina’s fades and collapses. Of his game-high 30, 14 came on free throws.
N.C. State jumped out to a 10-0 lead to encourage a round of “Wolf-pack” chants from the many visiting fans, and led by as many as seven in the second half before the Tar Heels rallied. Markell Johnson led the charge both times — and both times, State faded when Johnson faded.
“This is North Carolina. They still have McDonald’s all-Americans. They’re still a great program,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. “They’re not dead.”
But the Tar Heels are dead last in the ACC — but 2-0 against N.C. State.
These opportunities don’t come along often for N.C. State, these years when one of the two traditional Triangle powers is utterly vulnerable. In 2002, the Wolfpack made the most of it, beating North Carolina twice. N.C. State beat Duke twice in 1995 but somehow managed to lose in the ACC tournament. Still, there are a lot of N.C. State “the last times” in those series that date back to those two seasons.
But not this one. In an aberration of a season for North Carolina, things are business as usual against N.C. State. Williams is 32-4 against the Wolfpack at North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 2-13 against the rest of the ACC this season. Some realities are immutable.
N.C. State might get another shot in Greensboro, but more likely the Wolfpack has let this slip by the wayside, let North Carolina off the hook and become a footnote to a UNC season that’s notable for all the wrong reasons. Except this one.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 11:56 PM.
