Tar Heels come out strong to pop rival Pack

uncstateNorth Carolina came out strong, running out to an 18-4 lead, and wound up winning by that same 14-point margin at 84-70 over rival N.C. State in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels, who missed a lot of shots around the rim, were still able to take a 17-point lead into the half at 40-23 in part due to the Wolfpack’s poor shooting.

Carolina played tough defense but not so tough as to account for the Pack’s 25 percent field goal rate in the opening half. While the Tar Heels were able to work the lead up to 22 in the second half, the Pack turned their shooting woes around – hitting 65 percent of their shots in the second half.

During a one-minute run starting with just over five minutes to play, the Pack scored nine straight to draw a 21-point deficit down to just 12. But it never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” said State coach Mark Gottfried. “We got off to a really slow start. We missed foul shots. We got a couple of good looks and missed those.”

He said the Tar Heels then defended well the rest of the half and it kind of steamrolled.

For more on the game, please click here.

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