N.C. State to host Tar Heels tonight

As if the eventual ACC regular season champion wasn’t enough of a mystery, N.C. State almost shook up the conference standings even more Thursday when it was minutes away from knocking off No. 5 Duke.

After the Wolfpack led Duke by as many as 20 points in the second half, the Blue Devils edged N.C. State, 78-73.

N.C. State narrowly missed its first win against a ranked opponent this season, but the Wolfpack’s performance did catch the eye of North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall.

“They played with a lot of confidence early on and in my opinion, the hardest thing to do in basketball is to play with a lead,” Marshall said. “When they played with confidence like they did in the first 25 or 30 minutes, they’re a tough team to beat.”

That confident team is just the thing Marshall said he expects to see tonight, when the No. 7 Tar Heels (23-4, 10-2 ACC) travel to Raleigh to take on N.C. State (18-9, 7-5 ACC) at the RBC Center.

Coming off back-to-back conference losses, the Wolfpack is in the process of trying to state its case for a spot in the NCAA tournament. A win against North Carolina could do wonders for N.C. State’s postseason resume.

Having lost the last 11 matchups with rival UNC, though, the Wolfpack could be facing an uphill battle.

In N.C. State’s loss to Florida State on Saturday, it was largely a one-man show. Forward C.J. Leslie finished with 21 points, while everyone else for N.C. State combined for 9-of-44 shooting.

The Tar Heels are no strangers to shooting woes. Before Saturday’s win against Clemson, UNC had shot less than 40 percent from the field in three of its last four victories.

But against the Tigers, UNC seemed to have snapped out of it.

UNC shot 49.2 percent from the floor in its win Saturday, including six 3-pointers. Forward Harrison Barnes could also present a challenge to the Wolfpack, as the sophomore is coming off his third 20-plus point performance in four games.

North Carolina beat N.C. State 74-55 when the teams met less than a month ago at the Smith Center. And on paper, the Tar Heels are the favorites to win.

But Marshall isn’t expecting an easy victory.

Before the game starts tonight, the 1989 N.C. State men’s basketball team will be honored, and Marshall is expecting the environment at the RBC Center to be a tough one.

“The juices are going to be flowing for them,” Marshall said. “We just want to take the air out of the building as quick as possible.”

As it stands now, UNC, Florida State and Duke are all 10-2 in the conference, but because the Seminoles beat both the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils, FSU would take home the regular season crown if the season ended today.

But both Marshall and coach Roy Williams know there’s still a lot more ACC basketball left to play. And tonight’s game against the Wolfpack is just one more step on the road to the postseason.

“We gotta focus on North Carolina State,” Williams said. “I told our guys, ‘Let’s just take care of our own business and not be concerned about what everyone else is doing.’

“I don’t want our guys looking ahead and then all of a sudden you skip somebody, and it comes back to bite you.”

The Lowdown on Tonight’s Game

No. 7 North Carolina at N.C. State

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Backcourt
Kendall Marshall spreads the ball around with an ACC-best 9.7 assists per game. But Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Williams score a bit more, averaging 12.1 and 11.7 points. Edge: Push

Frontcourt
The N.C. State frontcourt is formidable, but UNC’s is deadly. Harrison Barnes has scored more than 20 points in three of his last four games, and both Tyler Zeller and John Henson are averaging double-doubles in ACC play. Edge: UNC

Bench
DeShawn Painter and Alex Johnson are the only two non-starters who have seen minutes in every game for N.C. State. But lately, UNC’s depth has suffered from injuries. Edge: N.C. State

Intangibles
The Tar Heels beat N.C. State for the 11th straight time in Chapel Hill on Jan. 26 by a margin of 19 points. UNC has defeated the Wolfpack in 17 of the last 18 meetings. Edge: UNC

The Bottom Line — North Carolina 78, N.C. State 64

Compiled by Michael Lananna
Follow @DTHsports for coverage of the game.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.