RALEIGH — Most everyone this side of Meredith and Mars Hill has dragged UNC through the mud this season, but surging N.C. State wasn’t overly sympathetic.
Without remorse, the Wolfpack piled on the crumbling baby-blue empire that has amassed just two wins since the calendar turned to 2002.
Wolfpack fans were loving every minute of it as their heroes dismantled Carolina down the stretch, snatched third place in the ACC away from Wake Forest and booted the reeling visitors a bit closer to the dreaded ACC tourney play-in game.
Piecing together a flawless second half that included 59-percent shooting and a trifling two turnovers, State (20-8, 9-6) engraved its March Madness invitation in stone. Sunday’s 98-76 win transported the Pack from the probably-in neighborhood to the streets of Bracketville.
“I said from Day One this would be a special team,” gushed once embattled State coach Herb Sendek. “And it has been.”
While the Tar Heels’ historically awful campaign has been well documented, it should be noted that the Wolfpack also made some history.
The Pack swept the Heels for the first time since Tom Gugliotta dueled with Hubert Davis and George Lynch 10 years ago. Yesterday’s win completed just State’s second home-and-home humbling of the Heels since the legendary David Thompson was filing flight plans in Raleigh in 1974.
It was Senior Night at the ESA, and Pack senior guards Anthony Grundy and Archie Miller proved worthy guests of honor. The gravity-defying Grundy helicoptered for 28 points, while Miller shot 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and scored 18.
“This was a long time coming,” said Miller. “It’s unbelievable, really. To play Carolina on Senior Night and to win. How could it be any better?”
Early on, it could have been a great deal better for State.
Senior Night emotions led to butterflies and butterfingers. And it didn’t help matters that in the first half the Heels played like a team that should be receiving Top 25 votes rather than get-well-soon cards.
It was 28-all with 6:14 left in the half when the Heels (7-18, 3-11) put together possibly their best stretch all season. Adam Boone was beating Miller off the dribble and State couldn’t cope with massive Kris Lang’s ambidextrous power on the block.
After a wicked 14-2 run that was as surprising as a Bill Guthridge dunk, the Heels led 42-30 and the ESA was silent.
The Heels carried a 46-36 lead to their locker room, but Sendek’s halftime speech obviously trounced Carolina coach Matt Doherty’s, because the Pack opened the second half on a 16-2 blitz for a 52-48 lead.
Somehow, the Heels managed to shrug off that body-blow and were still tied at 71-all with 7:08 remaining. But that’s when the wheels came off the Heels. The trigger was foul woes suffered by Lang (19 points) and Boone (17).
State, which shot 22-for-26 from the line in the second half, made a flurry of free throws. Then it got a key deuce on a hanger at the shot clock by Scooter Sherrill and a backbreaking 3-pointer from Marcus Melvin for an 83-73 edge with 4:36 remaining.
“State was hot and we started thinking too much,” offered Lang.
Thanks to a torrent of bad UNC shots and worse decisions, the Pack finished the game on a satisfying 27-5 spree to win going away. It got so out of hand that Sendek briefly employed his third senior, guard Brian Keeter, who hasn’t scored all season. Keeter fired up two wild, crowd-pleasing shots in the final seconds, but kept his perfect record intact.
For Pack fans, this night was close to heaven. State secured 20 wins for the first time since 1989, when Jim Valvano was at the helm, cemented its first NCAA bid in 11 years and broomed a team it loves to hate.
“This game was of special importance,” said Sendek. “In the second half, we were relentless.”
Today's News
