Ever since the final buzzer sounded after its 80-69 loss to UNC in Chapel Hill on Jan. 21, NC State men’s basketball has had the rematch against the Tar Heels in Raleigh circled on its calendar.
In what is sure to be one of the rowdiest environments in PNC Arena all year, the Wolfpack (20-7, 10-6 ACC) will be out for blood and looking for revenge against the Tar Heels (16-10, 8-7 ACC) this Sunday.
The Pack has plenty of reason to be vengeful heading into this one. In January’s game, the Heels got a widely disproportionate number of whistles in their home arena, shooting 39 free throws compared to NC State’s 12. The game also saw the injury of sophomore guard Terquavion Smith, who hit the deck hard and had to be taken to the hospital after a foul in midair by UNC’s Leaky Black.
Add that to the fact that UNC is NC State’s most hated rival, and the Pack has only won three games against the Heels in Raleigh since 2003, and you’ve got yourself a storm brewing in PNC Arena.
It’s hard to know who will be the most wanted man in PNC Arena on Sunday, between Black, who earned a Flagrant 2 and an ejection for his foul on Smith, or UNC’s big-bad big man, Armando Bacot.
Bacot has never been much of a fan-favorite among NC State fans, which is primarily due to the fact that he’s one of the best players in the ACC and has been playing for the Heels for what seems like an eternity, but adding fuel to the fire was his choice of eyewear following his team’s win back in January.
Starting with graduate forward DJ Burns, the Pack began a team-wide trend of wearing sunglasses as a means of celebration after the win over Virginia Tech earlier this season, and one notable participant in that trend was Smith, who famously wore a pair of shades after the team’s big win over Miami on Jan. 14.
In his postgame interview after the win over NC State, Bacot chose to wear sunglasses in an attempted shot at the Pack, and when asked about why he chose to wear spectacles, he answered, “Y’all know why.”
Although it was Burns who started the trend and who was banging with Bacot down low in the last contest, many State fans took that to be a shot at Smith, who at the time was in the hospital with the future of his season up in the air.
For a team that claims NC State is “not our rival,” Bacot made it a point of emphasis to take a jab at the red jerseys. That combined with the general animosity NC State fans hold towards Carolina for priding itself on being the “flagship” school of the state and being on a cloud above everyone else, and the boys in blue will be public enemy No. 1 on Sunday.
But enough about all of the off-the-court shenanigans: there’s a game to be played.
The game holds massive NCAA Tournament implications as each team tries to bolster their resumes. The Heels are firmly on the bubble in most bracket projections and could use a win against the No. 23 team in the country to get themselves more safely into the field, while the Pack holds better status at this point but is far from a lock and could always stand to spoil UNC’s chances.
These two teams are each coming off losses, with the Heels falling at home to No. 15 Miami for their fourth loss in the last five games, while NC State most recently fell at Syracuse for the team’s second loss in the last three games. Simply put, these are two teams in need of a win, and they are going to lay it all on the line on Sunday.
This will by far be the rowdiest, loudest and most packed game all season for NC State. While one may see that as having home-court advantage, it does add some pressure for the Pack every time the Heels come to town as the fans desperately want to see their team win. No matter how NC State handles the pressure, you can be sure the Heels are going to give it everything they’ve got and play like a team that has nothing to lose.
It’s not worth the time and ink to delve into the X’s and O’s of the matchup itself. You know who the players are. You know the records. You know what’s at stake. It’s State and Carolina in PNC Arena. Need I say more?
It all goes down Sunday, Feb. 19 with the tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. and the broadcast on ESPN.
