NC State
North Carolina
N.C. State Runs Past North Carolina, 77-59
1/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 23, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Chapel Hill, N.C.--There were no major traffic jams outside the Smith Center on Wednesday. At least none to speak of after the 199th meeting between NC State and North Carolina. As the final minutes ticked down inside the building, the only fans remaining were wearing red. To be sure, the unusually large gathering of Pack supporters that scraped up tickets stuck around to soak up every last drop.
NC State 77 North Carolina 59.
Playing without injured starters Jason Capel and Jackie Manual, the Tar Heels were shorthanded and out-manned. But this is an age-old rivalry in which anything can happen, right. Nope. Not on this night.
A pair of senior guards named Anthony Grundy and Archie Miller saw to it that there would be no surprises at the Dean Dome. Grundy scored 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and five steals, while Miller added 20--including a pair of crucial three-point shots--as the Pack (15-4, 5-2) snapped a seven-game losing streak to its rivals from Chapel Hill.
"I was really pleased with the play of our senior guards," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "I thought we got great leadership as well as performance from Anthony and Archie. They played really well, but I was especially proud of the calm they helped instill in our younger players. There were two particular instances in the second half where North Carolina made a nice run and this building erupted. And in each instance, Archie answered with a shot."
Miller did indeed deliver two daggers that stopped Carolina comeback attempts. The first came after an Adam Boone three-pointer that pulled the Tar Heels within 47-40 with 16:25 left. At the time, North Carolina was in the midst of a 10-2 run. But on the other end, Miller took a pass from freshman Julius Hodge and swished home a trey of his own to the push the Pack back out in front by 10.
Less than two minutes later, Miller would step back and drill another bomb. The killer three followed a Kris Lang Dunk that had pulled the Tar Heels within six points. But Miller's second big shot gave State a 53-44 advantage. Perhaps more importantly though, the shot seemed to take the wind out of Carolina's sails for the rest of the game.
"I've been getting those shots a lot this year and they were big," Miller said. "Tonight I was feeling pretty good. There was a lot of energy in the building and you want to play well, especially in a building like this."
Miller's second big three ignited a 10-2 run that helped NC State put the game away. With the Wolfpack up 64-51 during an official timeout at the six-minute mark, the exits were filled with spectators clad in baby blue. But instead of beating the traffic, many probably found themselves leaving at the same time. There were years when some Carolina teams would routinely wipe out 13-point deficits over the final six minutes of a ballgame. This, however, isn't one of those years.
Not only did the loss drop the Tar Heels to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in the ACC, it was also their sixth straight defeat, something that hasn't happened since 1951. The lone bright spot for UNC on Wednesday was senior center Kris Lang, who finished with 27 points and eight rebounds.
"You have to give NC State a lot of credit, I think Herb has done a good job," said North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty. "I have always respected Herb as a coach and a person. I thought Grundy and Miller have done a great job, not only in this game, but throughout the season. For us, I thought Kris Lang had a fabulous game. We tried to ride him the whole 40 minutes and we did. It is frustrating to lose, but the only thing I know how to do is keep working."
Carolina worked plenty hard most of the night but simply didn't have the horses to make it competitive for the full 40 minutes. Miller and Grundy got the Pack off and running by scoring eight quick points as NC State jumped out to an early 12-7 lead. That advantage grew to 11 before a Lang hook in the lane brought the Tar Heels within four points at 20-16. But midway through the opening half, a three-point shot by Scooter Sherrill ignited a 10-0 blitz that allowed NC State to open up a 30-16 lead. The Wolfpack eventually settled for a 42-30 advantage at the break after hitting 50 percent of its shots in the opening half.
Also in the first 20 minutes, NC State received a tremendous lift from freshman center Jordan Collins, who bounced off the bench to score eight points in 14 minutes. Collins saw extra time because starter Josh Powell picked up two quick fouls trying to handle Lang in the low post.
"Jordan Collins was really good tonight," Sendek said. "He played a lot more minutes with Josh and Marcus [Melvin] in early foul trouble. We essentially played without either of them in the first half."
In beating North Carolina, the Pack won its fifth straight game on the road. It also had a season-low seven turnovers against a UNC team that played man-to-man defense most of the game.
"It's hard to go on the road and get wins, especially in some of the places we're going to," Miller said. "It takes a lot of guts. That just comes from having good people on our team and working hard every day. When that happens you have chemistry and you always believe you can win until the last moment. Right now, we're just playing with a lot of confidence."
The only other player to reach double figures for NC State was freshman Julius Hodge, who finished with 13 points. For the game, the Wolfpack made 46.4 percent of its shots (26-56) and outrebounded North Carolina 33-28. UNC was 20-of-48 from the field for 41.7 percent.
