By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Quadir Copeland scored 20 points while N.C. State held 16th-ranked North Carolina to 31.7% shooting in a 82-58 rivalry win on Tuesday night.
Freshman Matt Able added 19 points for the Wolfpack (19-8, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who desperately needed this win to regroup after a 41-point loss at Louisville and a final-minute collapse in a home loss to Miami. And that had pushed Will Wade’s first N.C. State team onto shakier footing when it came to securing its ticket to March Madness.
But N.C. State pressed the attack all night against an injury-depleted rival, backed by a boisterous crowd. The Wolfpack shot 53.1% to build a 16-point halftime lead and never looked back.
By the end, N.C. State had its biggest margin of victory in the series since a 28-point win (85-57) in February 1962, according to College Basketball Reference.
Copeland added six rebounds and seven assists. Darrion Williams added 13 points on a night when he had a scary first-half fall that required stitches, coming after he hit his face on the court and trainers needed multiple towels to tend to the bleeding near his left eyebrow.
Jarin Stevenson and Zayden High each scored 13 points for the Tar Heels (20-6, 8-5), who played a second straight game without freshman star Caleb Wilson (fractured hand) and big man Henri Veesaar (lower-body injury). Wilson and Veesaar are UNC’s top two scorers and rebounders, accounting for more than 40% of its points and rebounds.
With the 7-foot Veesaar and 6-10 Wilson out, the Tar Heels leaned on a 3-point shot that never arrived. UNC missed 17 of its first 18 3s and finished 5 for 33 from behind the arc with Wilson and Veesaar on the bench.
Up next
UNC: The Tar Heels visit Syracuse on Saturday.
N.C. State: No. 14 Virginia hosts the Wolfpack next Tuesday.
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This story has been corrected to show it’s N.C. State’s biggest margin of victory in the series since February 1962, not March 1959.