Recent Play Details

Sometimes, all you need is a good dance partner. Recent renewals of these Tobacco Road hostilities between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack have more resembled track meets, as each of the last five have reached 155+ points. There’s plenty of offense on the floor to make sure this one gives the scoreboard operator a workout at the Dean Dome as well, especially with UNC whole again with 6-11 rebound machine Armando Bacot (16 caroms in each of the last two games!) apparently beyond his recent ankle problems and putting 28 points on BC in his last action Tuesday night. All hands are thus on deck for the well-oiled Heels scoring at a brisk 80 points per game pace, but they’ll need all of that to fend off Kevin Keatts’ surging NC State squad, working on four wins-and-covers in a row, also scoring 80 points per game in the process over that span. Another win here and the 'Pack might move into the rankings, as the arrival of Ole Miss transfer G Jarkel Joiner (16.2 points per game) has added more octane to the offense and gives Keatts maybe the best guard tandem in the ACC, along with electric sophomore Terquavion Smith (19.1 points per game). North Carolina's last four opponents were Notre Dame, Virginia, Louisville and Boston College, four of the slowest-pace teams in the ACC. The Tar Heels will welcome a change of pace against a Wolf Pack squad that will gladly step on the gas with them.