RALEIGH, N.C. — N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said it would be a “heart and soul” game Sunday against North Carolina, and that it was.
But what did you expect? The No. 23 Wolfpack wanted to win, badly. The Tar Heels needed to win, badly.
The two teams played it that way at PNC Arena before the Pack emerged with a 77-69 victory that should enhance its NCAA chances — and could damage UNC’s.
With Jarkel Joiner scoring 29 points and D.J. Burns 18, the Wolfpack (21-7, 11-6 ACC) made amends for a loss to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill and had Pack fans in the crowd of 19,500 serenading UNC with chants of “NIT” at the end.
“It felt good, man, and especially because it’s against them,” Joiner said. “We know what we’re fighting for -- we’re trying to stay in the tournament, the seeding. We know what we’re focused on.”
It’s now an even tougher road for UNC (16-11, 8-8) with four games remaining in the regular season. Caleb Love had 20 points Sunday and Armando Bacot 16 points and 14 rebounds, but there was little offensive help elsewhere.
“Down the stretch we didn’t play well enough to win,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “I felt like in terms of execution we got the ball to the guys we wanted to get the ball to, but we just didn’t make the shots. When we missed they came down and got the shots that they wanted and they made them.”
R.J. Davis, who had 26 points in the Heels’ 80-69 win over the Pack a month ago, missed 11 of 13 shots and scored seven points. UNC, 7-of-22 on 3-pointers, shot 35.5% from the field and had 13 turnovers that resulted in 16 Wolfpack points.
“It felt like every time we turned the ball over it was like a pick-6,” coach Davis said.
Or Joiner hitting a big shot. The Wolfpack point guard had 19 points in the second half, knocking down eight of 11 shots after a 3-for-10 first half.
It was punch and counter-punch with the two rivals down the stretch of the second half, the noise level in the arena getting louder and louder as State fans sensed a victory in the making.
The Pack got in the bigger ones — a layup by Burns after Bacot tripped, a driving layup through traffic by Joiner and then a Joiner 3 that gave the Wolfpack a 67-60 lead with 4:47 remaining and had PNC Arena as raucous as it has been in years for Wolfpack basketball.
“Electric,” Burns said.
Davis called a timeout at that point. The noise level didn’t drop and Joiner didn’t stop, hitting another jumper for a 69-60 lead.
With UNC needing a basket, Bacot scored on a putback and drew a fourth foul on Burns. After his 3-point play, the Heels went to a trapping fullcourt press.
The Pack’s Ernest Ross had an opening against the press, but missed a dunk with 3:06 remaining. But Joiner didn’t miss one a few moments later for a 73-63 lead that again spiked the decibel level.
The Wolfpack finished with three turnovers — none in the first half — and had enough offensive balance that it didn’t need a big scoring game from Terquavion Smith, who had 12 points. Casey Morsell also had 12 points and backed up Jack Clark’s team-high eight rebounds with seven boards.
With 11:36 left in the game and UNC leading 49-46, the Heels’ Pete Nance and Smith appeared to bump on the UNC end of the court. Smith went down in pain and then left the game as the three referees huddled to watch replays.
It wasn’t a repeat of Smith’s hard fall in Chapel Hill, when he was fouled by UNC’s Leaky Black on a drive and later taken to a hospital. Smith was out very briefly Sunday.
Smith later said Nance elbowed him in the stomach but added, “I’ll never say it was intentional. We got the win so it’s cool.”
The Heels spurted to a 54-48 lead, but the Pack answered with two baskets by Joiner and then a 3 from Clark for a 55-54 lead with 7:50 left in regulation.
Before long, it was time to celebrate. The Wolfpack players were waiting in the locker room for Keatts, showering him with water., although Keatts would say — tongue-in-cheek? — that other ACC wins this season were just as important as Sunday’s.
“I know people don’t believe me but I don’t put one win over the other,” Keatts said. “It was a win we needed to have and I’m happy about it.
“It’s not a rivalry, right?”
