A Rivlary Continues: Wake Forest 65, NC State 67

NC State University and Wake Forest University have battled on the hardwoods 226 times (including today). Today's match-up must have been one of the most exciting. The entire game was close, although Wake Forest held the lead for the entire first half and much of the second. But the Wolfpack would not be denied and took a slight lead late in the second half. The two conference foes traded the lead within a few points and the game was tied at 65 a piece with just 5 seconds to go. Coming off a time out, the Pack got the ball to Gavin Grant who took a 3 with a couple seconds left. The 3 rimmed out, but Ben McCauley was there to put it back with a one-handed slam dunk. And NC State won the game 65-67 with just .2 seconds to spare.

Don't Throw The Record Books Out Yet.

After starting as a defensive contest with the score 9-9, the North Carolina Tar Heels went on to score 34 more points before the half, while State missed 18 straight shots and only put up an additional 4 points before the break. So much for throwing the record books out for this rivalry match, NC State couldn't hit a shot and didn't play much like a team. The second half proved better, in-part because of adjustments made by Coach Sidney Lowe, but probably also due to the large lead and lack of urgency felt by Carolina.

State went on to score 49 in the second half, but Carolina scored 50, so the 30 point margin from half was actually increased by 1 at the final buzzer.

Its time for the red coat to go back in the closet for a while and for Coach Lowe and the boys to regroup. I certainly hope we make a better game of it when the Heels come to Raleigh... it can't be much worse.

Tobacco Road: The Red Coat Returns.

Whether you believe the rivalry has renewed or never left, you can't question that its in full force now. The last time rivals NC State and North Carolina met was last year's ACC Tournament. As happened then, you can throw records and stats out the window... these two rivals play each other hard, with the winner often determined by heart as much as ability.

Today State heads to the Dean Dome (or Smith Center for all my Tar Heel friends). And even Jones Angell will have to admit that this first ACC contest is a big game. We might be out matched on paper, and we might not be wearing dark blue like your other Tobacco Road rivals, but we're going to put up a fight until the last whistle blows.

Forget UNC's 16-0 start... this is a historic battle. Its the 212th meeting between the Wolfpack and Tarheels, and like the 211 contests before, it will be a good one. Tip-off is at noon.

Go Pack!

Wins by all of the Big Three

All three Triangle schools won non conference games last night. NC State beat North Carolina Central University 57-29 to win their seventh straight contest. The Duke Bluedevels beat Temple 74-64 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA. This was Coach K's 787th victory, making him sixth on the all time career win list. Duke is currently ranked No. 9 with a 12-1 record overall. North Carolina also won, defeating UNC Asheville 93-81. UNC Asheville has the country's tallest player, Kenny George who is 7 foot 7. George had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. North Carolina is still ranked No. 1 in the polls with undefeated Memphis and Kansas on their heels.



NC State travels to the Dean Dome this Saturday for what promises to be a typical high energy, high intensity, throw the records and rankings out the door Tobacco Road battle.



For information on NC State, click here. For Duke, click here. And for North Carolina, click here.

Wolfpack, One Up and One down

The NC State Wolfpack (8-3) men's basketball team got a much needed win for their program last night, defeating Seton Hall(8-3) 79-73. Seton Hall had been previously unbeaten at home. The NC State Wolfpack needed a big game from Gavin Grant, and they got it. Grant was 8 of 14 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line, leading all scores with 23.

The Nevada Wolfpack (7-5) , however, did not fair as well. They traveled to Chapel Hill to take on the No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tarheels (12-0). It was a close game with the tarheels even trailing at one point during the first half. But the last twenty-three minutes of the game told a much different story. Defensive intensity by North Carolina became the story of the game. The final score was 106 - 70. North Carolina did suffer a huge loss in junior guard Bobby Frasor, who tore his ACL with 9:47 left in the second half.