Tar Heels easily get 11th straight win against Wolfpack

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams has called the matchup with N.C. State a rivalry.

Judging by the number of fans in the seats and the decibel levels they reached in the Smith Center Thursday night, the game certainly sounded like a rivalry.

But for the last five seasons, the play on the court hasn’t resembled spirited competition in the slightest. And UNC’s 74-55 win against the Wolfpack on Thursday was no different.

“You have to give them credit,” Kendall Marshall said. “They are a much better team even though they have the same personnel as last year. I think they’re a lot better team than they were last year, but I think we just came to play today.”

The win makes 11 straight for North Carolina against the Wolfpack, and like the first 10, it wasn’t very close. No game in the last 11 has been decided by fewer than nine points, and though the final difference was 19, UNC led by as much as 31 during Thursday’s game.

While the Tar Heels played stifling defense for most of the game, Williams admitted that N.C. State didn’t have the most efficient game shooting the ball, regardless of the defense.

“We were really good for certain parts of that game, there is no question about that,” Williams said. “I thought we were active defensively, got some blocks and got our running game going.

“We were really good for that time period in there, but at the same time, we realized, particularly in the first half, that State missed a lot of shots that they normally make.”

Whether it was poor shooting, solid defense or a combination of the two, the end result was a season-low performance in points and field goal percentage for the Wolfpack.

Scott Wood, N.C. State’s leading scorer, was the only Wolfpack player to reach double digits with 11, all of which came in the second half.

In the first half, N.C. State made just eight of 32 shots from the field, and one of those was an 80-foot buzzer beater from Lorenzo Brown.

As the Wolfpack was converting just 25 percent of its shots from the field in the first half, the Tar Heels utilized their size and skill advantage on the inside all night long.

Senior forward Tyler Zeller had one of his most dominating performances all season, leading all scorers with 21 points. He also set a new career high in rebounds with 17.

“I think probably the biggest thing is trying to get to the boards more,” Zeller said of his attempt to improve his rebounding totals. “It’s something that we know we’re very, very good at.”

Junior forward John Henson also pulled in double-digit rebounds as a part of UNC’s 48-26 advantage on the glass. Henson was a point shy of a double-double and swatted five shots. Harrison Barnes was the Tar Heels’ second leading scorer with 15.

Not only did North Carolina out-rebound the Wolfpack on Thursday night, it also more than doubled N.C. State’s production in the paint. The Tar Heels poured in 42 points from the lane, while the Wolfpack managed only 20.

“They scored around the rim all night,” N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Whether it was off the break, in the half-court offense, or off offensive rebounds. We did a terrible job there.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.