NC State and North Carolina are meeting as ranked teams Tuesday night for the first time since Feb. 22, 2006.
NCSU moved up three spots to No. 15 in Monday’s The Associated Press poll, while UNC is at No. 12. A win over the Tar Heels will not only help the Wolfpack move up in the rankings in the future — combined by defeating Pittsburgh on Saturday — but give the program a much-needed NCAA Tournament resume boost. NC State already has a win over No. 10-ranked Auburn on Dec. 19.
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts is taking the big-game atmosphere expected at PNC Arena in stride, even telling the students Monday that a win over its rival should command a court storming. NC State is favored by two points.
“I’m not into the storming of the courts,” Keatts said. “I think if you win the game, be excited and act like we’ve been there before. I can’t control what the students do.
“I want to get these guys to get to where they are used to winning games, and not every time we win a ranked team, you have to storm the floor.”
NC State fifth-year senior Torin Dorn has viewed some court storms during his four years in Raleigh. The Wolfpack fans didn't storm the court following the Auburn win.
"There is nothing like it," Dorn said. "We have the best fans in the country. When they get excited and give us that energy, we are hard to beat at PNC."
Keatts said three main areas are needed for NCSU to defeat UNC, starting with transition defense.
“They are tremendous in transition,” Keatts said. “They do a great job scoring in transition. They are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. They get a lot of their possessions back. They are shooting the ball well from three.”
NC State is averaging 13.2 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks second in the ACC behind Duke (15.1), and UNC is third at 13.1. NCSU is second in the league with a 40.9 three-point field goal percentage and North Carolina is fourth at 36.8.
NC State and North Carolina split the series last year, with each winning on the other’s home court. UNC senior post player Luke Maye combined for 64 points and 29 rebounds in the two games. NC State doesn’t return any of the three post players from last year’s games.
“I have a lot of respect for him because he’s a guy who came in more as a walk-on and he’s established himself as a really good ACC player,” Keatts said. ‘We respect his game and hopefully our guys are up for the challenge.”
NC State junior point guard Markell Johnson had 20 points, 11 assists and five rebounds in the 95-91 overtime win at UNC last year. He tallied 12 points, nine assists and five rebounds in the 96-89 loss at PNC Arena.
Keatts wants Johnson’s assists numbers to be slightly down this season, with him hunting down his offense more. Johnson came off the bench against Miami after he displayed less than ideal energy in the last two non-conference games.
“I have challenged Markell in many ways because we need his leadership,” Keatts said. “He is a different player than last year, where he led the ACC in assists (7.3 a game). We don’t necessarily need him to do that. With this particular team, we need him to score.”
A cadre of different defenders will be tried on him Tuesday, including Dorn, who grew up playing against Maye in the Charlotte area.
“I’ve been playing against Luke since we were in high school, freshman in high school,” Dorn said. “It’s been a long time. We are very familiar with each other’s games and that helps.”
The emergence of Pittsburgh graduate transfer Cameron Johnson and better than expected play from freshman point guard Coby White led Keatts to see little drop off from last year’s Tar Heels team.
“They are a really good basketball team,” Keatts said. “I think a better basketball team than they were last year.”
NC State sophomore point guard Blake Harris missed the Miami game with a hip-pointer, but Keatts is “hopeful” he plays against North Carolina.
“We should go back to a 10-man rotation,” Keatts said.
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