Caleb Love scored 21 points as North Carolina led wire-to-wire in a rout over in-state rival N.C. State, winning 100-80 Saturday in Chapel Hill.
Love also tallied five assists for the Tar Heels (15-6, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their third straight game. Armando Bacot registered his 16th double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Additionally, RJ Davis and Brady Manek notched 17 points apiece for the Tar Heels.
N.C. State (10-12, 3-8) lost its second straight game despite getting a season-best 34 points from freshman Terquavion Smith and 25 points from Jericole Hellems. Those two players aside, the rest of the Wolfpack shot 7 of 29 from the floor, a 24.1% clip. N.C. State has now lost five of its last seven games.
UNC jumped out to a 19-9 lead from the opening tip, with Love scoring nine points during that stretch on 3 of 4 shooting. By halftime, the Tar Heels led by 25 points and were shooting 10 of 15 — 66.7 percent — from 3-point range.
The Tar Heels finished the day making a season-high 15 shots from 3-point land.
North Carolina took its largest lead of the day early in the second half, coming out of halftime on a 17-7 run to power it to a 35-point advantage. Davis scored eight points during that stretch.
Early in the second half, Bacot tallied his 1,000th career point, becoming the 79th Tar Heel to reach that milestone. No other Division I men’s team has more 1,000-point scorers than UNC.
The Tar Heels outscored the Wolfpack 28-22 in the paint and 25-11 on fast break opportunities.
Before the game, North Carolina raised a banner into the rafters in honor of longtime coach Roy Williams, who retired after last season. Williams guided the Tar Heels to three national championships and was an assistant coach on the 1982 national championship team too. Members of that squad, including Tar Heel and NBA legend Michael Jordan, were honored at halftime for their 40th anniversary.
UNC and N.C. State will meet for one more regular season game this year, on Feb. 26 in Raleigh.
–Field Level Media