Can State Upset Carolina Again?

Last week before their game with Virginia Tech, UNC Head Coach Roy Williams said, he and Hokies oach Seth Greenberg were talking, just passing time before the game. He asked Greenberg, “Who do you have next?” Greenberg said N.C. State and then added, “Their starting five is as good as any.”

Well, the Pack’s five has been good in two upsets of Virginia Tech and they were very good in the upset of Carolina back on Feb. 3. However, they aren’t good all the time, and that’s why State goes into the UNC game at 14-11.

But State does have talent, and if they’re right they can burn you. And Carolina has the scars from the early February burning to prove it.

Roy Williams gave State plenty of credit after the Pack’s win, but he called his team fat and sassy and said they just weren’t ready to play.

He said on Tuesday, “I don’t know about them (the players), but I know a coach who hasn’t forgotten it.”

“We didn’t play nearly as well as we wanted to,” Williams said of that first Saturday in February. "We didn’t have near the energy we wanted from the first possession to the end.”

State is hard to figure. They had lost three straight, players talked of being tired, and yet they came out Sunday and destroyed a Virginia Tech team that was playing for first place in the ACC. Lowe said his players never doubted themselves and the coaching staff didn't doubt them either.

The coach says the performance against Virginia Tech was the result of something very simple.

“It’s just about work”, Lowe said. You have to get back in the gym and work. It’s not that difficult.”

Lowe says the big win over Virginia Tech can’t do anything but help their confidence going into Carolina. And of course State knows they can beat the 5th-ranked Heels because they’ve done it.

Carolina knows this as well, and I would expect it would be a more aggressive Carolina team on Wednesday. Roy Williams wants to see some fire from his team.

State expects that as well. In the first meeting, State did a good job of doing pretty much what they wanted, and they shot lights out. How about 13 of 17 in the second half—you shoot like that, you don’t lose many.

Williams says veteran guard Engin Atsur is very key for State. Williams calls Atsur savvy and heady. He calls center Ben McCauley one of the best passing big men in college basketball. Not just the ACC, but college basketball. Both were very effective in Round 1 of this series.

But Carolina has weapons, lots of them, and Sidney Lowe knows this better than anyone.

“They have a number of guys that can hurt you,” says the first-year coach, who adds that he’s never set foot in the Smith Center. “We’re gonna need all five of our guys to play defense and not allow them to control the game.”

Lowe also knows that State can’t let Carolina run and they have to keep Ty Lawson from getting into the paint.

State pretty much set the tempo in Raleigh. Can they do it again?

“They came out the aggressor, got us back on our heels,” says UNC big man Tyler Hansbrough. "That’s something we can’t do tomorrow.”

I’ve been in contact with quite a few State fans this week all giddy about the Virginia Tech win, but none too confident that State will go to Chapel Hill and win. Of course those same people didn’t think State would win the first meeting.

I didn’t think State would win that first meeting, and I don’t think they’ll win this one

Carolina has too much to play for. They are tied for first in the ACC. They’re at home against a bitter rival that stunned them hard the first time. And they’re the better team.

And what State team will show up? You never know with the Wolfpack. If it’s the team that beat Carolina in Raleigh, it will be interesting. If it’s the Pack team that was pitiful at Miami, it will be blow-out city.

Carolina faced a similar situation last week. Virginia Tech, a team that had beaten Carolina earlier, was coming to the Smith Center. Carolina was supposed to get its pound of flesh. It of course didn’t happen.

Williams says he hopes his team learned from that game: you have to be ready to play, it won’t happen any other way.

Sidney Lowe wants his team to keep its poise. He knows it will be loud, but he expects his team to enter with a lot of confidence.

“We have to stay focused on what we’re trying to do and not give in to what they might do against us.”

Lowe says it’s always important for his team that three of his starters play excellent games. He says when that happens, good things happen for his team. Look early on to see if that’s taking place.

Carolina will want to wear down State. They have the potential to do that but couldn’t do that in Raleigh

Can they do it in Chapel Hill?

I don’t think so, but I didn’t think it would happen Feb. 3 either.

More crow to eat if State pulls off another upset.