NC State routs short-handed UNC. Observations from the rivalry game.

RALEIGH, N.C. — N.C. State coach Will Wade called his team “soft” on Saturday after losing its second straight game and blowing a lead in the final minute of play.

He didn’t know what to expect coming into the matchup against North Carolina. The Wolfpack hadn’t lost three straight games this season, but it has struggled at home in ACC play and against ranked opponents.

Wade’s crew responded with an 82-58 win at Lenovo Center, tying for the fewest points scored by Carolina this season.

It was one of the worst losses by a ranked UNC team to an unranked N.C. State team and the largest Wolfpack win over the Tar Heels since 1962.

In the only way a rivalry can, the Wolfpack played with a renewed sense of motivation — like it had something to prove. It was anything but soft in dominating a UNC team playing without injured starters Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar.

The game was physical and chaotic, with several injuries to the Pack occurring in the first half. UNC’s Jarin Stevenson also left the game in the second half due to bleeding.

Despite the wild sequences of events, N.C. State fired on all cylinders to dominate the No. 16 Tar Heels for virtually the entire game.

Five different N.C. State players reached double figures, while Zayden High and Stevenson led the Tar Heels with 13 points each. High led all players with 10 rebounds.

The Wolfpack defense held the Tar Heels to their worst first-half shooting percentages of the season, holding the visitors to 26 points. UNC went to the locker room after shooting 25% from the field and 6.3% from 3-point range.

N.C. State’s offense, meanwhile, scored 42 points on 53.1% field goal shooting and a 55.6% clip from distance. It was the sixth time in ACC that the Wolfpack eclipsed 40 points in the opening period. The success can be partially attributed to its defense creating opportunities — it forced five turnovers — but UNC’s own defense didn’t help the cause.

That was one of the Tar Heels’ worst first-half defensive performances after giving up 41 to Duke, 47 to Stanford and 54 to California.

The Wolfpack continued to pour it on in the second half, leading by as many as 23 points to give the Tar Heels’ their largest deficit of the season. Walk-on Jordan Snell even got minutes during garbage time.

Copeland has his way against Carolina

Quadir Copeland has become one of the Wolfpack’s most valuable players. He proved that once again. Copeland, a 6-foot-6 and 220-pound guard, dominated the UNC defense with ease to score a game-high 20 points.

The Syracuse and McNeese State transfer started the game 5 of 11 from the field for 13 first-half points and five assists.

It didn’t seem to matter who guarded Copeland, either. Derek Dixon, High, Jarin Stevenson and Seth Trimble all fell victim to Copeland’s shiftiness and sheer athleticism in the lane, giving up buckets to the senior guard.

Copeland’s ability to drive inside didn’t create points for himself alone, though. He passed out of a double team, finding freshman Matt Able on the perimeter for a corner 3.

“He reminds me a little bit of (former Tar Heel) Theo Pinson,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said on Monday during a media call. “Theo was 6-6, 6-7, and he really was a facilitator. Theo was a big guard that could do a number of things. He could handle, he could pass, he could score around a basket, he could shoot.

“Quadir reminds me a lot of him, with his ability just to make plays, not only for himself, but for his teammates, whether it’s on the perimeter or passes around the basket. He’s got a good understanding of when to pass and when to shoot, takes good shots, and does a good job of taking care of the basketball. He’s really a unique and good player.”

Copeland continued to dominate in the second half.

His defense forced an inbounds turnover and a travel in the first five minutes of the second half.

He finished with six rebounds and seven assists to go with his 20 points.

Copeland has now reached double figures in four straight games, including a 21-point performance against Virginia Tech.

Pack wins turnover battle with ease

Both teams have taken care of the ball all season, and the ability to limit mistakes, while forcing ones on defense, was going to be a major key.

N.C. State came away victorious in that metric. The Wolfpack forced 12 UNC turnovers and only committed four of its own.

“They’re really good defensively,” Davis said. “They do a really good job of getting steals and deflections, disrupting you on the defensive end, not allowing you to, from an offensive standpoint, consistently stay in rhythm.”

This has been a defensive priority all season. N.C. State entered the game averaging 9.2 turnovers per game in ACC play (No. 2) and forcing a league-leading 12.8 turnovers, nearly nine of which were steals. Its 3.7 turnover margin led the conference.

Meanwhile, Carolina led league play, coughing up the ball only 8.4 times per game. However, it didn’t typically pressure the ball and ranked No. 16 in forced turnovers (9.7).

North Carolina struggles from deep

There was one first-half sequence that pretty much summed up UNC’s struggles from deep.

With just over six minutes remaining until halftime, Stevenson rebounded a missed jumper from Dixon. What followed were three straight attempts from deep by the Tar Heels, thanks to two more offensive rebounds (three in a row when you add Stevenson’s). Was UNC’s ability to tip out the ball impressive? Was North Carolina’s inability to knock down the outside shot concerning? Even more so.

The Tar Heels shot just 6.3% from the perimeter in the first half. West Virginia transfer Jonathan Powell was the only North Carolina player to record a 3-pointer in 16 attempts by the team before halftime.

North Carolina’s early struggles from deep were a mere symptom of the team’s poor shooting performance as a whole. UNC’s 25% clip in the first half was its worst shooting performance in any half this season.

It didn’t help that the Tar Heels failed to move the ball effectively, instead relying on stagnant stretches of isolation drives to generate offense. North Carolina recorded just two assists to five turnovers in the first half. UNC moved the ball more effectively after halftime, with seven assists, but also turned the ball over as many times.

Frontcourt absences hamstring Tar Heels

Wilson (left hand) and Veesaar (lower extremity) were out for the second game in a row for UNC on Tuesday night after also missing Saturday’s contest against Pitt.

Wilson and Veesaar are the Tar Heels’ leading scorers, with Wilson averaging 19.8 points and Veesaar 16.4.

In the 72 previous seasons of ACC basketball, UNC played just one game without the two players who finished the season one-two in scoring. It came on Feb. 23, 1978, when Phil Ford and Mike O’Koren did not play in a 72-67 loss to — you guessed it — N.C. State at Reynolds Coliseum.

The absences from North Carolina’s roster felt especially pronounced on Tuesday night, especially with the bully ball tactics of Williams and Copeland. Both guards are 6-foot-6 and roughly 220 pounds, and both used that size to their advantage against UNC.

There was nothing complicated about the dribble drives from Williams and Copeland — outside of one nifty second-half slash from Copeland in which he used a pair of spin moves to score over Powell. For the most part, the guards simply turned their backs and muscled their way into the paint, forcing their defender — be it Stevenson, Dixon, Powell or Jaydon Young — to guard them one-on-one. The help defense of an uber-athletic Wilson or towering seven-foot Veesaar wasn’t there to save them. And, with a tightened rotation, the Tar Heels likely had to be careful not to foul.