Luke Maye scored 31 points as No. 8 North Carolina completed a regular-season season sweep of North Carolina State with a 113-96 victory Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Coby White added 21 points, while seniors Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson both posted 17 points for the Tar Heels, who have a six-game winning streak. Nassir Little chipped in with 12 points.
North Carolina (18-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled into a first-place tie with Virginia and Duke. The Tar Heels are 8-1 in ACC play for the third time in coach Roy Williams' 16 seasons.
North Carolina now has won both regular-season meetings against NC State 12 times in those 16 years. The 113 points were the most the Tar Heels have ever scored against the Wolfpack.
Maye, a senior forward, shot 10-for-15 from the field and 10-for-10 on free throws. He added 12 rebounds.
Braxton Beverly scored 17 points for NC State, which earlier in the week dropped out of the national rankings for the first time since mid-December.
NC State (16-7, 4-6) lost its third game in a row -- all against nationally ranked teams. C.J. Bryce had 15 points, DJ Funderburk provided 14 points, Torin Dorn supplied 11 points and Devon Daniels had 10 points.
NC State, which was coming off a game with historically bad offense in a 47-24 home loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday, encountered all sorts of troubles at the defensive end in this game.
North Carolina reached the 90-point mark with more than 9 1/2 minutes to play.
The Tar Heels led 56-40 at halftime, buoyed by 52.8 percent shooting from the field and a 23-11 rebounding advantage.
North Carolina built a 33-21 edge in the first half. That margin grew to 45-29 with four different NC State players having two fouls with almost four minutes left in the half.
Beverly, who shot 0-for-12 in the Virginia Tech game, had two 3-pointers in the first four minutes Tuesday night. He finished 5 of 7 from the floor.
North Carolina won the first meeting by 90-82 on Jan. 8 in Raleigh.
--Field Level Media
NC State | North Carolina | |
Braxton Beverly 17 | Scoring | Luke Maye 31 |
Markell Johnson 4 | Assists | Garrison Brooks 6 |
Torin Dorn 5 | Rebounds | Luke Maye 12 |
Blake Harris 5 | Free Throws Made | Luke Maye 10 |
Eric Lockett 3 | Steals | Cameron Johnson 3 |
Wyatt Walker 3 | Blocks | Nassir Little 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
NC State | 96 | 50.0 | 7-17 | 15-24 | 17 | 22 | 6 | 9 | 11 |
North Carolina | 113 | 56.1 | 8-21 | 31-37 | 26 | 38 | 7 | 7 | 17 |