WRAL's Pat Welter and Louis Fernandez discuss UNC's 97-73 win over NC State and what it means for the Tar Heels and Wolfpack moving forward.

Pat Walter and Louis Fernandez coming to you from a 97 to 73 UNC win over NC State and Louis. This game was pretty much over at halftime. So I had a lot of time to kind of gather your thoughts, come up with an opener for you here. Tell me what you think about this one. The ACC didn't cancel this game, but NC State clearly didn't get the memo because they complete no show in this one. It was in, in the 1st 10 minutes there was a 10-0 UNC run and a 7-0 UNC. And if you're a UNC fan, you're probably like, hey, awesome performance. Where has this been all season because this was the Best first half of the year, probably their best complete game of the year and some great stats thrown at us from, uh, SID extraordinaire Steve Kirchner at the end of the game. ACC bests in field goal percentage, rebounding margin, second chance points, bench points, you name it. Carolina did it in this one, Louis. Yeah, and some of that I think was because they. Switched up their starting lineup a little bit, right? Drake Powell getting into the mix, Seth Trimble coming off the bench. I think that definitely gave them a spark with their second unit. The atmosphere maybe plays into that a little bit, right? We could talk about the snow game of things, but really it was just one team steamrolled, snowballed at the very beginning of things. Well, let's talk about a little bit because that was a big storyline heading into this one. Yesterday we talked about was this game even going to be played. Uh, so really came down out there even before the game they made it so it was general admission. You could get in for free for free without a ticket. First come, first serve. If you had a ticket, you had uh dibs on your original seat and that absolutely changed the environment in this one. It definitely had a factor. Hubert Davis talked about it, so did the UNC players. Yeah, the building wasn't as full, but it felt more full and more loud and a lot. Was because the students, a lot of the more rowdy fans are, are sitting in the lower bowl here, Lewis on the court. And when UNC starts like that, it kind of, like you said, to use the term again, snowballing upon itself. UNC found the confidence they needed and NC stayed a team that's, to their credit, you know, one thing they have done well this year is fight. UNC squashed it from the beginning. You know, from, from the beginning and 21,000, I think is the amount that was initially expected based on ticket sales. They 14, almost 15,000 people in. showing up. Also, a note from Steve Kershner, this was the third time UNC has had a situation like this. Uh, the other two coming against Maryland, of all teams won in '94 and one in 2000. So it's been a while since that's happened and, uh, you know, it was, it was a rowdy environment. It was a really kind of fun college basketball atmosphere. Last time this happened also, Corey Kirchner, they ended up, uh, putting in the risers on UNC's floor that, that the UNC student section kind of, uh, occupies, you know, during those more rowdy parts of the game, you know, see if anything ends up happening, um, maybe put in more risers. Or something like that after this one, but yeah, the, the atmosphere was really great and I, I think it was a, a cool experience for the people that were able to walk or those that, you know, drove maybe a little bit earlier, uh, and just got to soak it all in. Well, I think where we go from here next is, is there a next, right? Because NC State is on the outside looking in of not just the NCAA tournament, but the ACC tournament. UNC obviously not even quite on the bubble there with the NCAA tournament, but a performance like this starts to give you hope, and this is kind of. The caveat all season long when you talk about UNC it's like, well, you can't rule them out because NC State last year was ruled out and written off and they went all the way to the Final Four. So that's still there kind of, it's almost like a joke, right? Like, of course not. But, but if you're gonna look at things positively and this was brought up in the postgame, this Jalen Withers switch in the starting lineup, you know, they played their biggest lineup. They probably could play starting wise. Well, Drake Powell at the 3, Van Leeen at the 5. Are they unlocking something there? Brady Manick, a, a couple of years ago. Jalen Withers is the new Brady Manning. Hey, it's a stretch, but hey, if you're, you're grasping at straws here, you're grasping at anything, and they certainly did seem to find something tonight. They played well against Syracuse as well. You know, I asked the players about that, and they're gonna speak positive. Their head coach is positive. What do you think? Is there, is there any chance, snowball's chance in hell that he could turn this thing around? We love the snow stuff, um. You know, I, I think it's, uh, one game at a time to use a coaching, uh, kind of cliche there because this was a back to back ACC win situation for UNC. They beat Syracuse, they beat NC State. They haven't had too many of those back to back ACC wins, uh, in essentially about like halfway through January. So it's about that consistency, continuing to do that. They're going to have more opportunities. They play Virginia, a team that really has not looked very good. In ACC play, so that that could turn into 3 wins for them. Really for me it's, it's more about can UNC just take care of business, right? You take care of business. You, if you can get a win against Duke, then we're talking. But it's what's going to be so challenging, I think for Carolina is just the conference play, right? And the ACC is not that strong this year, and so they're gonna have to finish as one of those top teams in the conference. SMU, another team that's kind of In the same situation as Carolina, crushed Boston College, I believe today. It was, it was actually the exact same score as the UNC NC State game, funny enough. So it's, you know, it's a challenge for sure. Um, if Carolina can play differently, if they play like they have in the past two games, I think that goes a long way, but you just have to see that consistency from the Tar Heels, and you really have not seen that all year. And the opportunities are few and far between for the Tar Heels. Get in if they went out and even make a run in the ACC tournament. So it's truly an uphill climb. But we're talking about Hubert Davis's job status here, them finishing strong, it would be huge, not making the tournament, even if that's the end result will certainly go a long way for him getting another shot here in Chapel Hill. So UNC plays Virginia on Saturday. NC State up next has the Wake Forest. They play Wake Forest on Saturday. And speaking of the Wolfpack, I mean, you got to It's, it's really tough, right? I think, um, Jadon Taylor, Dontre Styles, what their reflections were after the game was this is the worst they filled after a loss all season, um, you know, but this team is, is kind of who they are, right? With NC State, they have to play good defense. Uh, and then they did for the most part of the season, but they've allowed 90+ points in two of the past 3 games. Uh, Kevin Keats has said this team has to play together, they have to win together because they don't have that superstar score. They don't have that RJ Davis, you know, they don't have that Cooper flag. And when they don't do that, you get results like you saw tonight, you get results like you saw against Louisville. Um, the Wolfpack, they have 5 games left, I believe, 1 against Wake Forest, and the rest are against teams that are in kind of the same situation as they are, the Boston College is the Miami's, the Syracuse's. So there are gonna be opportunities for NC State to work their way up. You just If you're losing a game like this, you can't let that turn into a second loss because you're, you're ready to use another snow reference on thin ice. I will throw one more at you before we got to get out of here because we got to hit the road. Nothing like a snowstorm to cool the hot seat on Hubert Davis. Oh, there you go. There's Louis Fernandez. I'm Tal Walter. We'll see you guys next time.