In Wade’s first game vs. UNC, NC State delivers satisfying rout :: WRAL.com

RALEIGH — Will Wade promised his NC State program wouldn’t need long to compete in the ACC, including with its heralded nearby men’s basketball neighbors.

And in his first game against rival North Carolina, Wade and the Wolfpack delivered an unforgettable rout. The ESPN cameras showed him laughing, winking and smirking his way through the 82-58 blowout against the short-handed and 16th-ranked Tar Heels. 

It was the program’s largest victory over UNC since 1962, Dean Smith’s first season as the Tar Heels’ head coach.

Exactly the type of victory and atmosphere the ‘Pack wanted when they hired him from McNeese State, where he spent two years in coaching exile after NCAA sanctions. Quadir Copeland, who followed Wade from the Louisiana school, had 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals — plus untold poses and trash talk.

Wolfpack players came into the postgame media session with a bedazzled belt — a shot at Wilson’s similar belt and preseason comments, as well as what holdover Jordan Snell described as “disrespectful” behavior after last year’s UNC win in Raleigh.

“They were talking,” Copeland said. “They were talking a lot – North Carolina schools this, North Carolina schools that. It’s crazy how fast the tables turn. We bedazzled our belt too for them.”

North Carolina played without its two best players — freshman phenom Caleb Wilson (left hand) and center Henri Veesaar (lower extremity). Wilson and Veesaar are the team’s top two scorers and rebounders, a combined 36.2 points and 18.4 rebounds per game sitting on the bench.

“Lace up next time,” Copeland told Wilson in the postgame handshake line.

It’s that kind of attitude that motivates teammates — and drives opponents crazy, Copeland’s forte.

“He gives everybody a spirit,” Wade said. “He gives everybody a lot of confidence. He’s one of those guys that you love him, if he plays for you. You don’t like him very much if he doesn’t play for you. Sometimes I don’t like him and he does play for me. But for the most part, I always tell him, my love is unconditional. That doesn’t mean I like you all the time, but my love is unconditional. He gives us some life. He gives us some pop.”

The Wolfpack (19-8, 10-4 in the ACC) had plenty of pop Tuesday, a key victory after losing their last two games.

Copeland was one of five NC State players to score in double figures. Freshman Matt Able had 16 points and six rebounds, and Darrion Williams, who got stitches in the first half after hitting his head on the floor and opening a cut over his left eye, added 13 points. Williams returned to the game with a new jersey and number.

“We all saw him bleeding, it was pretty bad,” Able said. “For him to come back out a couple minutes later and be there — and not only just be there, but play hard, just as hard as he was before he left — and do everything that we know he can do” was inspiring.

Ven-Allen Lubin, who played at UNC last season, scored 12 points. The game had a special meaning for Lubin, who said he intended to return to the Tar Heels but left. Wade and players said they felt a need to perform for Lubin.

UNC had won seven of the last nine in the rivalry and 46 of 58 since 1999. Those are the kind of numbers that have left the fans in red yearning for someone to take it to the Tar Heels consistently. Enter Wade.

“I represent NC State. I represent our fan base. I represent our school,” he said. “And if it’s important to our fans, it’s important to us. It’s important to me. You can feel when you walked out in that arena tonight, it was just different. You could just feel it. It was different.”

Wade added: “I’m glad we could put a smile on everybody’s face and make work a little bit easier tomorrow morning.”

For the Tar Heels  (20-6, 8-5), life doesn’t get any easier — not with the status of Wilson and Veesaar still up in the air. In 72 previous seasons in the ACC, North Carolina had only played one game without its top two scorers — a 1978 loss at NC State.

Now the Tar Heels have played two straight without Wilson (19.8 points per game) and Veesaar (16.4 points per game), and Davis was non-committal on when they might be back.

With both, UNC trailed for all but 0.4 seconds in its win against Duke and for its entire loss to Miami. Without them, the Tar Heels trailed for all but 30 seconds in its loss to NC State. UNC never got closer than 13 points in the second half.

“I just felt like our competitive fight wasn’t there, especially from a defensive standpoint,” Davis said.

Zayden High, starting in place of Veesaar, and Jarin Stevenson each scored 13 points. UNC shot a dismal 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half and ended the game 5-of-33 from long distance. Without their two stars, that type of shooting spelled doom for the Tar Heels, even though they grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.

“Going into the game, we knew that we needed the ability to be able to shoot from three and to make, and we just didn’t do it tonight,” Davis said.

If the rivals are to play again this year, it will have to be in the postseason. This was the lone regular season game between the rivals – the first time in more than a century the Wolfpack and Tar Heels won’t play home and home in the regular season as part of the ACC’s move from 20 conference games to 18. It was done to enhance the league’s ability to put more teams in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s going to help accomplish that,” Wade said. “… It’s a tough pill to swallow for the fans. I think both administrations probably want to play at home. It’s a game both teams sell out. I think that’s important. But, like I said, it’s all for the greater good.”