Brooks, Tar Heels beat rival Wolfpack on road 75-65

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Garrison Brooks had 25 points and 11 rebounds to help North Carolina beat rival North Carolina State 75-65 on Monday night.

Leaky Black added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Tar Heels (10-10, 3-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who went ahead for good late in the first half to extend their road success in the longtime rivalry between nearby schools. The Tar Heels were again shorthanded with freshman star Cole Anthony still sidelined following knee surgery, yet UNC shot 49% and led by as many as 11 points after halftime.

When it was over, UNC had claimed a seventh straight win on N.C. State’s homecourt, while Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams earned his 31st win in 35 tries against the Wolfpack during his 17 years with the Tar Heels.

D.J. Funderburk scored 18 points to lead the Wolfpack (14-7, 5-5), who shot 42% and made just 4 of 20 3-pointers. N.C. State had trouble most of the night defending the 6-foot-9 Brooks inside, then came up empty on several key sequences in the second half as time dwindled away.

C.J. Bryce, who came in as N.C. State’s leading scorer at 13.9 points, went scoreless and missed all eight of his shots.

BIG PICTURE

UNC: The Tar Heels were coming off a relief-inducing blowout win against Miami on Saturday, which earned their first victory since the start of 2020 to end a five-game losing streak. It also ended the awkwardly long wait (nearly a month) for Williams to earn his 880th career victory and pass late mentor Dean Smith for fourth on the Division I men’s list. They arrived here missing Anthony for the 11th straight game following knee surgery along with point guard Jeremiah Francis (lingering knee issue), then had senior Brandon Robinson hobbled by apparent foot and rib issues as he winced his way through the final minutes. And yet, the Tar Heels still ended up beating the Wolfpack again in Raleigh.

N.C. State: The Wolfpack had earned a big momentum-building win at Virginia to start last week, the program’s first in Charlottesville since 2005. But N.C. State followed that by losing to Georgia Tech for the second time this season, then spent nearly all the second half trailing against the banged-up Tar Heels. Funderburk and Devon Daniels (17 points) had good moments, but the Wolfpack never strung together a consistent stretch of strong play — either surrendering a key basket at one end or missing on needed shots at the other — to avoid a fan-frustrating loss.

UP NEXT

UNC: The Tar Heels host Boston College on Saturday.

N.C. State: Sixth-ranked Louisville visits the Wolfpack on Saturday.