• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

No. 5 North Carolina can avenge defeat to NC State

Feb 21, 2007 - 3:13 PM NC State (14-11) at No. 5 North Carolina (23-4) 9:00 pm EST

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- North Carolina can not afford to allow North Carolina State to again succeed in the role of spoiler.

The fifth-ranked Tar Heels attempt to win for the ninth time in 11 games and remain in the hunt for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with Wednesday's rematch against N.C. State.

Despite dropping two of its five games in February, North Carolina (23-4, 9-3 ACC) is tied with Virginia for the top spot in the conference standings. Boston College is one-half game back and Virginia Tech is one game off the pace.

After falling in overtime to the Hokies on February 13, the Tar Heels bounced back in Saturday's 77-72 victory over the Eagles. Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 points, and Ty Lawson and Brandan Wright added 13 apiece for North Carolina.

The Tar Heels may still be smarting from an 83-79 loss to N.C. State in their earlier encounter on February 3. It was the first loss for coach Roy Williams in 12 previous meetings against the Wolfpack.

Courtney Fells made 8-of-11 shots and finished with 21 points, Gavin Grant added 16 and Engin Atsur 12 with 10 assists for N.C. State, which shot nearly 77 percent (13-of-17) from the floor in the second half.

The Wolfpack (14-11, 4-8) have dropped three of their last four contests since topping the Tar Heels and are one game in front of last-place Miami in the ACC.

N.C. State snapped a three-game slide with Sunday's 81-56 rout of Virginia Tech. Atsur scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Ben McCauley had 16 for the Wolfpack.