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Cole Anthony is healthy and will be back in in the lineup for North Carolina when NC State heads to Chapel Hill for its basketball rematch with the Tar Heels on Tuesday.

But the star point guard, who missed the first game between the rivals back on Jan. 27, isn't necessarily going to be the Wolfpack's primary focus.

Not after the way big men Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot dominated it in the earlier meeting at PNC Arena, a 75-65 UNC victory that was one of the lowest points of the season to date.

"We got our butts kicked on the offensive glass," coach Kevin Keatts said. "We’ve got to do a way better job than we did here. When you look at Brooks and Bacot, they had 11 offensive rebounds between the two of them. I think as a team it was (14). 

"When you’re playing against Carolina, they're still Carolina. They still hit the offensive glass. They still get out in transition. We’ve got to do a way better job than we did here. I thought they won the toughness battle in the paint against us in Round One."

Brooks, a 6-foot-9 junior, was particularly effective against the Wolfpack, scoring 25 points on 11 of 20 shooting, to go along with 11 rebounds and three assists. 

Five of those rebounds came on the offensive end. Combined with the five offensive boards pulled down by the 6-10 freshman Bacot -- who finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three assists -- the Tar Heels scored 40 of their 75 points in the paint.

It's a statistic that still bothers State big man D.J. Funderburk.

Asked Monday what he and his teammates need to do better in order to reverse the outcome from the first meeting with UNC, the 6-10 junior answered in just three words: "Rebounding, toughness and effort.

"For the most part, I feel like our effort was there in the UNC game," Funderburk said. "But as far as Garrison Brooks and Armando, they out-toughed us on the glass. They just wanted it more that day. We've got to go in there and show them we want it more this time."

 Even with the addition of Anthony and his ability to shoot from the perimeter and attack the rim off the dribble, Funderburk said he expects the Tar Heels to try and pound the ball inside again, just as they did the first time.

The Wolfpack figures to be better suited to defend UNC's twin towers this time, though.

With Keatts fully committed to a bigger lineup with both Funderburk and 6-11 redshirt freshman Manny Bates on the floor at the same time, State will be able to defend both Brooks and Bacot with like-sized players rather than having forward Jericole Hellems try to hold his own against a player four inches taller than him.

"We've got a different game plan because there's two bigs this time," Funderburk said. "But I feel pretty confident about this one. We're going to clean up a couple of things. We're going to have a different mentality coming into that game."

One thing the Wolfpack won't do this time is take the Tar Heels lightly.

Destpite its unsightly 10-17 record (3-13 ACC) and the fact that it has lost seven straight since that victory at PNC a month ago, Keatts warns that coach Roy Williams' team is still a dangerous opponent -- especially now that Anthony and his 19 points and four assists per game are back in the lineup.

"He’s a really good basketball player," Keatts said of Anthony. "When you look at Carolina, everybody is saying look at their record. But if you look at them in those last six games that they’ve played, they lost four games by two points or less. It’s a really good basketball team. 

"(Anthony is) one of the better point guards in the country, one of the better players in the country. He really changes them. They become a little more offensive minded with him in the game."

While UNC is a different team with its star point guard back on the court, Keatts said that his team is also a better version of itself than it was a month ago.

"I think we’re different," he said. "We’re playing with a lot of confidence. We’re coming off a team that won two out of three on the road. We played one of our better games of the year against Duke and I thought we had our chances against Florida State. 

"I think we are playing as a more confident unit. We’re starting to get a little bit more healthy. Guys are starting to come together. ... I like our confidence. I like where our guys' headspace is right now."