Why the Break Comes at the Right Time for NC State
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NC State men's basketball dominated No. 16 North Carolina in an emotional matchup at the Lenovo Center on Tuesday. Throughout the Wolfpack's 82-58 win over the Tar Heels, several members of the home team ended up with bumps, bruises and more, all while putting their bodies on the line to get the team a must-have triumph against their bitter rivals from down the road.
Star forward Darrion Williams took a hard fall in the early portion of the first half, slamming his head into the hardwood to the point where blood was drawn. He returned to the game, scoring 13 points in 16 minutes. He wasn't the only battered member of the Pack, as Tre Holloman and Musa Sagnia both dealt with lower leg injuries, although Holloman was able to return.
Darrion Williams received an ovation from the Wolfpack crowd after returning to the court from this scary injury in the first half. pic.twitter.com/r22gGW78Ig
— ESPN (@espn) February 18, 2026
On this episode of the NC State Insider Podcast, host and lead beat writer Tucker Sennett explains why the Wolfpack's schedule seems to be breaking favorably at a critical point of the season, as the team won't play for a full week between games, when it heads to face No. 14 Virginia in Charlottesville on Tuesday for an important rematch against the Cavaliers.
Watch the new episode here
Thoughts from the coaches after NC State's win over UNC
NC State's 24-point win over North Carolina was its largest victory over UNC in 64 years 😳 pic.twitter.com/5di9RgnJEn
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) February 18, 2026
The 24-point victory marked the Wolfpack's biggest win over North Carolina since 1962. The Lenovo Center was rocking for the third-straight game, making it imperative for Will Wade to get his team over the hump after he felt as though he let down the Wolfpack fan base with the effort against Miami just one game prior. He didn't disappoint.
"I represent NC State, I represent our fan base, I represent our school," Wade said. "If it's important to our fans, it's important to us. It's important to me. You could feel it when you walked into that arena tonight; it was just different. You could just feel it. ... It's my job to try to represent the program and our school and our administration the best we can and I know how much it means to everybody."
Sans Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar, the Tar Heels were highly vulnerable. Between Quadir Copeland, Darrion Williams and even a hungry Ven-Allen Lubin, there was no lack of motivation for the Wolfpack when UNC walked onto the court for the first time during pregame warmups. If Hubert Davis' team was going to have a chance against this version of the Wolfpack, it needed to set the tone early. The Tar Heels did no such thing.
"I just felt like our competitive fight wasn't there, especially from a defensive standpoint," Davis said. "They didn't feel us defensively. They didn't feel our presence at all. We talked about how at the end of the day, it's going to end up being one-on-one defense. Can we defend them without fouling? Are we man enough when the ball goes up in the air and on the ground, can we go get it? And I don't think we did a very good job of that."
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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