The Tarheels will travel to Raleigh to face NC State this Wednesday night at 8 o’clock with coverage on The ACC Network. Carolina is 21-5 thus far and 9-3 in ACC play. The Tarheels are currently first in the ACC and are coming off a tough 78-86 loss at Duke. What do you need to know before this Wednesday night?

Carolina could not stop Grayson Allen as they lost 78-86 in Cameron Indoor.

Justin Jackson played well scoring 21 points on 8-13 shooting from the field. Joel Berry pushed the pace but was not efficient scoring 15 points on 5-13 shooting for the night. UNC as a team shot just 10-18 from the foul line, well below their season average of 70%. Grayson Allen had clean looks in route to his 25 points, including 7 made three-pointers. Defensively the Tarheels struggled to contain Duke’s dribble-drive attack which led to breakdowns surrendering 13 made three-pointers. Duke also outrebounded the Heels 31-30, Carolina missed Isiah Hicks underneath. UNC has almost a full week off to move on and prepare for NC State this Wednesday night. Roy Williams is giving his group some downtime to recover from some nagging injuries before Wednesday night’s tip.

Last time UNC outplayed NC State.

NC State could not get anything going the last time they played UNC. The Pack lost by 51 points as they failed to compete against the Tarheels. Joel Berry and Justin Jackson led the Heels as they scored 19 and 21 points respectively only logging 23 minutes a piece. In total UNC took NC State out of the game by playing with plenty of energy and hard-nosed defense. Joel Berry and company neutralized Dennis Smith as they forced him into turnovers and fouls from the start. NC State was outplayed in every category of importance as one would expect when losing by 51 points.

North Carolina will try and avoid a trap game Wednesday night.

Roy Williams understands the importance of rivalry games and will have his group focused this Wednesday night. NC State will hope the Tarheels are overlooking them as they beat them by 51 points earlier in the season and have College Gameday coming to Chapel Hill this Saturday. The next two foes on UNC’s schedule following NC State are UVA and Louisville. These two games could go long ways in determining the ACC regular season champ in addition to NCAA Tournament seeding. Can Carolina stay in the moment to knock off NC State? After NC State’s last few results safe money says yes; however, just when NC State looks dead they come away with a surprising result. Game time is at 8 o’clock with coverage on The ACC Network.