The North Carolina–NC State rivalry, also known as the State-Carolina game, Carolina–State Game, North Carolina–NC State game, NCSU–UNC game, and other similar permutations, is an ongoing series of athletic competitions between the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

Tar Heels Tar Heel (or Tarheel) is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina and its people. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace ba ...

and

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

Wolfpack. The intensity of the game is driven by the universities' similar sizes, the fact the schools are separated by only 25 miles, and the large number of alumni that live within the state's borders. Both are charter members of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) and are part of the Tobacco Road schools. The most popular games between the two are in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. In football, the rivalry game is played at the end of each season during Thanksgiving week. As the ACC has moved to a new scheduling system with protected rivalries, North Carolina and NC State are matched up as permanent rivals so as to allow both schools to face each other annually. Formerly, NC State was in the conference's Atlantic Division and North Carolina was in the Coastal Division and were designated as cross-over rivals that played on a yearly basis. The annual game between both schools is the biggest football rivalry game in the state of North Carolina. Both schools are also known for their basketball history. They have won eight national championships between them (North Carolina 6, NC State 2), and 29 ACC Tournaments (North Carolina 18, NC State 11). North Carolina and NC State are 2 of the 15 college programs that can claim multiple national titles in men's college basketball. In recent years, some Tar Heel basketball players and fans have claimed that the Wolfpack are not their main rivals in basketball due to the Tar Heels' recent dominance, saying that UNC's top basketball rivalry is the Duke–North Carolina rivalry. However, proponents of the rivalry cite former UNC basketball coach Roy Williams' documented animosity towards NC State and former UNC player Tyler Hansbrough's assertion that his dislike for NC State was greater than his dislike for Duke. Furthermore, many members of the Wolfpack point to the events of the 2024 ACC Tournament, which concluded with NC State upsetting the top-seeded Tar Heels in the championship game, as evidence for the rivalry's legitimacy. The ACC has split the two in baseball so that the two schools did not meet in the 2014 regular season; the result of that split was the ACC reinstating permanent partners for baseball in 2015. In the interim, the two schools agreed to a nonconference neutral-site game in Durham. NC State and North Carolina faced off in a 3 game series in Raleigh during the 2024 season, with State winning 2 out of the 3 games to win the series.

Football all-time series records

''Listed by number of games won.'' *Current streak: 4 – NC State won in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. * All-time record North Carolina: 68; NC State: 40; Ties: 6 * Record in ACC (1953–2023): North Carolina: 37; NC State: 34 * Record in Kenan Memorial Stadium: North Carolina: 28; NC State: 20; Ties: 1 * Record in Carter–Finley Stadium North Carolina: 15; NC State: 13 * Record in Chapel Hill, NC: North Carolina leads 36–23–2 * Record in Charlotte, NC: North Carolina leads 2–0 * Record in Raleigh, NC: North Carolina leads 30–17–4

Largest victory margins

''Listed by score.'' * NC State's largest victory margin: 45 points, score: 48–3 (October 15, 1988) * North Carolina's largest victory margin: 44 points, score: 44–0 (October 12, 1894)

Conference Championships

*NC State 11 (7 ACC, 3 SAIAA, 1 Southern Conference) *North Carolina 9 (4 Southern Conference, 5 ACC)

Bowl Record

*NC State 17–17–1 (.500) *North Carolina 15–22 (.405)

All time records

*North Carolina 729–568–54 (.562) *NC State 638–599–55 (.517)

Game results since 2000

Men's basketball all-time series records

''Listed by number of games won.''

All-time series record

*North Carolina: 168; NC State: 81

Longest Win Streaks

*NC State: 15; North Carolina: 13

By location

*In Chapel Hill: North Carolina: 83; NC State: 21 **At Woollen Gymnasium: North Carolina: 34; NC State: 12 **At

Carmichael Auditorium William Donald Carmichael Jr. Arena (formerly known as Carmichael Auditorium and commonly known as Blue Heaven) is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United Stat ...

: North Carolina 18; NC State: 2 **At Smith Center: North Carolina: 31; NC State: 7 *In

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

: North Carolina: 68; NC State: 50 **At Thompson Gymnasium: North Carolina: 20; NC State: 13 **At

Reynolds Coliseum William Neal Reynolds Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, on the campus of North Carolina State University. The arena was built to host a variety of events, including agricultural expositions and N ...

: North Carolina: 28; NC State: 31 **At ESA/RBC/PNC/LC: North Carolina: 20; NC State: 6 *At neutral site: North Carolina: 16; NC State: 10

By Titles

*NCAA Championships: North Carolina: 6 (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017); NC State: 2 (1974, 1983) *

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

Tournament: NC State: 7; North Carolina: 3 * Dixie Classic: NC State: 7; North Carolina: 3 *

Big Four Tournament The Big Four Tournament was an annual college basketball tournament played from 1971 to 1981 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The field consisted of the " Big Four" North Carolina Atlantic Coast Conference schools: NC State Wolfpack, Duke Blue Devil ...

: NC State: 3; North Carolina: 2 * ACC

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

: North Carolina: 18; NC State: 11

By Final Four appearances

*North Carolina: 21; NC State: 4

By coach

North Carolina coaches

Frank McGuire Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1913 – October 11, 1994) was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at ...

: 13–9 *

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

: 60–30 *

Bill Guthridge William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 – May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for thirty years as Dean Smith's assistant at the University of North Carolina and summin ...

: 6–1 * Matt Doherty: 2–4 * Roy Williams: 33–5 *

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching care ...

: 7–2

NC State coaches

Everett Case Everett Norris Case (June 21, 1900 – April 30, 1966), nicknamed the "Old Gray Fox", was a basketball coach most notable for his tenure at North Carolina State University, from 1946 to 1964. Early life and career Born in Anderson, Indiana, Ca ...

: 25–19 *

Press Maravich Peter "Press" Maravich (August 29, 1915 – April 15, 1987) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He received the nickname "Press" as a boy, when one of his jobs was selling the '' Pittsburgh Press'' on the streets of his hom ...

: 2–2 *

Norm Sloan Norman Leslie Sloan Jr. (June 25, 1926 – December 9, 2003) was an American college basketball player and coach. Sloan was a native of Indiana and played college basketball and football at North Carolina State University. He began a long career ...

: 13–26 *

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, culminating at NC State. Whi ...

: 7–18 *

Les Robinson Les Robinson (born September 23, 1942) is an American former college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the Uni ...

: 5–7 *

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. grew up in Pittsburgh and attended Penn Hills High S ...

: 5–17 *

Sidney Lowe Sidney Rochell Lowe (born January 21, 1960) is an American former basketball player and current assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lowe played college basketball and served as the head coach at ...

: 1–10 *

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach, basketball podcaster, and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketba ...

: 2–10 *

Kevin Keatts Kevin Andre Keatts (born July 28, 1972) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at NC State Wolfpack men's basketball, North Carolina State University. Early life and playing career Keatts grew up as an on ...

: 4–13

By decade

Other

''Listed by score.'' *North Carolina's largest victory margin: 107–56 (January 8, 2017) *NC State's largest victory margin: 79–39 (February 19, 1949)

Scores of games (1913–Present)

Winning team is shown in bold. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown in parentheses next to the team name (failure to list AP ranking does not necessarily mean the team was not ranked at the time of the game).

Women's basketball all-time series records

''Listed by number of games won.''

All-time series record

*NC State: 65; UNC: 56

Longest Win Streaks

*NC State: 19; UNC: 8

By location

*In Chapel Hill: NC State: 21; UNC: 32 **At

/Arena: NC State: 21; UNC: 31 **At Smith Center: NC State: 0; UNC: 1 *In

: NC State: 35; UNC: 17 **At

: NC State: 34; UNC: 17 **At Broughton: NC State: 1; UNC: 0 *At neutral site: NC State: 9; UNC: 7

By Titles

*NCAA Championships: NC State: 0; UNC: 1 *NCAA Final Fours: NC State: 2; UNC: 3 * ACC

: NC State: 7; UNC: 9 * ACC Regular Season: NC State: 7; UNC: 4

By coach

NC State coaches

*Robert R. Doak (74–75): 0–2 *

Kay Yow Sandra Kay Yow (March 14, 1942 – January 24, 2009) was an American basketball coach. She was the head coach of the NC State Wolfpack women's basketball team from 1975 to 2009. A member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, she had more than 700 ca ...

(75–09): 49–37 *

Kellie Harper Kellie Jolly Harper (born May 3, 1977) is the current head coach for the Missouri Tigers women's basketball team. She previously served as head coach of Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State, and Tennessee. Playing career Born Kellie J ...

(09–13): 2–6 *

Wes Moore Westley Watende Omari Moore (born October 15, 1978) is an American politician, businessman, author, and former U.S. Army officer serving as the 63rd governor of Maryland since 2023. Moore was born in Maryland and raised primarily in New York. ...

(13–Present): 14–11

UNC coaches

*Angela Lumpkin (74–77): 3–4 * Jennifer Alley (77–86): 7–20 *

Sylvia Hatchell Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell (born February 28, 1952) is a former American women's basketball coach, who last coached for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and was the fifth with the most career wins in NCAA women's basketball histo ...

(86–19): 41–34 *

Courtney Banghart Courtney Rosholt Banghart (born May 11, 1978) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head women's basketball coach at North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball, North Carolina. Prior to North Carolina, she served as head coach at ...

(19–Present): 5–7

By decade

Other

''Listed by score.'' *NC State's largest victory margin: 89-58 (February 10, 1978) *UNC's largest victory margin: 85-51 (February 13, 1975)

Scores of games (1975–Present)

Baseball all-time series records

All-time series record

* North Carolina: 168; NC State: 135; Ties: 1 *As of May, 2019

ACC regular season championships

* North Carolina: 13 (1960, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1990, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013) * NC State: 4 (1968, 1975, 1981, 1986)

ACC Tournament championships

* North Carolina: 8 (1982,1983,1984, 1990, 2007, 2013, 2019, 2022) * NC State: 4 (1973, 1974, 1975, 1992)

College World Series appearances

* North Carolina: 12 (1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2024) * NC State: 4 (1968, 2013, 2021, 2024)

College World Series victories

* North Carolina: 16 * NC State: 5

NCAA championship game/series appearances

* North Carolina: 2 (2006, 2007) * NC State: 0

Men's soccer all-time series records

All-time series record (1950-Present)

* North Carolina: 52; NC State: 22; Ties: 13 *As of February, 2024

ACC regular season championships

* North Carolina: 4 (2000, 2011, 2012, 2016) * NC State: 1 (1994)

ACC tournament championships

* North Carolina: 3 (1987, 2000, 2011) * NC State: 1 (1990)

College Cup appearances

* North Carolina: 8 (1987, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017) * NC State: 1 (1990)

NCAA championships

* North Carolina: 2 (2001, 2011) * NC State: 0

Wrestling all-time series records

All-time series record (1955-present)

Source:2022-23 NC State Wrestling Record Book p. 13-14 * NC State: 52; UNC: 51; Ties: 2 * (As of February 7, 2024)

ACC Championships

* NC State: 21 ** (1976, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) * UNC: 17 ** (1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006)

All-Americans

* NC State: 30 ** (Jim Zenz, Matt Reiss, Chris Wentz, Frank Castrignano, Tab Thacker, Chris Mondragon, Scott Turner, Marc Sodano, Mike Lombardo, Michael Stokes, Brian Jackson, Chris Kwortnik, Sylvester Terkay, Steve Williams, Mike Miller, Darrion Caldwell, Darrius Little, Nick Gwiazdowski, Kevin Jack, Tommy Gantt, Pete Renda, Tariq Wilson, Hayden Hidlay, Michael Macchiavello, Trent Hidlay, Jakob Camacho, Thomas Bullard, Daniel Bullard, Kai Orine, Ed Scott) * UNC: 23 ** (C.D. Mock, Dave Cook, Jan Michaels, Bob Monaghan, Mike Elinsky, Rob Koll, Bobby Shriner, Tad Wilson, Al Palacio, Lenny Bernstein, Doug Wyland, Enzo Catullo, Pete Welch, Shane Camera, Jody Staylor, Marc Taylor, Stan Banks, Justin Harty, Evan Sola, Chris Rodrigues, Evan Henderson, Ethan Ramos, Joey Ward)

NCAA Champions (individual)

* NC State: 7 ** Matt Reiss (1980) ** Tab Thacker (1984) ** Scott Turner (1988) ** Sylvester Terkay (1993) ** Darrion Caldwell (2009) ** Nick Gwiazdowski (2014, 2015) ** Michael Macchiavello (2018) * UNC: 4 ** C.D. Mock (1982) ** Rob Koll (1988) ** T.J. Jaworsky (1993, 1994, 1995) ** Austin O'Connor (2021, 2023)

NCAA Championships (team)

* NC State: 0 * UNC: 0

Scores of games (1955–Present)

Gymnastics all-time series records

Series record (1981-present)

Source:2023 NC State Gymnastics Record Book p. 9-13 * NC State: 82; UNC: 52; Ties: 1 * (As of February 12, 2024)

Conference Championships

Source: * NC State: 8 ** ACC: 2 (1984, 2024) ** EAGL: 6 (1999, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2018) * UNC: 5 ** ACC: 0 ** EAGL: 5 (2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011)

NCAA Champions (individual)

* NC State: 0 * UNC: 1 (Courtney Bumpers)

NCAA Championships (team)

* Semi-Finalists ** NC State: 1 ** UNC: 0 * Finalists ** NC State: 0 ** UNC: 0 * Champions ** NC State: 0 ** UNC: 0

Scores of meets (1981–Present)

Men's swimming/diving all-time series records

Women's swimming/diving all-time series records

Softball all-time series records

Women's soccer all-time series records

Men's cross country all-time series records

Women's cross country all-time series records

Volleyball all-time series records

Men's tennis all-time series records

Women's tennis all-time series records

Men's golf all-time series records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina-NC State rivalry College basketball rivalries in the United States NC State Wolfpack University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill rivalries College sports in North Carolina