North Carolina defeats NC State 96-89 in what may or may not have been a rivalry game

North Carolina wrapped up its most impressive week of the season thus far with a 96-89 triumph over NC State Saturday afternoon in Raleigh.

Luke Maye scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the 21st-ranked Tar Heels, who were coming off an emotional 82-78 triumph over No. 9 Duke on Thursday night. Torin Dorn scored 21 in a losing effort for the Wolfpack.

There’s no debate that this is “rivalry week” on Tobacco Road. The only question over the past seven days has been which games involving the state of North Carolina’s three most recognizable college basketball programs fall under the umbrella of the unofficial event.

Before the week even really got going, North Carolina senior guard Joel Berry ruffled more than a few feathers by stating definitively that UNC-NC State was not a true rivalry game.

“Honestly, there’s only one rivalry game, and it’s with Duke,” Berry said on Tuesday. “I don’t count NC State as being a rivalry. We just don’t like them, but it’s not a rivalry.”

The comments were especially ill-received due to the fact that they came just two weeks after NC State had upset North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

First-year Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts downplayed the comments when he was informed of them.

“Listen, he’s been in the league a lot longer than I have,” Keatts said. “You can’t make guys say it’s a rivalry game if they don’t think it is. I respect it. We’re just excited about playing the game. I’m not even sure that our guys know about it. Our guys are locked into the moment.”

His guys knew about it.

“It would only be insulting if you valued their opinion or if you put them on your level,” said NC State senior forward Abdul-Malik Abu said of Berry’s comments. “You just have to look past that and let your game speak. I don’t know what to consider it, I just know this game is important to our fans. Me personally, I just don’t like anything blue.”

For his part, Berry scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting in the UNC win. He also improved to 6-2 against NC State over his college career. If that career record is going to be altered one more time, it’ll have to come next month at the ACC tournament in Brooklyn.

Whether or not that meeting would qualify as a rivalry game is anyone’s guess.