Carolina Rolls Wolfpack, Kay Yow's Celebration Marred By Ugly Ending

It wasn't actually "Kay Yow Day" in Raleigh, but it might as well have been (and it wouldn't surprise me if that holiday actually popped up) with all the pink in the crowd. A good 60-70 percent of N.C. State's fans were wearing pink shirts to honor Coach Yow, and both Sidney Lowe's and Roy Williams' coaching staffs wore tennis shoes, in the traditional "Coaches vs. Cancer" form. Too bad a couple players had to rumble at the end (Video here).

But none of the motivation that Yow's memory could provide was enough for the Wolfpack, which have, in effect, proven themselves to be a 34-minute basketball team this year. And Tyler Hansbrough returned to his normal ways, scoring 31 points as North Carolina topped State 93-76.

The Pack started out hot -- particularly Brandon Costner, who scored seven points in the first five minutes. He went stone cold, though, needing another 12 minutes to score again. And in the last five or so minutes of the first half, Carolina went on one of the runs that makes them so deadly and feared by Jay Bilas and everyone else in America.

State closed the gap several times throughout the second half -- mainly on Courtney Fells' 18 points following the intermission -- but the reality is that this game was a really good team outmatching a really average team: nothing less, nothing more.

Yeah, it was a "life kick", and even though the late Mrs. Yow might find it tough to find a positive lesson in all of this, the Pack hung with an upper-echelon ACC team for most of the game (again), which is at least something.

It's a more positive thing to remember about this contest than focusing on the end of game antics between Ben McCauley and late game, end-of-the-pine senior Mike Copeland; Copeland attempted to score with 1.6 seconds left (a Busch-L move if there ever was one) and McCauley fouled him, um, hard. After Copeland got off the hardwood, he went after McCauley, which brought out the wrath of both the N.C. State student section and coach Williams.

Williams, for all the goshdaggumits we like to give him about being so ... Roy, deserves praise for not only chastising Copeland but also appearing to apologize in the direction of Lowe and the Wolfpack in general. It -- meaning the field goal attempt and instigation -- was a classless act on a day that was designed to honor a classy lady, and hopefully Copeland will be reprimanded properly.