North Carolina–NC State rivalry

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 Tar Heels and North Carolina State University 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 (ACC) and are part of the Tobacco Road schools. The most popular games between the two are in football, basketball, and baseball.

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 North Carolina-Duke rivalry.

Opinions vary, however, about the rivalry with NC State. Former North Carolina basketball coach, Roy Williams, has an intense dislike for all things related to NC State. Plenty of articles have been written about Williams' hatred for the Wolfpack, underlining the significance of the rivalry for the fans and alumni of both schools who work, eat, and live together throughout the state of North Carolina, regardless of the outcome of the games. Another Tar Heel great, Tyler Hansbrough, also voiced that his dislike for NC State was greater than his dislike for Duke.

NC State put an exclamation point on the strength of the basketball rivalry, making history by winning 5 games in 5 days in the ACC Tournament to upset the #1 seed UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels in the ACC Championship game, 84-76, in Washington DC, making NC State the 2024 ACC Champions.

Oddly enough, 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. North Carolina: 68; NC State: 39; Ties: 6
 * Current streak: 3 – NC State won in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
 * All-time record
 * 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 36–22–2
 * 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)

Men's basketball all-time series records
Listed by number of games won.

All-time series record

 * North Carolina: 166; NC State: 81

Longest Win Streaks

 * NC State: 15; North Carolina: 13

By location

 * In Chapel Hill: North Carolina: 82; NC State: 21
 * At Woollen Gymnasium: North Carolina: 34; NC State: 12
 * At Carmichael Auditorium: North Carolina 18; NC State: 2
 * At Smith Center: North Carolina: 30; NC State: 7
 * In Raleigh: North Carolina: 67; NC State: 50
 * At Thompson Gymnasium: North Carolina: 20; NC State: 13
 * At Reynolds Coliseum: North Carolina: 28; NC State: 31
 * At ESA/RBC/PNC: North Carolina: 19; 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 Tournament: NC State: 7; North Carolina: 3
 * Dixie Classic: NC State: 7; North Carolina: 3
 * Big Four Tournament: NC State: 3; North Carolina: 2
 * ACC Tournament: North Carolina: 18; NC State: 11

By Final Four appearances

 * North Carolina: 21; NC State: 4

North Carolina coaches

 * Frank McGuire: 13–9
 * Dean Smith: 60–30
 * Bill Guthridge: 6–1
 * Matt Doherty: 2–4
 * Roy Williams: 33–5
 * Hubert Davis: 5–2

NC State coaches

 * Everett Case: 25–19
 * Press Maravich: 2–2
 * Norm Sloan: 13–26
 * Jim Valvano: 7–18
 * Les Robinson: 5–7
 * Herb Sendek: 5–17
 * Sidney Lowe: 1–10
 * Mark Gottfried: 2–10
 * Kevin Keatts: 4–11

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: 64; UNC: 55

Longest Win Streaks

 * NC State: 19; UNC: 8

By location

 * In Chapel Hill: NC State: 21; UNC: 31
 * At Carmichael Auditorium/Arena: NC State: 21; UNC: 30
 * At Smith Center: NC State: 0; UNC: 1
 * In Raleigh: NC State: 35; UNC: 17
 * At Reynolds Coliseum: NC State: 34; UNC: 17
 * At Broughton: NC State: 1; UNC: 0
 * At neutral site: NC State: 8; UNC: 7

By Titles

 * NCAA Championships: NC State: 0; UNC: 1
 * NCAA Final Fours: NC State: 2; UNC: 3
 * ACC Tournament: NC State: 7; UNC: 9
 * ACC Regular Season: NC State: 6; UNC: 4

NC State coaches

 * Robert R. Doak (74-75): 0-2
 * Kay Yow (75-09): 49-37
 * Kellie Harper (09-13): 2-6
 * Wes Moore (13-Present): 13-10

UNC coaches

 * Angela Lumpkin (74-77): 3-4
 * Jennifer Alley (77-86): 7-20
 * Sylvia Hatchell (86-19): 41-34
 * Courtney Banghart (19-Present): 4-6

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)

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

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

All-time series record (1955-present)

 * 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

Series record (1981-present)

 * NC State: 82; UNC: 52; Ties: 1
 * (As of February 12, 2024)

Conference Championships

 * 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