Looking for a Spark: UNC, N.C. State are both in need of a jump-start

Two struggling teams will play each other today in Raleigh, each hopeful of generating a win that will deliver consistency and much-needed confidence to its season.

North Carolina will visit N.C. State for a 9 p.m. game at the RBC Center. Both teams reside near the bottom of the ACC, but neither ever lacks for incentive when playing the other.

N.C. State will try to defeat UNC only six days after belting Duke in the RBC Center. N.C. State played its best game of the season in whipping Duke by 14 points, and Coach Sidney Lowe said that a similar effort will be needed to take down UNC.

"I would say we certainly weren't looking past Maryland to get to Carolina," Lowe said. "I've said this before: if you have to get a player jacked up to play against a program like North Carolina, or a program like Duke, or a program like Clemson, then you have the wrong guys.

"It's not my job to get them jacked up. Should they rise to the occasion? Absolutely. They should rise just because what is at stake and what they can accomplish."

UNC will try to break a three-game losing streak, all in ACC play, in which it has not scored more than 71 points. It might be without Ed Davis, its center, who was termed "questionable" to play yesterday by Coach Roy Williams, after reports from team trainers. Davis, a 6-10 sophomore, is still recovering from a sprained left ankle and was listed as "limited" for yesterday's practice. He did not play last Wednesday in an 82-69 loss to Wake Forest in Chapel Hill and the ankle was still swollen the next day, Williams said.

"He doesn't feel good about planting the foot and pushing off and going sideways," Williams said. "If he does not make any significant improvement, he won't play."

N. C. State is 13-7 overall and 2-4 in the ACC. UNC is 12-7 and 1-3.

UNC, which was not ranked in the Top 25 of the Associated Press poll this week for the first time since January of 2006, has dominated the rivalry since Williams became its coach starting in the 2004 season. UNC has won the last six games and 12 of the last 13.

N.C. State's up-and-down nature reappeared in the last seven days. After stopping Duke, N.C. State went on the road and was beaten 88-64 by Maryland. N.C. State hasn't posted consecutive wins in January.

Tracy Smith dominated inside play against Duke, and he is a major concern for UNC. Williams called Smith a "load" for the determined manner in which he can play inside in averaging 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds. Travis Wear, a UNC freshman, said that Smith is a "beast" for the damage that he can inflict around the basket.

Lowe is hopeful that a backcourt of Javi Gonzalez and Farnold Degand can overpower a UNC backcourt that lacks firepower and can be turnover-prone. As disappointing as all of this month's losses have been, N.C. State has bounced back to win its next game.

"They believe in each other," Lowe said of his players. "They believe in what we are doing. They try to come back and do everything that we ask them to do.

"They've been determined to bounce back. Hopefully, this is another of those situations. This team, they have a lot of fight in them."

The same cannot be said for UNC. Williams has a team 1-3 in conference play for the first time in 22 seasons as a coach, including 15 seasons at Kansas. Only two players, Wear and Deon Thompson, are shooting better than 44 percent from the field in the last five games.

UNC had the last five days off from game play. Williams said that he pushed his team hard on Saturday and Sunday. The practices weren't perfect, he said, but he is confident that progress was made.

Wear thought that the practices were the most intense and competitive of his short time in Chapel Hill. Wear thought that Williams was more animated in running practice than any other time this season.

"We've just been going at each other's throats," Wear said.

Other UNC players have said, as the losses have mounted, that practices have been productive, but that the effort is not carried into the games. Wear said he knows the solution, and is confident that UNC is closer to obtaining it after the weekend.

"I just think we need to come out and play our game from the beginning, from the tipoff," Wear said. "We want to show people we can play and we are the team that we're supposed to be."

bcole@wsjournal.com.