RALEIGH, N.C. - Tracy Smith had 20 points and eight rebounds, as North Carolina State rolled to a 69-52 win against visiting New Orleans on Sunday afternoon at the RBC Center.
Javier Gonzalez added 13 points and eight assists, and the duo combined for five of the Wolfpack's 14 blocked shots, as NC State (5-0) defeated UNO for the second straight season.
Charles Carmouche led the Privateers (3-2) with 16 points and eight rebounds. But the Wolfpack held UNO leading scorer Billy Humphrey to a season-low four points on just 2-of-8 shooting.
NC State, which never trailed in the game, used a 15-3 run during a five-minute stretch of the second half to put it away.
"They are just a better team," said UNO head coach Joe Pasternack. "Tracy Smith was an animal. We had nobody who could guard him, particularly in the first five to 10 minutes of the game."
C.J. Williams contributed 12 points for the Wolfpack, which led 34-24 at halftime. NC State led 14-3 five minutes into the contest and led by double figures for the final 10:57 of the half.
The Privateers tried to make things interesting in the second half. Humphrey scored on a layup to cut NC State's lead to 42-35 with 12:50 remaining.
But the Wolfpack responded with a 10-0 spurt, keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Gonzalez.
NC State later stretched its lead to 57-38 following back-to-back layups from Smith and Josh Davis.
NC State led by as many as 27 with 3:10 to play, though UNO did score the game's final 10 points.
Carl Blair and Devin McDonald had nine points each for the Privateers.
UNO shot just 35 percent from the field overall, while the Wolfpack shot 47 percent (8-for-16 from 3-point range).
"They did a wonderful job of taking us out of what we wanted to do," Pasternack said of the Wolfpack. "Their coaches did a great job of having them prepared. I've never seen a team get 14 blocks."
The Privateers will return to action on Wednesday at Tulane. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Fogelman Arena.
