When Dean Smith Finally Broke the Spell Against N.C. State
For Tar Heel fans under 55, it might be hard to believe: there was a time when beating N.C. State felt almost impossible.
During the David Thompson era (1973–75), the Wolfpack were a force of nature. They went undefeated in ’73–74, won a national title over seven-time defending champion UCLA, and stacked up 33 straight ACC wins. Including a pre-Thompson upset in 1972, State beat Carolina nine straight times—despite Carolina being ranked in every matchup, seven times in the top 10 and four in the top five.
Frustration doesn’t even begin to capture the feeling in Chapel Hill. Duke’s 15 wins in 17 games during 1999–2004 stung, but they didn’t come in a streak like this, and not against UNC teams this loaded: Hall of Famers Bobby Jones and Bob McAdoo, ACC Players of the Year Phil Ford and Mitch Kupchak, and stars like Walter Davis and George Karl.
The streak finally ended in UNC’s last home game of 1975—a moment that history hasn’t celebrated enough.
The Backstory
David Thompson’s rise is the stuff of Southern folklore. The youngest of 11 kids from a dirt-road home in Shelby, N.C., he played at a tiny high school outside the official athletic association. But talent like his couldn’t stay hidden. Both Duke and State ended up on probation over his recruitment.
By his sophomore year, Thompson led State to a 27–0 season and an ACC title—though NCAA probation kept them out of the tournament. His impact was immediate. In the Big Four Tournament, Thompson scored 19 to help State beat Carolina by seven in a game State coach Norm Sloan said felt like a 150–149 thriller.
Their rematch six weeks later was chaos. UNC led by eight late in the game, then melted down with two turnovers in the final minute to lose by three. The News & Observer described it as “emotional wreckage,” with Dean Smith claiming his players couldn’t even safely exit the floor.
And it only got worse. State beat UNC again in Carmichael. In 1974, on their way to a 30–1 season and a national title, they edged Carolina by one in the Big Four after Ed Stahl’s last-second shot missed. The N&O said Carolina faced an “impregnable barrier” in the Wolfpack.
Losses piled up: by 3 in Chapel Hill, by 11 in Raleigh after a second-half collapse, and finally by 15 in a 1974–75 Big Four consolation game. Even a near-flawless performance two weeks later wasn’t enough—UNC led by six in overtime, but State came back to win again.
Which brings us to Feb. 25, 1975, in Chapel Hill.
The Breaking Point
Going into their final home game of the season, UNC had lost nine straight to State—by an average of just 5.3 points. Six of those games were decided by four points or fewer. Against everyone else, Carolina was winning over 80% of the time. But against State? A wall.
Senior Mickey Bell recalled what happened in the locker room pregame. Dean Smith, midway through chalking up defensive assignments, stopped as the crowd’s roar filtered in.
“Do you hear them?” he asked. “They’re ready. Are you?”
They were.
Carolina jumped out to a 50–41 halftime lead behind 19 points from freshman point guard Phil Ford, who drained a 30-foot buzzer-beater. He opened the second half with another jumper, and UNC shot 62% overall. But foul trouble crept in—Ford picked up his fourth with 16:02 left, Walter Davis his fourth at 9:55.
UNC ran the Four Corners offense for nearly 18 minutes, draining clock. Up 71–60 with 4:20 left, Ford fouled out—five charging calls. UNC didn’t score a field goal the rest of the way.
State closed the gap fast. Down five with 47 seconds left, they cut it to one on a final bucket from Thompson, who finished with 32 points.
Bell—who averaged just 2.3 points—stepped to the line with 17 seconds left. He made one, missed the next. It felt like déjà vu. Surely State would force overtime. Surely Thompson would do it again.
But Dean Smith wasn’t going to let him. UNC deployed what Smith called a “suicide defense”—full-on double teams to deny Thompson the ball. It worked. The ball ended up in the hands of Tim Stoddard, a capable shooter, but not that guy.
He missed. Tommy LaGarde grabbed the rebound and may have been fouled—but it didn’t matter. Students stormed the Carmichael floor. The officials called the game.
“That shows you what’s been happening,” Smith said, referring to the cathartic eruption.
“Tar Heels Finally Free of Thompson’s Spell,” read the News & Observer headline. Writer A.J. Carr described it as “emancipation from nine games of servitude to the Wolfpack.”
Footnote You Might’ve Missed
While this was their first varsity win over Thompson, it wasn’t the first actual win. Seniors like Bell and Stahl had beaten State’s freshman team 95–83 years earlier, despite 35 from Thompson. Back then, the freshman squads were dubbed the “Tar Babies” and “Wolflets.”
The Aftermath
Today, it’s hard to imagine Carolina ever being so thoroughly haunted by a rival not named Duke. But in the mid-’70s, N.C. State was the mountain UNC couldn’t climb. That 1975 win wasn’t just emotional—it was transformational.
As far as regular-season victories go, it stands near the top for UNC. There’s the 2022 win at Cameron in Coach K’s final home game. The 1965 win at Duke that may have saved Smith’s job. And then there’s this—the night the Tar Heels finally broke the spell.
Or did they?
Just two weeks later, the ACC Tournament set the stage for one more UNC–State clash. Could Carolina prove it wasn’t a fluke?
Stay tuned.
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