Updated 11:19 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL — It had been eight years since N.C. State entered the Smith Center with as strong of an ACC record as it brought here on Thursday night. After five long, losing seasons in league play, the Wolfpack’s resurgence inspired thoughts that maybe they’d closed some of the margin between them and North Carolina.

But the No. 7 Tar Heels proved otherwise on Thursday during a dominant 74-55 victory that reaffirmed the gap between these programs remains wide. The Heels’ victory was their 11th consecutive in this series, and that stretch of supremacy is UNC’s longest over N.C. State (15-6, 4-2) since the formation of the ACC in 1953.