Booted ex-N.C. State stars part of honored team

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina State will honor its 1988-89 team, including two players ejected by an official during Saturday’s game, before facing No. 8 North Carolina.

The school announced Sunday that the Jim Valvano-coached team would receive the inaugural “Wolfpack Unlimited” Award before Tuesday’s game against the Tar Heels. That squad included Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta, who were both removed from their seats behind the scorer’s table during the second half of a loss to Florida State by official Karl Hess.

The 1989 team won the program’s last Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and reached the NCAA tournament’s round of 16.

Both Gugliotta’s and Corchiani’s jersey numbers hang from the RBC Center rafters.

Hess declined comment several times when approached after the game by an AP reporter. Corchiani tweeted roughly 40 minutes after the game that Hess “didn’t like fact Googs and I told him he was having a bad day, inconsistent, and telling the truth.”