C.J. Williams scored 18 points and North Carolina State opened the Mark Gottfried era with a 84-75 victory over visiting North Carolina-Asheville on Friday despite the absence of star forward C.J. Leslie.

Richard Howell had 14 points and 15 rebounds for North Carolina State (1-0), which hopes Gottfried can help it end a five-year NCAA Tournament drought. Gottfried, who last coached at Alabama in 2009, is replacing Sidney Lowe. The former Wolfpack star resigned in March after five disappointing seasons at his alma mater.

Gottfried is already experiencing some headaches in his first season, though. It was announced just prior to tipoff that Leslie, the team’s leading returning rebounder and second-best scoring threat, will miss three games for receiving improper benefits.

The Bulldogs (0-1), who reached the NCAA Tournament last season as part of the “First Four,” also gave Gottfried a headache. North Carolina-Asheville trailed by 17 at intermission, but refused to go away in the second half.

North Carolina State needed a 12-6 spurt to gain some breathing room after Jeremy Atkinson’s 3-pointer with just over eight minutes left brought the Bulldogs to within nine points at 62-53. The Bulldogs pulled to within 79-67 with less than 3 minutes left, but couldn’t get any closer.

Matt Dickey led the UNC-Asheville with 17 points.