Wolfpack Hosts No. 16 Louisville Thursday Night

NC State (10-4, 0-1) vs. #16/16 Louisville (12-2, 1-0)
Date	Thursday, Jan. 7
Time	7 p.m. ET
Location	PNC Arena – Raleigh, N.C.
Tickets	GoPack.com
Television	ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen, LaPhonzo Ellis)
Radio	Wolfpack Sports Network (Gary Hahn, Tony Haynes)
Game Notes	NC State \| Louisville
Season Statistics	NC State \| Louisville
Live Stats	GoPack.com
Social Media	@PackMensBball \| Facebook

THE STARTING 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

1. BLACKOUT
Fans are encouraged to wear black to Thursday's contest against Louisville, and the Wolfpack will be wearing its alternate black Adidas uniforms. The Pack broke out the 'Iced Out' black uniforms in November during its victory over LSU at the Barclays Center. This contest will feature the Pack players in the traditional black uniforms with red and white trim. Notably, NC State won at Louisville last season while wearing black uniforms and special-issue Adidas shoes.

2. 'WE GOT DOMINATED AT ALL FIVE POSITIONS
That was a quote attributed to Louisville's Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino after the Wolfpack went to Louisville and won 74-65 last February. Cat Barber scored 21 points and handled full-court ball pressure the entire game. He finished 10-for-13 at the foul line and and added four assists. Caleb Martin and BeeJay Anya each came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds in the win, which served as a catalyst to last season's Sweet 16 run.

3. FOUR HALL OF FAME WINS
NC State's win over Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals last season was won of four victories that came over coaches currently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Two of the four wins over hall of famers came on the road, as Mark Gottfried took his team to ninth-ranked Louisville and 15th-ranked UNC Chapel Hill and won. The Pack also defeated unbeaten and No. 2 Duke 87-75 at home in January and closed the regular season with a 71-57 win over Jim Boeheim's Syracuse squad.

4. ONE OF THE TOP GUARDS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL
"I can't imagine anyone doing more for his team than Cat does for us." That was what Mark Gottfried said following the team's win over Northeastern, and Barber's numbers this season back up the claim. The 6-2 junior point guard is leading the ACC in points per game (22.9), free throws made (116) and minutes per game (38.9). He is fourth in the league in assists (4.93), sixth in free throw percentage (.847) and eighth in assist-turnover ratio (2.38). Barber has only sat on the bench for one minute over the last six games, including playing all 45 minutes last weekend in the overtime game at Virginia Tech. He has not come off the floor in six games this season.

5. BALL CONTROL
One thing NC State does as well as almost any team in the country is take care of the ball. The Wolfpack is 17th in the nation (fourth in the ACC) in turnover percentage, meaning the Pack only commits a turnover on offense 15.1 percent of the time. Much of that has to do with the ballhandling of Cat Barber, who is in the top 175 nationally among all players in turnover percentage. The Wolfpack boasts eight games this season with 10 of fewer turnovers.

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Players Mentioned

BeeJay Anya