Pack Opens Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Against #2 Arizona

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PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS – The NC State men's basketball team opens play at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Wednesday evening against second-ranked Arizona. The game played at the Imperial Arena on the grounds of the Atlantis Resort is scheduled to tip-off at 7:01 p.m.

The game will be televised on ESPN3 with Kevin Fitzgerald and Robbie Hummel on the call. Wolfpack fans can also listen on the radio to the Wolfpack Sports Network with Patrick Kinas and Andrew Sanders calling the action.

Pack Tracks
- NC State improved to 4-0 on the season with an 86-68 win over Presbyterian Tuesday night. The Pack had five players score in double figures, led by senior forward Lennard Freeman with a career-high 23 points. Also in double figures for the Pack was Torin Dorn (18 points), Allerik Freeman (12 points), Omer Yurtseven (11 points) and Markell Johnson (10 points). For the fourth consecutive game, Johnson led NC State in assists with seven and also had a team-best four steals.
- The Pack has ridden a balanced scoring all season as the team has had at least five players score in double figures in all four games this season. In the season-opening win over VMI, NC State had seven players score in double figures.
- NC State recorded 14 steals in Tuesday win over Bryant. It's the most steals in a game for NC State since the Pack had 16 steals in a win over Boston College on Jan. 19, 2012. It was a 192-game span between 14+-steal games for the Pack. NC State has 46 steals in four games this season, a mark that leads the ACC and ranks in a tie for seventh overall in NCAA DI. NC State averages the most steals per game of any team in a power conference.

NC State-Arizona Series
- Wednesday's meeting will mark the third meeting between the two programs.
- Arizona has won the previous two meetings. The Wildcats beat the Pack, 76-74, on Dec. 23, 2009 in Tucson and defeated NC State, 72-62, on Dec. 10, 2010.
- The Pack has an all-time record of 15-13 against teams from the Pac-12 Conference. NC State's last win against a Pac-12 opponent was Dec. 18, 2012 when the Pack defeated Stanford,
88-79, in PNC Arena.
- Arizona head coach Sean Miller was an assistant coach for the Pack under Herb Sendek for five seasons from 1996-2001. Wildcat assistant coach Mark Phelps served on staff at NC State for 10 seasons. He was Director of Operations from 1997-2000 and an assistant coach from 2001-06.

Wednesday Storylines
- NC State is seeking a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
- A win would give head coach Kevin Keatts a tie for the best start to a coaching career in NC State history. Sidney Lowe's 2006-07 team started the season 5-0, which is the best start to a head coaching career in NC State basketball history.
- NC State last played the #2 ranked team in the country on Feb. 11, 2015 when the Pack lost to Virginia, 51-47, in PNC Arena. The last time NC State defeated the #2 ranked team in the country was Jan. 11, 2015 when the Pack defeated Duke, 87-75, in PNC Arena.
- December 28, 1994 was the last time NC State played the #2 ranked team in a non-conference game. The Pack lost to eventual National Champion UCLA, 88-80, in Pauley Pavilion.

Constant Defensive Pressure leading to Opponent Turnovers
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts came to Raleigh promising that his program would pressure the opponents full court and create turnovers. Through four games his inaugural Wolfpack team is living up to his promise.
- The Pack has forced all four opponents this season into 20+-turnovers. The last NC State team to force opponents into 20 or more turnovers four times in a season was the 2009-10 team. The last seven NC State teams (2010-11 team through 2016-17 team) only twice forced opponents into 20 turnovers (2010-11 team forced East Carolina into 20 turnovers on 11/18/10 and 2016-17 team forced Virginia Tech into 20 turnovers on 1/4/17). In Keatts first four games at NC State, his teams forced opponents into 21 (VMI), 24 (Charleston Southern), 27 (Bryant) and 22 (Presbyterian) turnovers.
- The 27 turnovers NC State forced Bryant into on Nov. 14 are the most turnovers the Pack has forced an opponent to commit since Mount St. Mary's had 27 on Nov. 22, 2002.
- Through four games this season, the Pack has forced its opponents into more turnovers than made field goals. NC State opponents have turned the ball over 94 times, while connecting on 90 field goals.
- In 4 games, Pack has now forced 94 turnovers. The 23.5 turnovers forced per game ranks tied for fourth in NCAA Dl and are the most forced turnovers by a team from a power conference.
- NC State recorded 14 steals in Tuesday's win over Bryant. It's the most steals in a game for NC State since the Pack had 16 steals in a win over Boston College on Jan. 19, 2012. It was a 192-game span between 14+-steal games for the Pack. NC State has 46 steals in four games this season, a mark that leads the ACC and ranks in a tie for seventh overall in NCAA DI. NC State averages the most steals per game of any team in a power conference.

Winning the Turnover Battle
Not only have the Pack been forcing turnovers, but they have been protecting the basketball, too. NC State has had single digit turnovers in three of the four games this season.
- The Pack is +55 in turnover margin. Pack has forced 94 turnovers and only turned it over themselves 39 times. +55 turnover margin is the best TO margin in NCAA Dl this season.
- Major turnaround from last year's team. Last season, NC State finished the season -67 in turnover margin, including -14 mark in non-conference games.
- The low number of turnovers has led to a great assist-to-turnover ratio for the Pack. NC State has had better than a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in three of the four games this season.

Healthy Freeman Becoming an Offensive Force
NC State senior Lennard Freeman had offseason leg surgery prior to the 2015-16 season and after playing through pain that season, elected to have offseason leg surgery again prior to the 2016-17 season and sat out the year to recover. Now fully healthy, Freeman has started his senior season with an offensive outburst.
- A career 3.6 points per game average coming into the season, Freeman has reset his career-high three times this season and is averaging 16.3 points per game through four games. He opened the year with 15 points against VMI, had 20 against Bryant and then had 23 in the Pack's most recent outing against Presbyterian.
- Freeman is shooting a team-best 69.7 percent from the field and is also connecting on a team-best 82.6 percent of his foul shots (19-of-23). The Washington D.C. native, entered this season a career 52.7 percent free throw shooter.
- In 103 career games coming into this season, Freeman had only scored in double figures six times, he's scored in double figures in 3 of 4 games this season.
- Thursday's game against Presbyterian was the 107th career game in an NC State uniform for Freeman. It was the first time in those 107 games that Freeman led NC State in scoring.
- Freeman, who entered this season as a player best known for doing the gritty things that don't show up in the box score, has also set career-highs with three steals and three blocks this season, both set against Presbyterian.

Noting NC State's Returning and Lost
- Senior forward Abdul-Malik Abu is NC State's leading returning scorer (11.8 ppg.) and rebounder (7.0 rpg.). The Boston, Mass., native has led NC State in rebounding the last two seasons and is aiming to be the first NC State player to lead the Pack in rebounding in three consecutive seasons since Todd Fuller did it from 1993-96. Abu suffered a Grade 2 MCL Sprain in October and has not played this season.
- Torin Dorn (18 starts) and Omer Yurtseven (14 starts) also return for the Pack. Dorn averaged 9.5 points & 4.6 rebounds per game last season, while Yurtseven added 5.9 points & 4.4 rebounds per game.
- NC State must replace its top three scorers from last season in Dennis Smith, Jr. (18.1), Terry Henderson (13.8) and Maverick Rowan (12.0). The Pack also lost the school's all-time shot block leader in BeeJay Anya (243 career blocks). Smith, Jr., was named the ACC Freshman of the Year, the first Pack player to accomplish this feat since Hawkeye Whitney in 1977. Smith was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the ninth pick of the NBA Draft. Henderson, after having his appeal denied to return to NC State, went through training camp with the Charlotte Hornets and is now on the Greensboro Swarm roster in the NBA G-League. Rowan was the third overall selection of the NBA G-League draft by the Lakeland Magic.
- NC State joins Florida State and Pittsburgh as the only ACC teams to lose its top three scorers from last season.

Yurtseven Selected to Preseason Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Watch List
NC State sophomore center Omer Yurtseven has been selected as one of 20 student-athletes to the preseason watch list for this year's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Yurtseven was also on the preseason list that honors the nation's top center last season. A former five-star recruit, Yurtseven averaged 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game last season.

Pack Opens Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Against #2 Arizona

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Players Mentioned

Abdul-Malik Abu

Torin Dorn

Allerik Freeman

Lennard Freeman

Markell Johnson

Omer Yurtseven