North Carolina State University Athletics
#PackMadness: State-Duke Showdown Set For Thursday Night
3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| #7 NC State (20-12) vs. #2 Duke (28-3) | ||
| Date | Thursday, March 12 | |
| Time | 7 p.m. ET | |
| Location | Greensboro Coliseum - Greensboro, N.C. | |
| Tickets | Tickets | |
| Television | ESPN (Dave Shulman, Shane Battier, Jay Williams) | |
| Radio | Wolfpack Sports Network (Gary Hahn, Tony Haynes) | Listen | |
| Game Notes | NC State | Duke | |
| Season Statistics | NC State | Duke | |
| Live Stats | GameTracker | Interactive Bracket | |
| Social Media | @PackMensBball  | Facebook  |
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The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game
1. #PACKMADNESS
NC State, the ACC tourney's No. 7 seed, is among the hottest teams in the bracket heading into Thursday night's quarterfinal round. The Wolfpack dismantled Pittsburgh 81-70 to advance and earn its 20th win of the season. NC State has won six of its last seven games, with four of those wins coming by double figures and a nine-point win at Louisville.
2. `MARCH' GOTTFRIED
Under Mark Gottfried, NC State has thrived in college basketball's most exciting month. The Wolfpack is 17-8 in March under the fourth-year coach, including a 7-3 mark in the ACC Tournament. Gottfried is one of three ACC coaches all-time (Everett Case, Vic Bubas) to take each of his first three teams to the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament.
3. PREPARED FOR THE POSTSEASON
Heading into the postseason, few teams across the nation are as prepared as Mark Gottfried's Wolfpack. NC State played the nation's fifth-toughest schedule in the regular season, with its non-ACC schedule ranking 25th and its league schedule ranking 20th. The Pack played 17 games against teams in the top 70 of the RPI at the end of the regular season. Overall, the Wolfpack has eight wins against top 70 teams (Duke, Louisville, Boise State, Pitt, Louisiana Tech, Richmond and UNC-CH, Syracuse) while losing only twice to teams worse than 100 in the RPI.
4. NC STATE-DUKE
NC State and Duke have a storied history of meeting on the hardwood. Thursday's game will be the 241st meeting between the two schools, and the 25th time they've met in the conference tournament. NC State vs. Duke is the ACC Tournament's most-played game. Duke owns a 15-9 edge in the tournament series. NC State and Duke played each other twice each year from the 1923-24 season until 2005-06.
5. CAT DADDY
Mark Gottfried recently said he calls point guard Cat Barber `Cat Daddy' and wanted him to play with that confidence. Barber certainly did that Wednesday night, dropping 34 points against Pittsburgh. Barber shot 9-for-13 and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. He was also 12-for-12 at the foul line. His 34 points was the fourth-most for a conference tournament game in NC State history, and the most since David Thompson scored 38 against Virginia in the 1975 ACC Tournament.
