NC State
Virginia
NC State-Virginia To Headline ESPN Big Monday
2/14/2016 3:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| NC State (13-12, 3-9) at #7/7 Virginia (20-5, 9-4) | ||
| Date | Monday, Feb. 15 | |
| Time | 7 p.m. ET | |
| Location | John Paul Jones Arena – Charlottesville, Va. | |
| Tickets | StubHub | |
| Television | ESPN (Sean McDonough, Doris Burke) | |
| Radio | Wolfpack Sports Network (Gary Hahn, Tony Haynes) | |
| Game Notes | NC State | Virginia | |
| Season Statistics | NC State | Virginia | |
| Live Stats | GameTracker | |
| Social Media | @PackMensBball | Facebook | |
HIGHLIGHTS vs. WAKE FOREST
Â
THE STARTING 5Â -Â The Top 5 Storylines For This Game
1. QUICK TURNAROUNDÂ Â
NC State doesn't have much time to rest on the laurels of its 99-88 win over Wake Forest. The Pack played at noon on Saturday and will fly to Charlottesville, Va., Sunday afternoon for Monday night's game at UVa. It's NC State's second two-day turnaround in league play, with the previous stretch coming at the beginning of February. Both of those two-day turnarounds featured the second game on the road.Â
2. BARBER IS OUR CAT-ALYSTÂ Â
Mark Gottfried on Saturday: He's playing as well as anyone in this conference, for sure. We have other great players. It's hard to argue he's not playing better or as well as anyone in our league." Cat Barber received a ringing endorsement from his coach after he scored a career-high 38 points (30 in the second half) against Wake Forest. The 6-2 junior is leading the ACC in scoring with 24.1 points per game and he's on pace to become the second player in ACC history to average 24 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 4.5 apg (Kenny Anderson in 1990-91). Barber has a league-best seven games with 30 or more points, including five in ACC play. Additionally, he is also leading the conference in free throws made (189) and minutes per game (38.8) and is fourth in free throw percentage (.868) and fourth in assists (4.6).
3. BARBER IN LEAGUE PLAYÂ
After 12 ACC contests, Cat Barber's production has continued to soar. Barber is averaging 25.3 points per game in league play, 5.0 more than the second-best scorer. He's shooting .418 from 3-point range and .897 at the foul line. While playing a league-high 39.2 minutes per game against ACC opponents and facing constant double teams and gimmick defenses, Barber leads the ACC in scoring, ranks fifth in assists and second in free throw percentage.
4. HISTORIC FREE THROW SHOOTINGÂ
Wake Forest coach Danny Manning spoke in understatements when he called Cat Barber a "tough cover." Barber slashed and darted around the Demon Deacons to the tune of 17-for-20 free throw shooting, including 17-for-18 in the second half. His 20 attempts tied for fourth in school history. Earlier this season, he had a 19-for-22 effort at the foul line against Winthrop. This season, Barber owns three of the ACC's top four free throw shooting performances (19-22 vs. Winthrop, 17-20 vs. Wake Forest, 14-14 at Pittsburgh). As a team, the Wolfpack attempted 45 free throws, which is the second-most attempts in a game in the ACC this season (Virginia Tech shot 50 on Nov. 24).
5. SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE ON THE GLASSÂ
Monday's game features one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the ACC crashing the boards against the top defensive rebounding team in the conference. NC State grabs 37.2 percent of its misses, which stands fourth in the ACC and 18th in the country. The Pack will be going up against Virginia, which leads the league by grabbing 75 percent of possible defensive rebounds. Virginia's defensive rebounding percentage ranks 21st in the nation.