Pack Faces Quick Turnaround with Trip to Duke on Monday

The NC State men's basketball team (13-7, 2-5 ACC) returns to the hardwood Monday evening when it travels to Durham to face 18th-ranked Duke (15-4, 3-3 ACC). The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET.

ESPN will broadcast the game with Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Allison Williams on the call.

Fans can also listen to the game on the Wolfpack Sports Network with Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes calling the action.

Pack Tracks
- NC State fell to Wake Forest, 93-88, Saturday afternoon to drop its third contest in four games.
- The Pack placed five players in double figures, led by Abdul-Malik Abu with 20 points. Abu scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half. Also reaching double figures for the Pack was Dennis Smith, Jr. (15), Torin Dorn (13), Maverick Rowan (13) and Terry Henderson (11). Smith added a game-high 13 assists to record his third double-double of the season. It was the sixth time this season the Pack had at least five players reach double figures. NC State is now 5-1 in those games.
- Saturday marked a statistical oddity as the Pack won numerous statistical categories. NC State shot 51.6% from the field compared to 42.6% for the Demon Deacons. NC State also out-rebounded Wake Forest. Coming into Saturday's game, NC State was 9-1 on the season when it out-rebounded its opponent and was 10-0 when it held its opponent to less than 45% shooting from the field. Wake Forest made up the field goal percentage deficit by hitting 29-of-33 (87.9%) free throw attempts.
- In NC State's last three ACC losses (Boston College, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest) the opponents have combined to hit 61-of-69 (88.4%) free throw attempts, while NC State has made 39-of-60 (65%). The Pack has been outscored by 22 points at the free throw line in the three games and has lost the three games by a combined 23 points.

Noting NC State
- NC State is ranked 55^th in the most recent RPI with a 3-6 record overall against teams listed in the top 100. The Wolfpack's strength of schedule currently sits at 47th in the NCAA. Eleven ACC teams are ranked 52nd or better in the RPI. NC State's opponent on Monday, Duke, is ranked 16th in the current RPI rankings.
- After being outrebounded in five of the first seven games of the season, the Pack has outrebounded its opponents in nine of its last 13 games.
- The Pack has had more assists than turnovers in 15 of its 20 games this season. NC State is 12-3 when it has more assists than turnovers this season.
- Inside the numbers: Two stats that are a good predictor of the result for NC State - rebounding and opponent field goal percentage. The Pack is 9-2 this season when it outrebounds its opponent, but just 4-5 when the opponent wins the battle on
the boards. This season when NC State holds its opponent to 45 percent shooting or worse from the field, the Pack is 10-1. NC State is 3-6 if its opponent shoots over 45 percent from the field.
- In the Pack's 13 wins this season, opponents are shooting 38.6 percent from the field (325-842). In the Pack's seven losses, opponents are shooting 49.5 percent (225-455).
- Freshman guard Dennis Smith, Jr., has led NC State in scoring in 8 of the last 11 games, in assists in 9 of the last 11 games and has led the team in steals in 11 consecutive games.
- Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., has scored in double figures in all 20 games this season. He is the 10th freshmen in ACC history to have a double-figure scoring streak of at least 20 games. The record streak for an ACC freshman is 26 set by Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury in the 1995-96 season.

Full Squad = Major Bench Production
After playing the first nine games of the season with at least one scholarship player missing, and sometimes two or three players missing, the Pack has had its full complement of players for the last 11 games. The Pack had three players score in double figures off-the-bench in the win over Appalachian State on 12/15 after having only three individual double-digit scoring performances off-the-bench in the first nine games. The Pack scored 46 bench points against Appalachian State, double its previous-best season performance to that point. In the first nine games of the season, NC State's bench scored 95 points (10.6 per game) total. The team has scored 259 points (23.5) off-the-bench in the last 11 games.
            The Pack has had a player score in double-figures off-the-bench in eight of the last 12 games.

Balanced Scoring Attack
            NC State has had five or more players reach double figures in scoring in six games this season. Last season in 33 games, NC State only had three games where five players reached double figures in scoring. The Pack had five players reach double-figures vs. Georgia Southern (Nov. 11), St. Francis Brooklyn (Nov. 13), Fairfield (Dec. 18) and Wake Forest (Jan. 21) and had six players in double figures in the win over Appalachian State (Dec. 15) and Rider (Dec. 28). In the Jan. 4 win over Virginia Tech, NC State had three players (Dennis Smith, Jr., Terry Henderson & Abdul-Malik Abu) score 20+ points. The Pack has had five different players lead the team in scoring this season: Abdul-Malik Abu, Torin Dorn, Terry Henderson, Maverick Rowan and Dennis Smith, Jr. Through 20 games this season, the Pack has five players averaging in double figures.

Smith Sets PNC Arena Assists Record
Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., set a PNC Arena record on Wednesday, Dec. 28 when he passed out 16 assists in the Pack's 99-71 win over Rider. The 16 assists broke the previous record of 13 which was held by NC State's Lorenzo Brown (vs. Duke on 1/12/13) and UNC-Chapel Hill's Kendall Marshall (vs. NC State on 2/21/12). The 16 assists are the most in a single-game by an NCAA DI player this season.

More on Smith's Triple-Double
- Dennis Smith Jr.'s triple-double was the second in school history. (Julius Hodge - 11pts/12reb/10ast - vs. North Carolina A&T on 12/14/02).
- His triple-double is the 17th in NCAA DI this season and the 3rd by an ACC player. He is the only ACC player this year to record his triple-double against an ACC foe.
- Smith is the 7th freshmen in ACC history to record a triple-double. He is the only one of the seven freshmen to register his triple-double against an ACC opponent.

Getting Their First Run with the Pack
            Counting Terry Henderson (who only played the first six minutes of the season last year before being injured and lost for the year), 69.4% of the minutes (2793 of 4025 minutes) played for NC State this season have been by players that did not play for the Wolfpack last season. Not counting Henderson, the Pack has had seven players make their NC State debut this season, including five freshmen. The five freshmen have played 1600 minutes this season, 39.8% of the total minutes played on the year. The freshmen class accounts for the highest percentage of minutes played this season for NC State.

One of Top-Scoring Trios in ACC
            Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., sophomore Torin Dorn and senior Terry Henderson combine to form one of the top-scoring trios in the ACC. The trio combines to average 46.0 points per game. Overall, Dorn, Henderson and Smith have combined to score 917 points this season, which is 56.2% of the points scored by NC State this year.

Top Scoring Trios in ACC
Pittsburgh - Jamel Artis (22.0), Michael Young (21.1), Cameron Johnson (11.8) 54.9
Duke - Luke Kennard (19.7), Grayson Allen (15.2), Amile Jefferson (13.1) 48.0
NC State - Dennis Smith, Jr. (18.9), Terry Henderson (15.0), Torin Dorn (12.1) 46.0

Freshmen Running the Show
            Freshman point guards Dennis Smith, Jr., and Markell Johnson run the show for the Wolfpack this season. The two players combined have 180 assists and 82 turnovers in 1083 minutes of action this season. The two combine to average just 1 turnover every 13.2 minutes. Johnson (49 assists/21 turnovers) has a 2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Smith (131 assists/61 turnovers) has a 2.15 assist-to-turnover ratio. The two players combine to have a 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through 20 games, NC State is averaging 81.6 points per game and shooting 48.0% from the field. The points per game rank and field goal percentage both rank fifth in the ACC. The two freshmen also rank 1st (Smith - 44) and 2nd (Johnson - 18) on the team in steals.

Smith Aiming to be Second Freshman in ACC History
            Two months into the season, freshman guard Dennis Smith, Jr., is on pace to become just the second freshman in ACC history to lead the league in both assists and steals. Smith currently ranks first in the ACC in assists (6.55) and first in steals (2.2). In the 2013-14 season, Tyler Ennis of Syracuse became the first freshman in ACC history to lead the league in both categories. Ennis averaged 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game in his rookie year for Syracuse. Since the 1972-73 season, seven freshmen have led the ACC in assists and since 1977-78 three freshmen have led the league in steals.

ACC Freshman of the Week Two Times
            Dennis Smith, Jr., has been named ACC Freshman of the Week two times this season (Dec. 19 and Jan. 9).
            He was named Freshman of the Week on Dec. 19 after averaged 19.5 points, 7.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in two Wolfpack wins the previous week. For the week, Smith was 11-for-18 (.611) from the field, including 6-for-9 (.667) from 3-point range.
            He was named Freshman of the Week on Jan. 9 after recording the first triple-double in ACC history by a freshman against an ACC opponent. Smith had 27 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and 11 assists in NC State's 104-78 win over 21st-ranked Virginia Tech. It was the second triple-double in NC State history.

Abu Climbing NC State Career Offensive Rebounding Ledger
Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu has been a capable offensive rebounder throughout his career at NC State. This year, Abu has 47 offensive rebounds in 20 games (2.35 per game) and has 25 more offensive rebounds than the next closest player on the team. (Omer Yurtseven - 22). For his career, Abu has 233 offensive rebounds to rank ninth all-time in the NC State record book for career offensive rebounds.
Smith on Pace to Stand Alone in NC State Freshman Record Book
Freshman guard Dennis Smith, Jr., is on pace to finish his freshman campaign at NC State as the leader in numerous all-time freshman categories. Through 20 games, Smith is averaging 18.9 points per game, 6.55 assists per game and 2.2 steals per game.

Pack Faces Quick Turnaround with Trip to Duke on Monday

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Players Mentioned

Abdul-Malik Abu

Torin Dorn

Terry Henderson

Markell Johnson

Maverick Rowan

Dennis Smith, Jr.

Omer Yurtseven