Pack Heads to Louisville to Face 13th-Ranked Cardinals

The NC State men's basketball team (14-7, 3-5 ACC) heads to Louisville to play its second consecutive game against a ranked opponent as the Pack faces the 13th-ranked Cardinals Sunday at 1 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. ET.

ACC Network will broadcast the game with Tom Werme and Dan Bonner on the call. ACC Network affiliates showing the game in North Carolina include: WBTV (Charlotte), WFMY (Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point), WCTI (Greenville - New Bern - Washington) WSFX (Wilmington) and WRAL (Raleigh - Durham - Fayetteville). A full list of affiliates carrying the game can be found here: http://www.theacc.com/news/acc-basketball-on-the-acc-network-nc-state-at-louisville-01-29-2017.

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 won its first road game of the season Monday night as it used a 20-5 run to battle back from a nine-point deficit with 6:52 to play to win at #17/17 Duke, 84-82.
- Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., scored a career-high 32 points for the Pack and led the team in assists (6) and steals (2). Smith has now led NC State in scoring in nine of the last 12 games, led the team in assists in 10 of 12 games and has led the team in steals in 12 consecutive games.
- Freshman Ted Kapita, after not playing in the previous two games, came off-the-bench to deliver his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes. Junior Abdul-Malik Abu feel one rebound short of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. Abu shot 8-of-12 from the field.
- Overall, Abu, Kapita and Smith combined to shoot 24-of-37 (64.9%) from the field at Duke.
- Ted Kapita's double-double on Monday makes him the sixth NC State player to record a double-double this season. Abdul-Malik Abu (4), Dennis Smith (3), Torin Dorn (2), BeeJay Anya (1) and Omer Yurtseven (1) have also recorded double-doubles this season. Last year in 33 games, NC State had four players record a double-double Abu (14), Lennard Freeman (1), Cat Barber (1) and Cody Martin (1).

Noting NC State
- NC State is ranked 60th in the most recent RPI with a 3-4 record overall against teams listed in the top-50. The Wolfpack's strength of schedule currently sits at 53rd in the NCAA. Eleven ACC teams are ranked 60th or better in the RPI. NC State's opponent on Sunday, Louisville, is ranked 4th 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 14 games.
- The Pack has had more assists than turnovers in 15 of its 21 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 5-5 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 4-6 if its opponent shoots over 45 percent from the field.
- In the Pack's 14 wins this season, opponents are shooting 39.2 percent from the field (355-906). 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 9 of the last 12 games, in assists 10 of the last 12 games and has led the team in steals in 12 consecutive games.
- Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., has scored in double figures in all 21 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.
- Junior Abdul-Malik Abu is averaging 19.5 points on 65.4% (17-of-26) shooting in last two games.
- Prior to his 14 point (on 6-7 shooting), 10 rebound in 19 minutes performance on Monday at Duke, freshman Ted Kapita had played 26 total minutes in ACC play (not playing in the last two games), and had scored four points 2-of-5 shooting and had seven rebounds.

Henderson Has Been Strong in Bounce-Back Performances
Monday marked just the sixth time this season, senior guard Terry Henderson did not reach double figures. Henderson is averaging 21.5 points per game and shooting 52.2% from the field, in the five games this season immediately after his single-digit scoring performance.

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 21 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.

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), 69.2% of the minutes (2924 of 4225 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, 40% 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., senior Terry Henderson and junior Abdul-Malik Abu 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 (21.3), Michael Young (20.7), Cameron Johnson (11.4)           53.4     67.4%
Duke - Luke Kennard (19.8), Grayson Allen (15.1), Amile Jefferson (12.7)        47.6     54.0%
NC State - Dennis Smith, Jr. (19.5), Terry Henderson (14.5), Malik Abu (11.7)          45.7     55.9%

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 186 assists and 86 turnovers in 1137 minutes of action this season. The two combine to average just 1 turnover every 13.2 minutes. Johnson (49 assists/22 turnovers) has a 2.23 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Smith (137 assists/64 turnovers) has a 2.14 assist-to-turnover ratio. The two players combine to have a 2.16 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through 21 games, NC State is averaging 81.7 points per game and shooting 48.1% from the field. The points per game rank fourth in the ACC and the field goal percentage ranks fifth. The two freshmen also rank 1st (Smith - 46) and 2nd (Johnson - 21) 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 (6.52) and first in steals (2.19). 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.

Pack Heads to Louisville to Face 13th-Ranked Cardinals

Players Mentioned

Abdul-Malik Abu

BeeJay Anya

Torin Dorn

Lennard Freeman

Terry Henderson

Markell Johnson

Ted Kapita

Maverick Rowan

Dennis Smith, Jr.

Omer Yurtseven

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