Pack Closes Regular Season at Clemson

The NC State men's basketball team (15-15, 4-13 ACC) finishes the regular season portion of its schedule Wednesday evening with a trip to Clemson to face the Tigers (14-14, 4-12 ACC). The game is scheduled to tipoff at 8 p.m.

The game will be televised on ACC Network affiliates with Dwayne Ballen and Mike Gminski on the call. The ACC Network affiliates in North Carolina include, WMYT (Charlotte), WMYV (Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point), WITN-D2 (Greenville - New Bern - Washington), WRAL (Raleigh-Durham - Fayetteville) and WILM (Wilmington).

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 dropped its final home game of the regular season Saturday, falling to #18/19 Virginia, 70-55. Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., led four Pack players in double figures with 13 points. It marks the 11th time in 17 league games that Smith led NC State in scoring.
- Smith leads ACC freshmen in five statistical categories: points (18.7), assists (6.3), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.85), steals (2.0) and minutes played/game (34.6).
- Junior Abdul-Malik Abu became the 51st player in NC State history to record 1,000 career points, surpassing the milestone in Saturday's game against Virginia. Abu also moved ahead of Julius Hodge for 6th place on NC State's career offensive rebounding list during the UVA game. Abu has 257 offensive rebounds for his career. In three career games against Clemson, Abu has 22 offensive rebounds. For his career against the Tigers, Abu is averaging 12.0 points per game and 12.7 rebounds per game, including 7.3 offensive rebounds per game.
- Freshman Markell Johnson is averaging 9.3 points, 4.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 35.3 minutes per game in the Pack's last three outings. He is shooting 50 percent (11-of-22) from the field during this stretch. In the five games prior to this three-game stretch, Johnson only scored three points, passed out four assists, had one steal and played 50 minutes.

Noting NC State
- Mark Gottfried will not return as NC State men's basketball coach following the conclusion of the 2016-17 season. Gottfried is in his sixth season leading the Wolfpack. Gottfried will remain the NC State head coach through the remainder of the season. Plans for the search process for a successor will begin immediately.
- Ted Kapita's double-double at Duke made 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. The six players with a double-double ties for the most in the ACC with Florida State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Syracuse.
- 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 10-5 this season when it outrebounds its opponent, but just 5-10 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 11-1. NC State is 4-14 if its opponent shoots over 45 percent from the field.
- In the Pack's 15 wins this season, opponents are shooting 39.5 percent from the field (381-964) and averaging to score 70.2 points per game. In the Pack's 15 losses, opponents are shooting 50.7 percent (479-945) and averaging 89.4 points per game.
- Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., has 12 20-point games this season. The most for a freshman in ACC history is 19 by Kenny Anderson in the 1989-90 season. Last year, Duke's Brandon Ingram had 14 and Florida State's Dwayne Bacon had 12.
- Smith has 4 30-point games this season which ties with GT's Kenny Anderson (1989-90) for the most 30-point games ever by a freshman in ACC history.
- Smith is one of 12 players named to the midseason watch list for the Wayman Tisdale Award (national freshman of the year) and is one of 10 players named as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award (best point guard in the country). He also is one of 30 players on the Naismith Trophy midseason list.

Balanced Scoring Attack
            NC State has had five or more players reach double figures in scoring in seven 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), Wake Forest (Jan. 21) and Syracuse (Feb. 1) 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 29 games this season, the Pack has four 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. Smith had 15 assists against Syracuse on Wednesday, Feb. 1 and now has the top-two assist games in PNC Arena history.

More on Smith's Triple-Doubles
- Prior to this season, NC State had only one triple-double in school history. (Julius Hodge - 11pts/12reb/10ast - vs. North Carolina A&T on 12/14/02).
- Smith is the fourth player in ACC history to record multiple triple-doubles in a season, but he is the first player in ACC history to register both of his triple-doubles against ACC opponents.
- 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.
- He is the only player in NCAA DI to have multiple triple-doubles 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), 68% of the minutes (4115 of 6050 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 2452 minutes this season, 40.5% of the total minutes played on the year. The freshmen class accounts for the highest percentage of minutes played this season for NC State. According to KenPom.com, NC State is the least experienced team in the ACC.

One of Top-Scoring Trios in ACC
            Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr., senior Terry Henderson and sophomore Maverick Rowan combine to form one of the top-scoring trios in the ACC. The trio combines to average 44.5 points per game. Overall, Henderson, Rowan and Smith have combined to score 1,250 points this season, which is 53.2% of the points scored by NC State this year.
Top Scoring Trios in ACC
Pittsburgh - Michael Young (20.2), Jamel Artis (19.2), Cameron Johnson (11.9)  51.3
Wake Forest - John Collins (19.1), Bryant Crawford (15.5), Keyshawn Woods (12.5)      47.1
Notre Dame - Bonzie Colson (16.8), V.J. Beachem (15.1), Matt Farrell (14.3)        46.2
Duke - Luke Kennard (19.9), Grayson Allen (15.0), Amile Jefferson (11.1) 46.0    North Carolina - Justin Jackson (18.4), Joel Berry (14.7), Kennedy Meeks (12.6)      45.7
NC State - Dennis Smith, Jr. (18.7), Terry Henderson (13.9), Maverick Rowan (11.9) 44.5

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 256 assists and 134 turnovers in 1640 minutes of action this season. The two combine to average just 1 turnover every 12.2 minutes. Johnson (67 assists/32 turnovers) has a 2.09 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Smith (189 assists/102 turnovers) has a 1.85 assist-to-turnover ratio. The two players combine to have a 1.91 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through 30 games, NC State is averaging 78.3 points per game and shooting 47% from the field. The two freshmen also rank 1st (Smith - 60) and 2nd (Johnson - 26) on the team in steals.

Smith Aiming to be Second Freshman in ACC History
            With less than a month less in the regular season, freshman guard Dennis Smith, Jr., is attempting 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 (6.3) and is second in steals (2.0). 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 Three Times
Dennis Smith, Jr., has been named ACC Freshman of the Week three times this season (Dec. 19, Jan. 9 and Feb. 6).
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.
Smith was named Freshman of the Week for a third time after registering his second triple-double of the season in the game against Syracuse. He added a 31-point performance later in the week against Miami to secure the honor.

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 71 offensive rebounds in 30 games (2.37 per game) and has 43 more offensive rebounds than the next closest player on the team. (Torin Dorn - 28). For his career, Abu has 257 offensive rebounds to rank tied for sixth all-time in the NC State record book for career offensive rebounds.

Players Mentioned

Abdul-Malik Abu

BeeJay Anya

Torin Dorn

Terry Henderson

Markell Johnson

Ted Kapita

Maverick Rowan

Dennis Smith, Jr.

Omer Yurtseven

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