Pack Opens ACC Tournament with Clemson Rematch

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The NC State men's basketball team faces 12^th-seed Clemson at noon in the first round of the ACC Tournament Tuesday played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

NC State has an all-time record of 71-53 in the ACC Tournament, including a 6-2 mark against Clemson. This is the first-time NC State has been the 13^th-seed in the ACC Tournament. The Pack has a 2-1 record in the ACC Tournament when playing against the No. 12 seed.

The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Karl Ravech, LaPhonso Ellis and Allison Williams on the call, as well as the ACC Network with Tim Brando and Mike Gminski on the call.

Wolfpack fans can also listen on the radio with Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes calling the action.

Pack Tracks
- NC State closed the regular season Wednesday, falling to Clemson, 78-74. Abdul-Malik Abu led the Pack in scoring, finishing with 18 points. Terry Henderson (13), Dennis Smith, Jr. (13) and Maverick Rowan (12) also reached double figures for NC State.
- Dennis Smith, Jr., was named the ACC Freshman of the Year on Sunday. He joins Hawkeye Whitney (1977) as the only players in NC State history to be named ACC Freshman of the Year. Smith is the first to win the award outright as Whitney shared the 1977 honor with Duke's Mike Gminski.
- Under head coach Mark Gottfried, NC State is 8-5 in the ACC Tournament. The Pack has won at least one game in the last five ACC Tournaments. NC State is one of only three teams in the ACC to win at least one game each year in the last five ACC Tournaments. Florida State and Miami are the other teams. UNC-Chapel Hill with 10 wins in the last five ACC Tournaments is the only team to have more ACC Tournament wins in the last five years than NC State's eight. 2011 was the last ACC Tournament that NC State went one-and-done.
- NC State is 6-2 all-time against Clemson in the ACC Tournament. The Pack won the last ACC Tournament meeting between the two teams, defeating the Tigers 59-57 in the 2010 tournament. This is only the second ACC Tournament meeting between the two programs in the last 23 years.

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.
- The Pack is the 13 seed in this year's ACC Tournament. This is the lowest seed NC State has ever been in the ACC Tournament. NC State is 2-1 all-time against the 12th-seed in the ACC Tournament. The Pack defeated Virginia Tech in the 2013 Tournament, 80-63, and Boston College, 78-57, in the 2012 Tournament.
- 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 5-11 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 4-15 if its opponent shoots over 45 percent from the field.
- In the Pack's 15 wins this season, opponents are shooting 39.5percent from the field (381-964) and averaging to score 70.2 points per game. In the Pack's 16 losses, opponents are shooting 50.4 percent (508-1007) and averaging 88.7 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).

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.

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. 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
Dennis Smith, Jr., has two triple-doubles this season. He recorded his first triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists vs. Virginia Tech on January 4. He recorded his second triple-double of the season with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 15 assists against Syracuse on February 1.
- 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.

Smith Named ACC Freshman of the Year
            Dennis Smith, Jr., was named ACC Freshman of the Year on Sunday following the conclusion of the regular season. Smith joins former Pack great Hawkeye Whitney as the only NC State players to be named ACC Freshman of the Year. Whitney shared co-Rookie of the Year honors with Duke's Mike Gminski in 1977. After being overwhelmingly chosen as the ACC preseason Freshman of the Year by the league's media members last October, Smith met expectations by ranking fifth among ACC scorers with 18.5 points per game and leading the league in assists with 6.3 per contests. Smith has also registered 60 steals in 31 games (1.94 per contest), second among ACC players in that category. The Fayetteville, N.C., native became the only player in conference history to register two triple-doubles in the same season and he has scored at least 30 points in an ACC-best four games.

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), 67.9% of the minutes (4242 of 6250 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 2538 minutes this season, 40.6% 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.

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 262 assists and 136 turnovers in 1689 minutes of action this season. The two combine to average just 1 turnover every 12.4 minutes. Johnson (68 assists/32 turnovers) has a 2.13 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Smith (194 assists/104 turnovers) has a 1.87 assist-to-turnover ratio. The two players combine to have a 1.93 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through 31 games, NC State is averaging 78.1 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.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Abdul-Malik Abu

BeeJay Anya

Torin Dorn

Terry Henderson

Markell Johnson

Ted Kapita

Maverick Rowan

Dennis Smith, Jr.

Omer Yurtseven