Pack Hosts UNC-Chapel Hill Saturday inside Sold-Out PNC Arena

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team returns to a sold-out PNC Arena Saturday afternoon when it hosts #21/22 UNC-Chapel Hill at 2 p.m.

The Pack is currently in the middle of a stretch of games where it plays five out of seven games on the road. NC State started the span with road wins at Pittsburgh and UNC-CH and a home win against Notre Dame. A loss at Virginia Tech on Wednesday snapped the Pack's three-game win streak. After Saturday's game against the Tar Heels, NC State plays at Syracuse and Wake Forest next week.

NC State closes the regular season with three of its final four games at PNC Arena.

Saturday's game against the Tar Heels will be televised on the ACC Network with Wes Durham and Mike Gminski calling the action. The game will be shown in the Raleigh area on WRAZ (Fox). Other stations in North Carolina showing the game are: WBTV- CBS (Charlotte), WFMY-CBS (Greensboro- Winston-Salem -High Point), WITN-D2 (Greenville-New Bern-Washington), WSFX-FOX (Wilmington). A complete list of network affiliates can be found here: http://theacc.com/sports/2017/12/9/acc-network-mbb-180210.aspx

NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes on the call on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State had its three-game win streak snapped in an 85-75 loss to Virginia Tech on Wednesday evening. The Pack was led by Omer Yurtseven with 20 points, while Markell Johnson added his third career double-double with 15 points and 10 assists. Virginia Tech shot 63.5% from the field in the win, the highest field goal percentage NC State has allowed this season.
- The Pack will be going for a season sweep of the Tar Heels on Saturday. A win would give NC State its first regular season sweep of UNC-CH since the 2002-03 season. A win would also give the Pack a 3-0 regular season record against Duke and UNC-CH. The 2002-03 season was the last time NC State won three regular season games against the Blue Devils and Tar Heels.
- Markell Johnson has had double figure assists in five straight games becoming the first player in NC State history to achieve this feat. In 17 games this season, the sophomore has 132 assists and is averaging 7.8 per game. In seven ACC games, Johnson is averaging 9.4 assists per game (66). That's almost four assists more per game than the current ACC leader (Justin Robinson, VT - 5.55). Johnson does not qualify for ACC stat leaders because he has not played in 75% of NC State's ACC contests.

Eight Games Against Top-21 RPI Teams
- Through games of Feb. 8, NC State has played eight games against teams currently ranked in the top-21 in the RPI. That is the most in the country. Saturday's game against No. 10 RPI UNC-Chapel Hill will be the ninth game this season against a top-21 RPI opponent. 36% of the NC State's games this season have been against top-21 RPI opponents. The Pack is 4-4 in those game. UNC-Chapel Hill (4-3), Tennessee (4-3), West Virginia (3-4) and Wake Forest (0-7) have all played seven.

Winning the Turnover Battle
- The Pack is +72 in turnover margin. Pack has forced 366 turnovers and only turned it over themselves 294 times. +72 turnover margin is the second-best in the ACC. Major turnaround from last year. Last season, NC State finished the season -67 in turnover margin.

70 is the Magic Number
When the Pack scores 70 or more points this season, NC State is 16-3. When the Pack scores 69 or fewer points, NC State is 0-5.

Winning the Rebounding Battle
- NC State enters Saturday's contests vs. the Tar Heels having outrebounded eight of its 11 ACC opponents this season.
- Last season, the Pack was outrebounded in ACC play in 10 of 18 games.
- The Pack ranks third in the ACC, averaging 13.33 offensive rebounds per game (320 in 4 games). The Pack has had double-digit offensive rebounds in every ACC game except for one this season (1/21 vs. Miami when they had 9). NC State is only 9 offensive rebounds shy of the total the team had last season (329 in 32 games)

Yurtseven Finding Comfort Level in Sophomore Season
NC State sophomore center Omer Yurtseven came to college last season as a consensus five-star player, but the Istanbul, Turkey native had an up-and-down season as a freshman. Now, as a sophomore a confident Yurtseven is becoming the No. 1 priority on opposing team's scouting reports.
- On the season, ranks second on the team in scoring (13.9) and leads in rebounding (7.0), field goal percentage (60.5%) and blocks (42). In 11 ACC games, leading the team in scoring (16.3), rebounding (7.2), blocks (22) and field goal percentage (56.5%).
- In five ACC home games, Yurtseven is averaging 21.0 points on 61.3% shooting (46-of-75), including 46.7% (7-of-15) from three-point range. Also averaging 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
- Yurtseven had a career-high 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range in win over #19 Clemson on 1/11.
- Named Co-ACC Player of the Week on Jan. 22 after averaging 25 points on 65.7 percent shooting in a win over Wake Forest (Jan. 18) and a loss to No. 25 Miami (Jan. 21)
- One of 20 student-athletes to the preseason watch list for this year's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

Another Sophomore making impact for the Pack
Omer Yurtseven's fellow sophomore teammate Markell Johnson has also seen his impact on this year's Pack team increase as well.
- Johnson leads the Pack in assists (132 / 7.76 per game) and steals (34 / 2.0 per game) this season. He's currently on pace to finish with the highest assist per game average at NC State since Chris Corchiani averaged 9.6 assists per game in the 1990-91 season. His steals per game average would be the best mark at NC State since Clifford Crawford average 2.13 (66 in 31 games) in the 2002-03 season.
- Johnson has not played in the required 75% of games to rank in ACC stats yet (he missed 7 games for a violation of the Student-Athlete Code of Conduct), but his current stats would lead the ACC in assists and steals if he were eligible. His 3.14 assist-to-turnover ratio in ACC play would lead the league, as well.
- Has had three or more steals in seven of 17 games and seven or more assists in 11 of 17 games.
- Johnson had a career-high 20 points in the win at No. 10 UNC-Chapel Hill on 1/27. He added 11 assists for his second career double-double. He scored or assisted on 15 straight NC State points from the 2:58 mark of regulation through the 2:25 mark of overtime. He clinched the win with two free throws with :04 seconds remaining in overtime.
- Johnson has had double-digit assists in five straight games. He's the first player in NC State history to have five straight games of double-digit assists.
- In the last six games with Johnson back in the starting lineup, NC State has assisted on 118 of its 172 field goals (68.6%). In the seven games Johnson missed, NC State had 108 assists on 199 made field goals (54.3%).

Constant Defensive Pressure leading to Opponent Turnovers
- The Pack has forced 11 of 24 opponents this season into 16+-turnovers. Four times, the Pack has forced opponents into 20 or more turnovers in a single game. The last NC State team to force opponents into 20 or more turnovers four times in a season was the 2009-10 team. The last seven NC State teams (2010-11 team through 2016-17 team) only twice forced opponents into 20 turnovers. In Keatts first four games at NC State, his teams forced opponents into 21 (VMI), 24 (Charleston Southern), 27 (Bryant) and 22 (Presbyterian) turnovers.
- The 27 turnovers NC State forced Bryant into on Nov. 14 are the most turnovers the Pack has forced an opponent to commit since Mount St. Mary's had 27 on Nov. 22, 2002.
- In 24 games, the Pack has forced 366 turnovers. The 15.3 turnovers forced per game ranks 48th in NCAA Dl and are the most forced turnovers by a team from the ACC.
- The Pack has a +3.00 turnover margin this season which ranks second in the ACC.
- In ACC play, the Pack is 6-0 when it has less turnovers than its opponents and 0-5 when it has more turnovers than its opponents.

Pack Already Have Most Steals Since 2012-13 Team
- With 185 steals in 24 games, the Pack has already surpassed last season's total steals total of 162, as well as the 2015-16 (149), 2014-15 (138) and 2013-14 (173) NC State teams. The Pack is currently on pace to finish in the top-10 in season steals in program history.
- NC State leads the ACC and 48th overall in NCAA DI with 185 steals.
- NC State recorded 14 steals in the win over Bryant on Nov. 14. It's the most steals in a game for NC State since the Pack had 16 steals in a win over Boston College on Jan. 19, 2012. It was a 192 game span between 14+-steal games for the Pack.

Pack Hosts UNC-Chapel Hill Saturday inside Sold-Out PNC Arena

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Players Mentioned

Markell Johnson

Omer Yurtseven