Pack Heads Back to the Triad to play at UNCG

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (7-2, 1-1 ACC) heads back to the Triad this weekend when it takes on UNCG (8-2, 1-0 SoCon) at the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday.

Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will be televised locally on Greensboro My48. The game can be streamed on ESPN+, but there is a subscription charge to become a member of ESPN+.

NC State fans can 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 ACC game of the season last Saturday when it went on the road and won at Wake Forest, 91-82. The Pack never trailed and led by as many as 17 points in the second half.
- NC State had a season-high 12 steals in the win over the Demon Deacons. The 12 steals ties for the most steals against an ACC opponent in the Kevin Keatts era (Done twice previously). Seven of the eight NC State players that played against the Demon Deacons recorded at least one steal. Devon Daniels led the Pack with three steals, while C.J. Bryce, D.J. Funderburk and Markell Johnson all had two.
- NC State rode a balanced scoring attack to the win on Saturday. Six NC State players scored in double figures, led by C.J. Bryce with 18 points. The Pack hit a season-high 12 three-pointers while shooting a season-best 54.5% from three-point range. Braxton Beverly finished the game a perfect 4-of-4 from long distance. Jericole Hellems finished 3-of-4 from deep and Markell Johnson and Devon Daniels also hit multiple three-pointers.
- The Pack has had a balanced scoring attack all season. NC State has five players averaging in double figures and a sixth player averages 9.7 points per game. Overall, the top eight scorers for NC State all average at least 6.6 points per game and all eight players have scored in double figures in at least two games this season.

Sunday Storylines
- Johnson Heating Up: Senior guard Markell Johnson injured his ankle a week prior to the Pack's season-opener. After missing the Georgia Tech game because of the injury, Johnson returned to the lineup, but was clearly still bothered by the ankle as he only averaged 7.3 points on 22.9% shooting, including 11.8% (2-of-17) from three-point range, in the first three games he played this season. The Cleveland native has gotten better every game though and in the last five games for NC State is averaging 15.2 points on 48.4% shooting and is shooting 35.7% (10-of-28) from three-point range.
- Both teams lead their respective conferences in turnover margin and rank among the nation's best in that category. UNCG leads the Southern Conference and ranks fifth in the NCAA in turnover margin at +7.0 while the Pack leads the ACC and ranks 22nd in the NCAA in turnover margin at +5.0. Both teams have had fewer turnovers than its opponent in every game this season.
- After registering only 10 steals in the first two games of the season (5.0 per game), the Pack has had at least seven steals in every game since and is averaging 9.28 steals per game over the last seven outings. NC State had a season-high 12 steals in the win at Wake Forest last Saturday. The Pack currently ranks fourth in the ACC in steals at 8.33 per game. NC State is the only team in the ACC to have three players (4th - Markell Johnson 1.88; 7th - Devon Daniels - 1.78; 10th - C.J. Bryce 1.67) rank in the top-10 of the conference in steals per game. UNCG leads the SoCon in steals per game at 9.7 an outing.
- UNCG leads the SoCon and ranks among the nation's top teams in scoring defense and opponent field goal percentage. The Spartans limit teams to just 54.6 points per game (sixth in the NCAA) on 37.2% field goal shooting (28th in the NCAA). Only four of UNCG's 10 opponents have scored over 60 points this season. The fewest points NC State has scored in a game this season is 69 and the Pack averages 81.8 points per game which ranks 29th in the NCAA.
- Three talented shotblockers will be on the court on Sunday. UNCG's James Dickey and Kyrin Galloway rank 1st and 2nd in the Southern Conference in blocked shots at 2.56 and 2.11 blocks per game, respectively. NC State's Manny Bates ranks second in the ACC in blocked shots per game at 3.44 an outing. UNCG ranks 18th in the NCAA in blocked shots per game, while NC State ranks 42nd.

NC State - UNCG Series
- NC State leads the all-time series with UNCG, 10-1.
- This will mark the third time in the series that NC State has played UNCG away from Raleigh. The Pack previously won at UNCG on 12/31/09 (89-67) and 12/30/13 (68-64).
- The Spartans won the previous meeting between the two programs, 81-76, at PNC Arena on 12/16/17. The Pack led by 14 points, 31-17, with eight minutes to go in the first half, but UNCG went on a 41-12 over the next 16 minutes of action to take a 58-43 lead with 12:51 to go in the game. The Spartans still had an 11-point lead with 1:17 to go when the Pack went on a 14-6 run to cut the deficit to three. After two missed free throws by UNCG, NC State had the ball with 11 seconds to play and a chance to tie, but turned it over with 1 second to go and UNCG made two free throws in the final second to clinch the game.
- Only one current member of this year's NC State team played in that game for the Pack. Junior guard Braxton Beverly (then a freshmen) scored 16 points and passed out eight assists for NC State in the loss. Markell Johnson did not play in the game for NC State (suspension) and C.J. Bryce and Devon Daniels were both on that NC State team, but were sitting out the 2017-18 season as transfers.

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Players Mentioned

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

C.J. Bryce

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Jericole Hellems

Markell Johnson