Pack Continues Road Stretch with Trip to 12th-Ranked Auburn

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (8-2) looks for its fourth-straight win Thursday evening when it takes on No. 12/9 Auburn (9-0) at Auburn Arena.

The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes on the call. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State defeated UNCG, 80-77, Sunday afternoon in the Greensboro Coliseum on a midcourt buzzer-beater by Markell Johnson. Johnson finished the game with a team-high 19 points and also added a game-high seven assists in the win.
- The Pack has a balanced offensive attack. NC State has five players averaging in double figures and a sixth player averages 9.6 points per game. Overall, the top eight scorers for NC State all average at least 6.5 points per game and all eight players have scored in double figures in at least two games this season.
- NC State has shot a combined 54.2% in its last two contests (both road games). The Pack shot 52.3 percent in the win at Wake Forest on Dec. 7 and shot a season-best 56.6 percent in the win at UNCG on Sunday. NC State shot a combined 25-of-50 from three-point range in the last two games. The Pack ranks second in the ACC and 35th amongst NCAA Dl basketball teams with a season field goal percentage of 48.1%.
- Markell Johnson started this season slowly after suffering an ankle injury a week prior to the start of the regular season. He missed the season-opener and then averaged 7.3 points on 22.9% shooting in the first three games he played this season. In the last six games, Johnson has averaged 15.8 points per game and is shooting 48.7% from the field.

Thursday Storylines
- NC State has six wins over ranked opponents under head coach Kevin Keatts. The Pack defeated Auburn last season when the Tigers were ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll. While the Pack has defeated teams away from Raleigh under Keatts (NC State beat No. 2 Arizona in Paradise Island, Bahamas two years ago and won at No. 10 North Carolina that same season), NC State has not won a road game at a ranked non-conference opponent since the Pack defeated No. 9 Syracuse, 82-68, on Dec. 18, 2001 in the Carrier Dome.
- Last season, NC State forced Auburn into 25 turnovers in the Pack's 78-71 win. The 25 turnovers are the most NC State has forced a Power-5 opponent into in the Kevin Keatts era. The Pack committed 22 turnovers in the game which are the second-most turnovers NC State has committed in a game with Keatts as head coach. This season, NC State ranks second in the ACC and 27th in the NCAA in turnover margin at +4.4 on the season. The Pack won the turnover battle in the first nine games of the season until Sunday's game at UNCG where the Pack committed 13 turnovers and UNCG only had 12.
- Both teams rank second in their respective conferences and in the top-20 in the NCAA in scoring offense. Auburn is second in the SEC and 13th in the NCAA at 83.0 points per game and NC State is second in the ACC and 17th in the NCAA at 82.5 points per game. Under Kevin Keatts, NC State is 35-8 (81.4%) when it scores 80 or more points.
- 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 9.4 steals per game over the last eight outings. The Pack currently ranks fourth in the ACC in steals at 8.5 per game. NC State is the only team in the ACC to have three players (3rd - Markell Johnson 1.89; 7th - C.J. Bryce - 1.80; 9th - Devon Daniels 1.7) rank in the top-10 of the conference in steals per game.
- Auburn and NC State both boast talented shot-blockers. NC State's redshirt freshman Manny Bates ranks second in the ACC and seventh in the NCAA in blocked shots per game at 3.4 an outing. Bates is currently on pace to break NC State's single-season program record of blocked shots in a season currently held by Thurl Bailey set in the 1982-83 National Championship season. Auburn ranks 12th as a team in blocked shots per game (6.2) and features three players who all average at least one blocked shot per game, led by Anfernee McLemore who ranks fourth in Auburn program history with 169 career blocks.

NC State - Auburn Series
- NC State leads the all-time series with Auburn, 4-1.
- The Pack won last season's match-up, 78-71, inside PNC Arena. Markell Johnson scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Johnson was later named ACC Player of the Week for his efforts. Braxton Beverly added 15 points as he and Johnson went a combined 9-of-13 from three-point range. Devon Daniels added 15 points and eight rebounds off-the-bench.
- Thursday marks only the second time in program history NC State has played at Auburn. In the only previous meeting on the Plains, NC State fell to Auburn, 98-51, on Dec. 5, 1970. Auburn's John Mengelt scored 45 points in the win for the Tigers. The 45 points remain the most points ever scored against NC State by an opposing player.

Pack Continues Road Stretch with Trip to 12th-Ranked Auburn

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Players Mentioned

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

C.J. Bryce

Devon Daniels

Markell Johnson