Pack Faces Pitt on Saturday

TV – WRAL | TV Affiliates

RALEIGH, NC – The NC State men's basketball team (16-7, 4-6 ACC) returns to the hardwood Saturday when it plays at Pitt (12-11, 2-8 ACC).

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 pm inside the Petersen Events Center.

The game will be televised in the Raleigh area on WRAL (NBC). Other stations in North Carolina carrying the game include WMYT (My Network TV) in Charlotte, WFMY (CBS) in Greensboro- Winston-Salem – High Point, WITN-D2 (This TV) in Greenville – New Bern – Washington and WSFX (FOX) in Wilmington. Complete list of affiliates showing the game can be found here.

Pack Tracks
- NC State fell to No. 8 North Carolina, 113-96, on Tuesday evening. The Pack had five players score in double figures, led by Braxton Beverly with 17 points.
- The Pack has four players averaging in double figures in ACC play (and Markell Johnson averages 9.9 points per game). NC State ranks fourth in the ACC in conference games at scoring at 73.0 points per game, but does not have a player rank in the top-25 in the conference in scoring in league play. The Pack relies on a balanced scoring attack as five different players have led the team in scoring in conference play. CJ Bryce leads the team in scoring at 13.1 points per game in conference play. All 10 players on the roster have scored in double figures in at least one game this season.
- Graduate forward Wyatt Walker has grabbed 13 offensive rebounds in the last three games and has eight blocked shots in that span. The Jacksonville, Fla., native is in a tie for fourth place in league games with an average of 3.2 offensive rebounds per game. He leads the team with 24 blocks this season.
- The Pack's bench is averaging 31.9 points per game and has outscored the opponents bench by 344 points this season. NC State's bench has had 31 individual double-digit scoring performances. The Pack has scored 40+ points off the bench in eight games this season, including a school-record 62-point performance in the win over USC Upstate on Dec. 22. The Pack is 0-5 when its bench scores less than 20 points and 16-2 when its bench scores over 20 points.

NC State - Pitt Series
- The Pack leads the all-time series with Pitt, 16-2. NC State has won the last seven meetings and seven of the eight games between the two programs since the Panthers joined the ACC for the 2013-14 season.
- NC State defeated Pitt, 86-80, on Jan. 12 in PNC Arena. Devon Daniels led four NC State players in double figures with 19 points. The Pack's bench accounted for 54 of NC State's 86 points.
- Last season, the Pack trailed by as many as 15 points, but battled back to win at Pittsburgh, 72-68.

Saturday Storylines
- Pitt shot a better field goal percentage and hit more free throws than NC State in the first meeting, but the Pack had season-highs in offensive rebounds (21) and second chance points (24) as the Pack ended up with 16 more field goal attempts than the Panthers. NC State ranks second in the ACC in offensive rebounding, averaging 13.61 per game.
- NC State's bench scored 54 points in the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 12. The 54 points for the Pack's bench is the most bench for NC State in an ACC game in over 20 years. Devon Daniels (19), DJ Funderburk (18) and Eric Lockett (17) all scored in double figures off-the-bench for the Pack. The trio was 20-of-32 (62.5%) from the field, while the five starters shot a combined 10-of-30 (30%) in the game.
- Junior guard Markell Johnson injured his back on a hard fall nine minutes into the first game between Pitt and NC State. The Cleveland, Ohio native had three assists and a steal in the first nine minutes before being injured. The Pack led by as many as nine points in the first nine minutes, but without Johnson, Pitt closed the gap to one point at halftime and had a lead as big as five points in the second half before the Pack came back to win. Johnson ended up missing NC State's next three games (all road contests) and the Pack went 1-2 without him in the lineup.
- Heading into Saturday, the Pack's opponents have made more free throws than NC State has attempted in six of the last seven games. NC State has only attempted more free throws than its opponent one time in ACC play. Through 10 conference games, NC State's opponents have attempted 104 more free throws than the Pack and is outscoring the Pack by 85 points at the free throw line. In the first meeting between the two teams, Pitt hit 85.7% of its free throw attempts (24-of-28), while the Pack was 19-of-25 from the charity stripe.
- The Pack is averaging 24.8 three-point attempts per game in its 10 ACC games, the fifth-highest average in the conference. In the Pack's six ACC losses, the team is a combined 42-of-155 (27.1%) from three-point range. In the four ACC wins, the Pack is shooting 36.5% from three-point range (34-of-93). NC State is 15-3 this season when it shoots 30% or better from three-point range and 1-4 when it shoots under 30% from long range.

Players Mentioned

Braxton Beverly

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Markell Johnson

Eric Lockett

Wyatt Walker