Pack Faces Virginia in ACC Quarterfinals

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team continues play at the ACC Tournament Thursday when it faces top-seed and second-ranked Virginia at 12:30 in the quarterfinals.

The game will be televised on ESPN and Raycom. The game will be televised by Raycom in the Raleigh area on WRAL (NBC). A complete list of Raycom affiliates showing the game can be found here.

Pack Tracks
- NC State opened the ACC Tournament with a 59-58 win over Clemson. The Pack trailed by 18 points in the first half and 16 points at the break before coming back to win. The Tigers led 51-37 with 15:12 to play, but NC State held Clemson to just seven points and two field goals the rest of the way to win on two Markell Johnson free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining.
- The comeback from the 16-point halftime deficit is the second-largest halftime deficit overcome in ACC history. It is the Pack's first comeback from a double-digit halftime deficit since 12/23/14 against Louisiana Tech (trailed 36-21 at half and won, 73-65). It is the Pack's largest halftime deficit overcome since coming back from down 16 points to beat Wake Forest on Feb. 4, 2004 (Trailed 46-30 at the half and won 73-68).
- Torin Dorn leads the Pack in scoring at 13.6 points per game to rank 20th in the ACC in scoring. NC State relies on a balanced scoring attack as seven different players have led the team in scoring this season and only once in the last 23 games has the Pack had the same leading scorer in consecutive games. (Markell Johnson vs. Clemson 1/26 and Virginia 1/29).
- The Pack's bench is averaging 30.2 points per game and has outscored the opponent's bench by 454 points this season. NC State's bench has had 41 individual double-digit scoring performances this season and had at least one player score in double figures in 14 of 18 ACC games. 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 20-5 when its bench scores over 20 points and 2-5 when it scores less than 20 points.

NC State - Virginia Series
- The Pack leads the all-time series, 82-66.
- Virginia beat NC State, 66-65, in overtime in the meeting earlier this season. UVA led 42-28 with 12:13 remaining in regulation, but the Pack outscored the Cavaliers 27-13 the rest of the way to force overtime. Markell Johnson led four NC State players in double figures with 14 points.

NC State in the ACC Tournament
- NC State has an all-time record of 72-55 in the ACC Tournament and has won 10 ACC Tournament titles.
- The Pack is 11-11 all-time in ACC Tournament games in Charlotte and won the 1970 ACC Tournament when it was held in Charlotte.
- As an eight-seed, NC State has a 5-5 record in the ACC Tournament.
- The Pack enters this week with a combined four games of ACC Tournament experience on their roster. Torin Dorn has played in two ACC Tournament games, and Braxton Beverly and Markell Johnson have each played in one ACC Tournament game. The rest of the team will be making its first appearance in the ACC Tournament.
- NC State holds a 14-2 advantage over Virginia

Thursday Storylines
- Closing strong: Since becoming a head coach at UNCW in the 2014-15 season, Kevin Keatts teams have a record of 28-15 (.651) in regular season games in the months of February and March. His first team at NC State last season won five of its last six regular season games on its way to an 11-7 conference record. This year's team enters the ACC Tournament having won five of its last eight games.
- As a head coach, Kevin Keatts has an 8-2 record in conference tournament games. He twice won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament while head coach at UNCW and advanced to the semifinals in his other year as head coach. Last season the Pack lost to Boston College, 91-87, in the NC State's opening ACC Tournament game.
- Kevin Keatts has had back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two years at NC State. It's the first time since the 2011-12 & 2012-13 teams that the Pack has had back-to-back 20-plus win regular seasons. Keatts is just the 11th coach in ACC history to have back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two seasons as a head coach in the league.
- Senior guard Torin Dorn has stepped up his play in the last nine games. The Charlotte native is averaging 13.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game during that stretch and has shot over 50 percent from the field in six of nine outings.
- Junior guard CJ Bryce shot 54.1% from three-point range away from home in league play and enters the ACC Tournament having hit 19 of his last 29 three-point attempts when not playing in PNC Arena.
- NC State leads the ACC and ranks 17th in the NCAA in forcing opponents into turnovers this season (16.06 per game). In the first meeting, Virginia finished committed 16 turnovers, tied for the most turnovers the Cavaliers have committed in a game this season.
- The Pack ranks 9th in the NCAA in opponent's three-point field goal percentage, holding its opponents to 29.8% shooting from long range this season.
- Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly has connected on 131 three-pointers in his first two seasons at NC State and needs just five more to have the most in program-history after a player's sophomore season. Currently, Scott Wood has the most three-pointers with 135, while Rodney Monroe and Maverick Rowan each had 134 after their sophomore seasons.
- Heading into the ACC Tournament the Pack's opponents made more free throws than NC State has attempted in 10 of the last 14 conference games. NC State only attempted more free throws than its opponent five times in 18 ACC games. Through 18 conference games, NC State's opponents attempted 128 more free throws (433-to-305) than the Pack and outscored NC State by 93 points at the free throw line.
- Sophomore forward DJ Funderburk has made 38 of his last 44 free throw attempts. He is shooting 78.9% from the foul line for the season and has risen to 6th in the ACC in free throw percentage. Funderburk leads the Pack in free throw percentage and would be the first non-guard since Brandon Costner (82.2% in 2007-08 season) to lead the team in free throw percentage.
- When the Pack shoots 35% or better from three-point range this season it is 17-5. It is 5-5 when it shoots below 35% from long range.

Strong Second half Defense for the Pack in the last two outings
- In the Pack's last two games (at Boston College and vs. Clemson) NC State's defense has limited the two opponents to a combined 39 points on 21.9% shooting, including 20% from three-point range.
- In the 73-47 win over Boston College, the Pack held BC to just 23 points in the second half on 24.2% (8-of-33) shooting.
- In the 59-58 come-from-behind win over Clemson, NC State held the Tigers to 16 points on 19.4% (6-of-31) shooting.

Johnson aggressive offensively over last five games
- Junior guard Markell Johnson has been hunting his shot in the last five games.
- He's averaging 17 points per game over the last five outings.
- The Cleveland, Ohio native has had at least 12 field goal attempts in all five outings after only having 12 field goal attempts in four of his first 24 games played this season.
- Johnson has hit 17 three-pointers in the last five games and is shooting 47.2% (17-of-36) from long range.

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Players Mentioned

Braxton Beverly

Torin Dorn

D.J. Funderburk

Markell Johnson

Maverick Rowan