Pack Hosts Harvard Sunday in NIT Second Round

ESPNU | WatchESPN

RALEIGH, NC – The NC State men's basketball team continues play in the NIT Sunday evening when it hosts Harvard inside a sold-out James T. Valvano Arena at William Neal Reynolds Coliseum.

The game will be televised on ESPNU and tipoff at 7:30.

Pack Tracks
- NC State is making its 12th appearance all-time in the NIT and the first since 2010. The Pack has an all-time record of 17-12 in the NIT and has advanced to the NIT semifinals four times, most recently in 2000.
- The Pack advanced in the NIT with an 84-78 win over Hofstra on Tuesday. Junior guard Markell Johnson scored 20 of his team-high 26 points in the second half to lead NC State to victory. CJ Bryce registered his first double-double in an NC State uniform with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Torin Dorn added 19 points and nine rebounds.
- Torin Dorn leads the Pack in scoring at 13.5 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.
- Markell Johnson has led NC State in scoring for three consecutive games and is averaging 20.7 points per game during that stretch on 50% shooting (21-of-42). The Cleveland, Ohio native has led the Pack in scoring a team-high 11 times this season. Johnson never led NC State in scoring in a game in his first two seasons.
- The Pack's bench is averaging 29.3 points per game and has outscored the opponent's bench by 464 points this season. NC State's bench has had 42 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 20-6 when its bench scores over 20 points and 3-5 when it scores less than 20 points.

NC State - Harvard Series
- Sunday's game will mark the first ever meeting between the two programs.
- NC State has an all-time record of 16-5 against Ivy League teams.

NC State in the NIT
- This is NC State's 12th appearance in the NIT and first since 2010.
- The Pack's best finish is runner-up in 1978.

Experimental Rules for the NIT
- Three-Point Line: Extend the current three-point line (20'6") by approximately 1'8" making the line the same distance as the FIBA three-point line (22' 1 and 3/4") used in international basketball.
- Width of the Lane: Widen the lane from 12' to 16' making it consistent with the width of the lane used by the NBA.
- Shot Clock Reset after Offensive Rebounds: Reset the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound instead of 30 seconds.
- Elimination of bonus free throws and resetting of team fouls: For the purpose of determining bonus free throws only, each period ("half") shall be divided into two 10-minute segments (a "segment"). This shall not
include overtime periods.
- At the 10:00 minute mark of the first and second periods, team fouls shall be reset to zero for each team.
- A team shall be awarded two bonus free throws beginning with:
            a. The fifth team foul assessed against an opponent during each 10-minute segment, or
            b. The second team foul committed with under two minutes remaining in each period (half) if that should occur prior to the fifth team foul in the second segment of either period (half).
- There shall be no one and one bonus free throws.
- Team fouls shall be reset at the beginning of each overtime period. During each overtime period, a team shall be awarded two bonus free throws beginning with:
            a. The fourth team foul assessed against an opponent, or
            b. The second team foul assessed against an opponent with under two minutes remaining in each overtime period if that should occur prior to the team's fourth team foul in the overtime period.

Sunday Storylines
- 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.
- NC State had the highest NET ranking (33), BPI ranking (26) and Sagarin ranking (25) of any team to miss the NCAA Tournament.
- A win on Sunday would give the Pack its 24th victory of the season. It would be the first time since the 2012-13 season NC State had that many wins in a season. NC State hasn't won over 24 games in a season since the 1982-83 team won 26 games and the National Championship.
- NC State leads the ACC and ranks 24th in the NCAA in forcing opponents into turnovers this season (15.68 per game). Harvard ranks 333rd in turnovers per game this season, averaging 15.8 per game.
- The Pack ranks 19th in the NCAA in opponent's three-point field goal percentage, holding its opponents to 30.2% shooting from long range this season.
- Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly has connected on 132 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.
- In 20 games against ACC competition, the Pack's opponents made more free throws than NC State has attempted in 11 of 20 games. NC State only attempted more free throws than its opponent seven times in that span. In those 20 games, NC State's opponents attempted 124 more free throws (463-to-339) than the Pack and outscored NC State by 92 points at the free throw line.
- Sophomore forward DJ Funderburk has made 45 of his last 53 free throw attempts. He is shooting 78.8% 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.
- Dominate the Paint: NC State is 17-3 this season when it scores more points in the the paint than its opponent. It is 6-8 when its opponent scores more points in the paint.
- When the Pack shoots 35% or better from three-point range this season it is 17-5. It is 6-6 when it shoots below 35% from long range.

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Players Mentioned

Braxton Beverly

Torin Dorn

D.J. Funderburk

Markell Johnson

Maverick Rowan