Red Out: Pack Hosts Rival North Carolina on ESPN’s Big Monday

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (14-6, 5-4 ACC) has a quick turnaround for the second consecutive week as the Pack hosts rival North Carolina (9-10, 2-6 ACC) Monday night at 7 p.m. in a red out at PNC Arena.

The Pack is on ESPN's Big Monday for the second consecutive week. Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Allison Williams will call the action on ESPN with tipoff schedule for 7:01 p.m.

NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes on the call on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State had its three-game win streak snapped with a 64-58 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Pack led 55-50, but only scored three points in the final 6:21 of the game as the Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 14-3 run.
- Senior guard Markell Johnson led the Pack with 21 points, four assists and three steals. Devon Daniels (12) and Braxton Beverly (11) were the only other NC State players to reach double figures.
- Johnson scored his 1,000th career point during the game against the Yellow Jackets. He is the 53rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points and is just the fourth player in program history to score 1,000 points, pass out 500 assists and post 125 steals.
- Johnson ranks second in the ACC in assists at 6.47 per game. He is tied with Duke's Tre Jones for most assists in ACC contests with an average of 6.0 per game.
- Junior forward D.J. Funderburk had his streak of nine consecutive double-digit scoring games snapped in the loss to the Yellow Jackets, finishing with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting. The Cleveland, Ohio native still leads the conference in field goal percentage (55.6%) in ACC play. He has shot over 50 percent in 14 of 18 games this season. Funderburk ranks fifth in the conference in ACC games with an average of 2.75 offensive rebounds per game.

Monday Storylines
- In the first 15 games of the season, NC State only failed to score over 70 points one time (69 vs. Wisconsin), but in the last five games NC State has only scored more than 60 points in one game.
- The Pack is shooting 44.9% from the field to rank 4th in the ACC this season, but is shooting just 39.0% on field goals in the last five games, including just 27.3% from three-point range during this stretch.
- While the offense has struggled in the last five games, NC State's defense has not. The Pack has held five straight opponents to under their season field goal percentage. Georgia Tech shot 43.4% on Saturday to snap NC State's four-game streak of holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting. The stretch of holding four consecutive ACC opponents to under 40 percent shooting was the first time NC State had held four consecutive conference opponents to shooting percentages in the 30s in more than 30 years.
- Injuries continue to be a story of the Pack's ACC season. In 10 conference games, only twice (Dec. 7 at Wake Forest and Jan. 18 vs. Clemson) has NC State started the game with all of its nine scholarship players available. And while it started the Jan. 18 game vs. the Tigers with everyone, Manny Bates was injured eight minutes into the game and Pat Andree was hurt in the final minute. NC State has played with just seven scholarship players dressed in uniform in its last two games. Only Braxton Beverly, Devon Daniels and Jericole Hellems have appeared in every game for NC State this season. In 20 games, NC State has had eight different starting lineup combinations. Last season, NC State only had seven different starting lineup combinations in 36 games.
- Senior guard Markell Johnson ranks sixth in the ACC in minutes played per game (34.2). He ranks second in the ACC in assists and fourth in steals. The main facilitator of NC State's offense, the Pack is 9-1 this season when Johnson has three or less turnovers in a game and 5-4 if he has more than three.
- NC State is 9-0 this season when Braxton Beverly hits two or more three-pointers in a game. The Hazard, Ky., native is three three-pointers away from tying for 10th on the program's all-time three-point field goal list.
- In four career games against North Carolina, Braxton Beverly is 14-of-23 (60.9%) from three-point range and is averaging 14.8 points per game. In two games against the Tar Heels last season, Beverly averaged 19 points per game and shot 75% (9-of-12) from long distance.
- Junior forward D.J. Funderburk will enter NC State's career field goal percentage list with eight more field goals. For his career, Funderburk is 192-of-329 (58.4%) shooting. He needs 200 made field goals to be ranked on NC State's career list. The Cleveland, Ohio native will enter the list near the top of the chart. The Pack's all-time leader in field goal percentage is Kevin Thompson (1990-93 - 58.8%)

NC State - North Carolina Series
- UNC leads the all-time series, 158-78. The Tar Heels have won 16 of the 20 meetings in PNC Arena.
- The Pack's last win over UNC in PNC Arena was a 91-83 victory on Jan. 26, 2013.
- Last season, UNC swept the series with the Pack. UNC won 90-82 inside PNC Arena and dropped the Pack, 113-96, in Chapel Hill.

Red Out: Pack Hosts Rival North Carolina on ESPN’s Big Monday

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Players Mentioned

Pat Andree

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Jericole Hellems

Markell Johnson