Pack Heads to Syracuse for Key ACC Road Contest on Tuesday

RALEIGH, NC – The NC State men's basketball team (15-8, 6-6 ACC) plays its second-straight road game on Tuesday as it travels to New York to face Syracuse (14-9, 7-5 ACC) at the Carrier Dome.

The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Dan Shulman, Jon Crispin and Brooke Weisbrod will be on the call for ESPN2. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State snapped its three-game losing streak with an 83-72 win at Miami on Wednesday evening. C.J Bryce (22 points/11 rebounds) and Markell Johnson (19 points/12 assists) both posted double-doubles to lead the Pack to victory. Bryce and Johnson were two of five NC State players that reached double figures in the win as Braxton Beverly (14), Devon Daniels (14) and Manny Bates (10) also scored 10+.
- Senior guard Markell Johnson's 12 assists on Wednesday night pushed him back into the lead in assists in the ACC. The Cleveland, Ohio native is averaging 6.64 assists per game and has a narrow lead over Duke's Tre Jones (6.62 apg) for the conference lead. Johnson previously led the ACC in assists his sophomore season and would become the first ACC player since North Carolina's Kendall Marshall (2011 and 2012) to lead the ACC in assists in multiple seasons.
- Freshman forward Manny Bates leads the ACC and ranks sixth in the NCAA with an average of 3.0 blocks per game. The Fayetteville, N.C., native leads the ACC in blocks in all games and blocks in conference games only. If Bates finishes the season in the lead in blocks, it would mark only the second time since 1977 that an NC State player led the ACC in blocks (Beejay Anya - 2.5 bpg) and the first time in program history an NC State player led the ACC in blocks in conference games. Bates broke the NC State-program record for most blocked shots by a freshman in just 15 games.

Tuesday Storylines
- NC State enters Tuesday having won two of its last three ACC road games. The Pack is 3-3 in road ACC contests this season. Since Kevin Keatts became head coach of NC State prior to the 2017-18 season, he has guided the Pack to 11 road ACC wins. Only Virginia's Tony Bennett and the ACC's three Hall of Fame coaches have more road wins in that time span. (Bennett - 20 wins; Mike Krzyzewski - 18 wins; Roy Williams - 14 wins and Jim Boeheim - 12)
- While the Pack has won the two meetings against Syracuse with Kevin Keatts as head coach, the Orange have minimized NC State's possessions. The Pack has attempted 49 field goals in both games against Syracuse the last two years. Forty-nine field goal attempts mark the fewest field goal attempts in a game for NC State since Kevin Keatts became head coach.
- In its two wins over Syracuse the last two seasons, NC State has shot a combined 36-of-57 (63.2%) on two-point field goal attempts.
- Despite winning the last two meetings, the Pack has averaged 19.5 turnovers per game against Syracuse and has had more turnovers than the Orange in both games. NC State has a -12 turnover margin in the two games. In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State has finished second in the ACC in turnover margin in both seasons and is 48-19 (71.6%) when it has the same or fewer turnovers than its opponent and just 12-13 when it has more turnovers than its opponent.
- Junior guard Braxton Beverly averages 13.5 points per game and has shot 54.5% (6-for-11) from three-point range in two career games against Syracuse. The Hazard, Ky., native has seven assists and zero turnovers in 67 minutes of action against the Orange.
- Junior guard Devon Daniels has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games and is averaging 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game over the last seven outings.
- Senior guard C.J. Bryce has scored 35 points in the last three halves of basketball. He scored 13 of 15 points in the second half against Louisville and had 22 points in the win over Miami on Wednesday. Bryce was averaging 16.1 points per game and was shooting over 50 percent from the field when he suffered a concussion in shootaround for the Appalachian State game on Dec. 29. is averaging a team-best 13.2 points per game this season, but was averaging 16.1 points per game prior to missing four games because of a concussion. Prior to his 15 points against the Cardinals, Bryce hadn't scored in the last two games for NC State.
- Senior guard Markell Johnson has nine steals in his last four games and now has 146 for his career. He needs three more steals to tie former Pack great - and current Indiana Pacers head coach - Nate McMillan for 13th on the program's all-time steals chart.

NC State - Syracuse Series
- Syracuse leads the all-time series with NC State, 7-5, although NC State has won four of the seven meetings since the Orange joined the ACC. Kevin Keatts is 2-0 against Syracuse as head coach of NC State.
- The Pack has won the last two meetings against Syracuse. Last season, NC State scored a 73-58 win over the Orange in PNC Arena on Feb. 13. Braxton Beverly tied a then-career-high with 21 points.

Pack Heads to Syracuse for Key ACC Road Contest on Tuesday

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Players Mentioned

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

C.J. Bryce

Devon Daniels

Markell Johnson