Pack Hosts #8 Florida State Saturday Afternoon

ACC Network | Tickets

RALEIGH, NC – The NC State men's basketball team (17-9, 8-7 ACC) hosts a top-10 foe for the second consecutive game Saturday afternoon when eighth-ranked Florida State (22-4, 12-3 ACC) visits PNC Arena.

The game will tipoff at 4 p.m. and be televised on ACC Network with Wes Durham, Jordan Cornette and Katie George on the call. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State defeated a top-10 opponent for the third-consecutive season under head coach Kevin Keatts with an 88-66 win over sixth-ranked Duke on Wednesday night.
- The 22-point win is the largest for the Pack over a top-10 regular season opponent since March 7, 1959 when NC State beat fifth-ranked North Carolina, 80-56, in Reynolds Coliseum. It's NC State's biggest margin of victory over Duke since Jan. 7, 1978 when the Pack beat the Blue Devils, 74-50, inside Reynolds Coliseum. It also marks the largest margin of defeat for Duke to an unranked opponent in the Mike Krzyzewski era.
- The trio of senior Markell Johnson and juniors Devon Daniels and D.J. Funderburk combined to outscore Duke as they scored 74 of NC State's 88 points.
- Johnson and Daniels both posted career-highs. Johnson scored 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting while Daniels scored 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Funderburk scored 21 points - the most of his career against an ACC opponent - on 8-of-15 shooting. All three players added nine rebounds.
- Junior guard Devon Daniels has scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games and is averaging 15.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game over that span. In his last three outings, Daniels is averaging 21 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

NC State NCAA Tournament Resume
- Thru games of Thursday, Feb. 20 - NC State has a 5-2 record against Quad 1 opponents. That's the most Quad 1 wins and best winning percentage (71.4%) of any team in the ACC.
- The Pack currently has an 8-6 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents.
- NC State has had significant personnel issues in in six of its nine losses. Markell Johnson and D.J. Funderburk did not play in the Pack's loss to Georgia Tech on 11/5/19. C.J. Bryce missed the Pack's losses at Clemson (1/4/20) and at Virginia Tech (1/11/20). Manny Bates and Pat Andree did not play in the Pack's loss at Georgia Tech (1/25/20). Pat Andree also missed NC State's losses to North Carolina (1/27/20) and at Boston College (2/16/20).
- The Pack is 12-3 this season when it has its top-eight scorers available for the game. It's 5-6 when it is missing one or more of its key players.
- NC State has five road wins this season. Tied for third-most in the ACC behind Duke (7) and Louisville (6).
- On NC State's team sheet created by the NCAA, the Pack's NET ranking of 52 is its lowest ranking. Sagarin ratings (32), KPI Sports (37), ESPN's BPI (42) and Ken Pomeroy (49) all rank the Pack higher.

Saturday Storylines
- Saturday's game against eight-ranked Florida State is the second of two NC State games this week where the Pack faced a top-10 opponent. It's the first time since February 2015 that the Pack has faced consecutive top-10 opponents (2/11/15 loss to #2 Virginia 51-47 and 2/14/15 win at #9 Louisville 74-65). It's the first time since January 2005 that the Pack faces consecutive top-10 opponents at PNC Arena (1/13/05 loss to #5 Duke 86-74 and 1/16/05 win over #8 Georgia Tech 76-68).
- Saturday's game will mark the 12th time NC State has faced a top-10 team under head coach Kevin Keatts. The Pack is 5-6 against top-10 teams in the Keatts era, including a 3-2 mark against Top-10 foes in PNC Arena. In PNC Arena, the Pack has defeated #2 Duke, 96-85, on 1/6/18, defeated #7 Auburn, 78-71, on 12/19/18 and #6 Duke, 88-66, on 2/19/20 and lost to #3 Virginia in overtime, 66-65, on 1/29/19 and #6 Louisville, 77-57, on 2/1/20.
- A win on Saturday would be the first time since Jan. 1985 that NC State has beaten consecutive ACC top-10 opponents. The Pack beat #5 Duke, 89-71, on 1/23/85 and won at #8 Georgia Tech, 61-53, on 1/30/85.
- In Wednesday's win over Duke, the Pack held the ACC's leader in scoring and field goal percentage to just 66 points (17 fewer than its average) and 37.7% shooting (nearly 11% lower than its normal shooting average). Saturday, the Pack faces a Florida State team that ranks second in the ACC in both categories.
- In ACC play, the Pack is 6-1 if it shoots 30 percent or better from three-point range and 2-6 if it shoots below 30 percent from long range.
- Freshman forward Manny Bates leads the ACC and ranks eighth in the NCAA with an average of 2.92 blocks per game. As a team, Florida State is second in the ACC and 10th in the NCAA, averaging 5.6 blocks per game and has six players with more than 10 blocks this season. Bates with 70 total blocks this season only has three less blocks than the top-three shot blockers combined on the Seminoles roster.
- The Pack has forced eight consecutive opponents into committing more turnovers than passing out assists. Only three ACC teams have managed to pass out more assists than commit turnovers against the Pack. NC State is 0-3 in those games and 8-4 against ACC teams when it forces an opponent to record more turnovers than assists. For the season, NC State opponents have 284 assists and 372 turnovers.

NC State - Florida State Series
- NC State leads the all-time series, 31-26 and has a 9-6 advantage in games played at PNC Arena.
- Last season, Florida State defeated the Pack, 78-73, on 3/2/19 in Tallahassee. D.J. Funderburk led NC State with 18 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Both marks were career-highs at the time for Funderburk.
- The last time Florida State visited PNC Arena (2/25/18), the Pack scored a 92-72 win over the 25th-ranked Seminoles.

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Players Mentioned

Pat Andree

Manny Bates

C.J. Bryce

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Markell Johnson