Pack Hosts Pitt Saturday at PNC Arena

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team returns home Saturday to host Pitt inside PNC Arena.

Tipoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised on the ACC Network with Wes Durham and Malcolm Huckaby on the call. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes calling the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State dropped a Tuesday evening contest to North Carolina, 85-79, in the Smith Center.
- The Pack had four players reach double figures, led by Markell Johnson who posted his 10th career double-double with 21 points and 10 assists. Johnson also tied his career-high with four steals.
- Junior forward D.J. Funderburk finished with 18 points and a team-best nine rebounds. C.J. Bryce added 13 points and Devon Daniels closed with 10.
- Devon Daniels was named ACC Player of the Week for his efforts against two top-10 opponents from Feb. 17-23. Daniels' scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds in NC State's 88-66 win over #6 Duke on 2/19 and added 18 points and nine rebounds in the loss to #8 Florida State on 2/22. For the week, Daniels averaged 21.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in two games against top-10 foes.
- Daniels has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 12 games and is averaging 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game over that span. In his last five outings, Daniels is averaging 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
- Junior forward D.J. Funderburk is averaging 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game over the last three outings. The Cleveland, Ohio native has upped his game in ACC play, averaging 13.2 points per game on 55.9% shooting and is leading the team with a 6.8 rebounds per game average.

NC State NCAA Tournament Resume
- Thru games of Thursday, Feb. 27 - NC State has a 5-3 record against Quad 1 opponents. That's tied with Florida State for the most Quad 1 wins of any team in the ACC.
- Three of the Pack's five Quad 1 wins are on the road. NC State has a 3-1 road record against Quad 1 opponents.
- The Pack currently has an 8-8 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents. Only Florida State (12), Duke (10) and Virginia (9) have more Q1 and Q2 wins amongst ACC teams.
- NC State has had significant personnel issues in in seven of its 11 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), at Boston College (2/16/20) and Florida State (2/22/20)
- The Pack is 12-4 this season when it has its top-eight scorers available for the game. It's 5-7 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 57 is its lowest ranking. Sagarin ratings (49), KPI Sports (44), ESPN's BPI (46) and Ken Pomeroy (53) all rank the Pack higher.

Saturday Storylines
- The Pack enters Saturday with an eight-game winning streak over Pitt, but NC State's margin of victory in the last four meetings with the Panthers is: 3, 6, 4 and 5 points.
- In four career games against Pitt, senior guard Markell Johnson has 30 assists and just 4 turnovers (7.5 assist-to-turnover ratio) in 107 minutes of action against the Panthers.
- Markell Johnson (6.52 apg) leads the ACC in assists. He 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. The Pack is 9-4 this season when Johnson passes out seven or more assists and 8-7 when he passes out six or fewer (or doesn't play in the game). Johnson has 176 assists on the season and is 21 shy of breaking into the program's single season top-10 list.
- In the last meeting, Pitt scored 28 fast break points against the Pack. It's the most fast break points an opposing team has ever scored against NC State in the Kevin Keatts era.
- Freshman forward Manny Bates leads the ACC and ranks sixth in the NCAA with an average of 2.92 blocks per game. The Fayetteville, N.C., native leads the ACC in blocks in all games and blocks in ACC-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.
- The Pack has forced 10 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. For the season, NC State opponents have 302 assists and 397 turnovers.

NC State - Pitt Series
- NC State leads the all-time series, 17-2. The Pack has won the last eight meetings in the series.
- Last season, NC State swept the season series with the Panthers. The Pack defeated Pitt, 86-80, in PNC Arena on 1/12 and won at Pitt, 79-76, on 2/9. C.J. Bryce (21 points), Braxton Beverly (17 points) and Markell Johnson (10 points/8 assists) led the Pack in NC State's most recent win in the series.

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Players Mentioned

Pat Andree

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

C.J. Bryce

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Markell Johnson