North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Heads to Duke for final ACC Road Contest
3/1/2020 7:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NC State looking for first season sweep of the Blue Devils since 1994-95 season
RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (18-11, 9-9 ACC) makes the short trip to Durham to take on seventh-ranked Duke (23-6, 13-5 ACC) at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday evening.
The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN with Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Allison Williams 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 rode a balanced scoring attack to a 77-73 win over Pitt on Saturday at PNC Arena. The Pack did not take its first lead until the 6:55 mark of the game on a three-pointer by Jericole Hellems. It was part of a 19-5 run that took NC State from a 58-51 deficit to a 70-63 lead with under 3:00 to play.
- Senior guard C.J. Bryce and sophomore forward Jericole Hellems led the Pack with 16 points in the game. Hellems finished the game a perfect 6-of-6 from the field. D.J. Funderburk added 14 points and seven rebounds.
- Freshman forward Manny Bates recorded his first career double-double in the win, posting career-highs in points (13) and rebounds (10) while also adding five blocked shots.
- Bates now has 81 blocked shots on the season to lead the ACC and rank sixth in the ACC. He has moved up to third on NC State's single-season block list and is vying to become the first freshman to lead the ACC in blocks since Florida State's Solomon Alabi in the 2008-09 season.
- Devon Daniels was named ACC Player of the Week last Monday 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.
NC State NCAA Tournament Resume
- Thru games of Saturday, Feb. 29 - NC State has a 4-4 record against Quad 1 opponents. Only Florida State has more Quad 1 wins in the ACC.
- Two of the Pack's four Quad 1 wins are on the road. Overall, NC State has a 4-4 road record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents.
- The Pack currently has a 9-8 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents. Only Florida State (13), Virginia (11) and Duke (10) 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 13-4 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 54 is its second-lowest ranking. Sagarin ratings (47), KPI Sports (44), ESPN's BPI (49) and all rank the Pack higher.
Monday Storylines
- NC State enters Monday's contest 4-5 in ACC road games this season. Since Kevin Keatts became head coach of NC State prior to the 2017-18 season, he has guided the Pack to 12 ACC road wins. Only Virginia's Tony Bennett, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina's Roy Williams and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim have more road wins in that time span. (Bennett - 22 wins; Krzyzewski - 18 wins; Williams - 15 wins; Boeheim - 13 wins).
- In the Pack's win over Duke on 2/19, Markell Johnson (28), Devon Daniels (25) and DJ Funderburk (21) combined to score 74 of NC State's 88 points (84.1%). The trio outscored Duke's team by eight. It was the first time since NC State's 95-91 win at North Carolina on 1/27/18 (Allerik Freeman/Torin Dorn/Markell Johnson) and only the fourth time since 1990 that the Pack had three players score 20+-points in the same game.
- Markell Johnson (6.5 apg) has a narrow lead over Duke's Tre Jones (6.3 apg) for the ACC leader in assists. 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. Johnson has 182 assists on the season and is 15 shy of breaking into the program's single season top-10 list.
- Seniors C.J. Bryce and Markell Johnson have led the Pack in road games this season. The duo has combined to lead the Pack in scoring in seven of its 11 road games this season. Bryce is averaging 15.3 points per game on the road (up from 13.3 season average) and is shooting 36.7% from three-point range. Markell Johnson is averaging 13.3 points on 42.9% shooting and 7.5 assists per game in road contests compared to season averages of 13.1 points on 40.3% shooting and 6.5 assists per game.
- He makes his impact on the defensive end, but freshman Manny Bates has been incredibly efficient on the offensive end in road ACC games. In seven conference road games, Bates is 22-of-27 (81.5%) shooting and averages 6.6 points per game compared to his season average of 5.3 points per game.
- The Pack has forced 11 consecutive opponents into committing more turnovers than passing out assists. ACC team have had more assists than turnovers only three times in 18 games against the Pack this season. For the season, NC State opponents have 311 assists and 414 turnovers.
