Pack Opens ACC Play Saturday Against Louisville

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (6-1) opens ACC play Saturday afternoon when it hosts Louisville (5-2) in both team's conference opener.

Tipoff at PNC Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2. NC State fans can listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State outlasted Nebraska in a four overtime marathon, 104-100, Wednesday night. The game ties for the longest in program history and ties for the longest in ACC history. It was the third four overtime game in program history and the fifth in ACC history. It's NC State's first 4OT game since March 14, 1989 when NC State beat Wake Forest, 110-103.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron was terrific in leading the Pack to a win. The Norfolk, Va., native posted career-highs in points (39) and rebounds (19) to lead NC State to the win. Both totals are the highest for any player in the Kevin Keatts era and the best performances in points and rebounds for any ACC player this season. Seabron scored 33 of his 39 points in the second half and overtimes.
- The 39 points are the most-ever by a player in the 23-year history of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. It's the most points scored by an NC State player since TJ Warren had 42 against Boston College on March 9, 2014.
- Seabron was 17-of-20 from the foul line in the win. The 17 free throws tie for the third-most in a single game in program history.
- Sophomore forward Ebenezer Dowuona reset his career-high just three days after posting it with eight blocks against Nebraska. The eight blocks are tied for the third-most in program history. He now has 14 blocks in the last two games and ranks third in the ACC in blocks at 2.71 per game.

Noting Louisville
- Louisville was selected sixth in the ACC's preseason poll. UofL fifth-year senior forward/center Malik Williams was honored on the 12-person preseason All-ACC Team as a second team selection.
- Louisville has eight newcomers among its 14 scholarship players. The group includes six transfers, including two from junior colleges, and two freshmen.
- The Cardinals have a balanced scoring attack and have had six different players lead them in scoring in seven games this season. Louisville has eight players averaging at least 6.6 points per game this season, but only one (Noah Locke at 11.1 ppg.) is averaging double figures.

Saturday Storylines
- Saturday will mark senior forward Jericole Hellems 100th career game in an NC State uniform. With redshirt junior forward Manny Bates out for the season with a right shoulder dislocation, Hellems has by far the most experience in an NC State uniform on the current Pack team. Redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron has the second-most appearances in an NC State uniform with 31. Hellems has played in 99 career games for NC State, the rest of NC State's roster that is available to play Saturday combines for 172 games played.
- NC State has made a living at the free throw line this season. The Pack is averaging 27.1 free throw attempts per game which ranks as the most in the ACC. For the season, NC State has made 17 more free throws (139) than its opponents have attempted (122). In seven games this season, Louisville's 123 free throw attempts ranks as the third-fewest in the ACC.
- NC State is averaging 16.7 points a game off opponent turnovers and has outscored its opponents by 45 points this season in points off turnovers. The Pack has won 13 straight games when it outscores its opponents in points off turnovers. Louisville is 14th in the ACC in turnovers per game at 15.0 per contest. In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State is 49-15 (76.6%) when it forces an opponent into 15 or more turnovers.
- Block Party: After losing two-time defending ACC block shot champion Manny Bates in the opening minute of the season, it would be understandable to expect NC State to take a step back in shot blocking. And thru the first three games of the season this held true. The Pack only blocked seven shots total in the first three games of the season. But NC State has begun swatting shots with regularity over the last three games, blocking 26 in the last three games and now leads the ACC in blocks with an average of 5.43 per game. Sophomore forward Ebenezer Dowuona has had back-to-back monster games. He set a then career-high with six against Louisiana Tech and then came back Wednesday to block eight in the 4OT win over Nebraska.
- Find bench scoring: Under Kevin Keatts, NC State has routinely outscored its opponent's bench. Entering this season, NC State had outscored the opponent's bench by 850 points in the Keatts era. Terquavion Smith is averaging 9.7 points per game off the bench, but the rest of the bench combines to average just 7.7 points per game. Entering Saturday, NC State has been outscored by 69 points in bench points this season. Louisville enters the game averaging 28 bench points per contest.

NC State - Louisville Series
- Saturday marks the 24th all-time meeting between the two programs. Louisville leads the series, 13-10, and has won five of the last six games in the series. Louisville has won five of the seven meetings between the programs since 2015 when the Cardinals joined the ACC.
- Kevin Keatts, who was an assistant coach at Louisville from 2011-14, is 1-2 all-time against Louisville as head coach of NC State.
- The teams did not meet last season as their originally scheduled game on Wednesday, Dec. 16 was not played because of COVID-issues in the Louisville program.
- Louisville won the last meeting between the programs, 77-57, on Feb. 1, 2020. Trailing most of the game, NC State was within four, 56-52, with 11:13 remaining but could get no closer as the sixth-ranked Cardinals outscored the Pack, 21-5, the rest of the way to win. Jericole Hellems is the only NC State player that will play Saturday that appeared in that game. Hellems started and had six points and three rebounds.

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Players Mentioned

Manny Bates

Ebenezer Dowuona

Jericole Hellems

Dereon Seabron

Terquavion Smith