Pack Heads to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest

Game Notes | Affiliates | Live Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team plays its second road game in a row as it heads to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest Saturday at 2 p.m.

The game will be televised on Fox Sports South in North Carolina with Evan Lepler and Mike Gminski 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
- The Pack heads to Winston-Salem looking for a season sweep of Wake Forest. In the earlier meeting between the teams, NC State came away with a 72-67 win on Jan. 27, but the win proved costly as Devon Daniels suffered a torn ACL in the second half of the game. Daniels led the Pack with 20 points and nine rebounds in the win. Jericole Hellems added 17 points for NC State.
- NC State snapped its two-game skid with a 74-73 win at Pitt on Wednesday. NC State led for 36:02 of game time, but found itself in a 71-69 hole with 1:54 to play. The Pack scored the next five points to take a 74-71 lead and got a defensive stop in the final 9 seconds to hold on. NC State shot a season-best 56.9% from the field in the game. Jericole Hellems scored 17 points and D.J. Funderburk added 16 as both players went 6-of-9 from the field. Cam Hayes added 11 points and a career-high nine assists.
- Hellems has stepped up for the Pack since Devon Daniels tore his ACL in the second half of the win over Wake Forest on Jan. 27. In the first game without Daniels, Hellems registered his first career double-double with career-highs in points (24) and rebounds (10) against Syracuse on Jan. 31. In the six games since Daniels was injured, Hellems is averaging 16.2 points on 51.4% shooting (37-of-72).
- Sophomore forward Manny Bates is shooting 66.7% from the field in ACC-only games. The field goal percentage is the best mark in the league (minimum 4 made FGs/game). He is averaging just under 10 points/game, nearly doubling his scoring output from his freshman season. The Fayetteville native is currently leading the ACC in blocks (2.88 per game) for the second consecutive season.

Saturday Storylines
- The Pack will be on the search for the elusive third straight ACC road win. The Pack comes into Saturday having won its last two road games, but NC State hasn't won three straight road games in ACC play since winning the last two road games of the 2002-03 season and first road game of 2003-04 season. The last time, NC State won three straight ACC road games in the same season was the 2001-02 season. In his fourth season as head coach of NC State, Kevin Keatts has led the Pack to 14 ACC road wins and this is the fifth time in his four seasons that the Pack has won two straight ACC road games.
- Searching for the right lineup. NC State is still trying to find the right combination of players this season, in large part due to two program stops that have led to a total of seven canceled or postponed games. NC State has only had two of its 14-player roster appear in all 18 games this season (Jericole Hellems and Shakeel Moore). The Pack has had 11 different starting lineup combinations in 18 games this season. In the 2018-19 season, the Pack played 36 games and only had seven different starting lineup combinations the entire season. Last season in 32 games, NC State had 10 different starting lineup combinations in 32 games.
- Force at least 15 turnovers. When NC State forces an opponent into 15 or more turnovers this season the Pack is 8-1. When its opponent has less than 15 turnovers, NC State is 1-8. In the Pack's nine wins this season, opponents are averaging 19.3 turnovers per game. In its nine losses, NC State's opponents average just 12.6 turnovers.
- When the Pack's defense is stealing the ball and converting it into points NC State is tough to beat. The Pack is 8-0 when it scores 19 or more points off opponent turnovers this season, but just 1-9 when it scores 18 points or less off opponent turnovers.
- Shooting percentage tells the story. In the Pack's nine wins this season, NC State is combining to shoot 51.4% from the field and hold its opponents to 42.9% shooting. In its eight losses, the numbers are nearly reversed. The Pack is shooting 42.9% when it loses and its opponents are shooting 50%.
- In the last two games, NC State has shot 20 three-pointers. The nine attempts against Duke and 11 against Pitt are the two games with the fewest three-point attempts this season for NC State.
- In the six games since Devon Daniels was injured, forwards Manny Bates, D.J. Funderburk and Jericole Hellems have combined to score 225 points and are shooting 87-of-154 (56.5%).
- The Pack is averaging 35.7 points in the paint in the six games since Devon Daniels was injured. With the loss of Daniels, NC State's top-three scorers remaining are all forwards. After being outscored in points in the paint in five of its first six ACC games, the Pack had outscored its opponents in points in the paint in six of the last seven games.
- Senior guard Braxton Beverly was red-hot against the Demon Deacons last season. In two games against Wake Forest, the Hazard, Ky., native shot 8-of-9 from three-point range and had a 15-point and 16-point outing in two NC State wins. In six games against Wake Forest for his career, Beverly is 17-of-32 (53.1%) from three-point range.

NC State - Wake Forest Series
- Saturday marks the 254th all-time meeting between the two programs.
- NC State leads the all-time series, 147-106, but Wake Forest has won 23 of the 30 meetings between the teams in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
- Kevin Keatts is 6-1 against the Demon Deacons as head coach of the Pack and a win on Saturday would give him three sweeps of Wake Forest in four years as head coach.

Pack Heads to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Manny Bates

Braxton Beverly

Devon Daniels

D.J. Funderburk

Cam Hayes

Jericole Hellems

Shakeel Moore