Pack Hosts Furman Tuesday in Final Non-Conference Tilt

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NC State Game Notes | Furman Game Notes

RALEIGH – The NC State men's basketball team plays its final non-conference home game Tuesday evening when it hosts preseason Southern Conference favorite Furman at PNC Arena.

Tipoff against the Paladins is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the

Pack Tracks
- NC State dropped its first road game of the 2022-23 season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Miami, 80-73. The Hurricanes led 5-2 two minutes into the game, but NC State went on a 17-4 run to take a 19-9 lead and extended its lead to as many as 16 points in the first half. The Pack ran out of gas late as Miami ended the game on an 18-6 run to win. After leading 5-2 with 18:00 to play, Miami wouldn't take another lead until a three-pointer with 3:40 to play gave the Hurricanes a 70-67 advantage.
- DJ Burns, Jarkel Joiner and Terquavion Smith combined to score 61 of the Pack's 73 points on Saturday. Joiner scored a game-high 26 points while Smith added 19 points and Burns scored a season-best 16. Joiner scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half as he finished 10-of-16 from the field.
- Jarkel Joiner was on fire offensively in the last two games. He finished the game on Tuesday against Coppin State, he scored a season-high 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. Overall in the last two games, Joiner is averaging 27.5 points per game on 63.6 percent (21-of-33) shooting, including 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from three-point range.
- For the second straight game, Terquavion Smith tied his career-high with seven assists. Smith has now led the Pack in assists in 10 consecutive games and leads the ACC in assists at 5.5 per game. He has 61 assists in 11 games this season after having 67 assists in 32 games last season. Smith's career-high in assists coming into this season was six, but he's already had six or more assists in seven of 11 games played this season.

Tuesday Storylines
- NC State has a 42-2 record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games under head coach Kevin Keatts.
- The Pack leads the ACC and ranks 31st in NCAA DI with an average of 9.4 steals per game, but NC State is coming off just a four steal performance at Miami on Saturday, its season low in steals. NC State has been a pest defensively in home games this season. In five home games against non-conference opponents this season, NC State is averaging 11.2 steals per game.
- Points off Turnovers: NC State forced a season-low six turnovers at Miami on Saturday and that led to a season-low four points off turnovers. NC State has outscored its opponents by 50 points in points off turnovers this season and is averaging 19 points per game in points off turnovers through 11 games this season, but in its three losses the Pack has been outscored by 11 points off turnovers and is averaging just 11 points off turnovers in those three contests.
- Get Jack Clark going: The LaSalle transfer has made an impact on the Pack in his first season with NC State. He leads the ACC in steals with 23 and leads the team in rebounding (10th in the ACC at 7.0 per game), but his scoring his fallen off in recent games. Clark started the season with double figure scoring games in six of the first eight games, but has only scored eight points total in the last three games. In NC State's eight wins this season, Clark is averaging 10.4 points and shooting 45.2 percent from the field. In the Pack's three losses, he is averaging just 3.3 points per game and shooting 20 percent.
- Pack needs production from its bench: The loss of Dusan Mahorcic to a dislocated right patella has shortened the Pack's bench, and it was apparent in the loss to Miami as NC State scored a season-low two bench points. NC State's bench has accounted for 20 or more points in six games this season, including four consecutive games leading into the contest against Miami. The Pack's two lowest bench scoring outputs this season - Miami (2 points) and Kansas (6 points) have both resulted in losses for NC State.
- Offense could be plentiful: Both Furman (82.3 ppg; 23rd in NCAA DI) and NC State (81.0 ppg; 37th in NCAA DI) average over 80 points per game. Both teams average to make over nine three-pointers per game. The Paladins rank 10th in the NCAA in field goal percentage (50.4%) while the Pack ranks 81st at 45.2 percent.
- Pack's three-point prowess: Through games of Sunday, Dec. 11 there have been 10 individual performances of six or more three-pointers in a game by an ACC player. An NC State player is responsible for four of those 10 performances. The Pack's Jarkel Joiner, Casey Morsell and Terquavion Smith have all had six three-pointer performances this season. Joiner hit six three-pointers in the win over FIU on Nov. 15, Smith hit six three-pointers in the win over Coppin State on Tuesday while Casey Morsell is the only player in the ACC to have multiple six or more three-pointer games. The senior guard hit six against FIU and hit six against William & Mary on Nov. 29.
- Graduate forward DJ Burns scored a season-best 16 points against Miami on Saturday. With the loss of his frontcourt partner, Burns played 31 minutes against the Hurricanes. It was Burns' 101st career game and the 31 minutes played were the most in a single game of his career. The duo of Burns/Mahorcic has been formidable in the paint for the Pack this season. In the first 10 games of the season, the duo combined to average 16.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game while shooting a combined 58.3 percent from the field.

NC State - Furman Series
- Tuesday will be the 34th meeting between the two programs. NC State leads the all-time series, 31-2. The Pack has a 16-1 advantage in games since 1953 (the year NC State joined the ACC).
- Tuesday will be the first meeting between the two programs since a 94-56 win by the Pack on Nov. 27, 1985. NC State and Furman played once a year from 1947-1955 and again every season from 1973-1984. The games from 1974-1984 were neutral site games in Charlotte as the two programs met in the North-South Doubleheader every season.

Pack Hosts Furman Tuesday in Final Non-Conference Tilt

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Players Mentioned

Jack Clark

Jarkel Joiner

Dusan Mahorcic

Casey Morsell

Terquavion Smith