Pack Heads to Clemson for ACC Tilt

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NC State Game Notes | Clemson Game Notes

RALEIGH – The NC State men's basketball team (11-3, 1-2 ACC) is back in action after an eight-day break when it plays at Clemson (10-3, 2-0 ACC) Friday afternoon.

Tipoff at Littlejohn Coliseum is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. NC State fans can also listen to Andrew Sanders and Ernie Myers call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- The Pack used a 17-0 second half run to break a 33-33 tie and defeat Louisville, 76-64, last Thursday evening. NC State used a balanced offensive attack as all five starters scored at least 13 points in the win. DJ Burns led the Pack with 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting while Casey Morsell hit five three-pointers to add 15 points, Jack Clark chipped in 14 points (along with a team-high nine rebounds and a career-high six assists), Terquavion Smith finished with 14 points and Jarkel Joiner rounded out the double figure scorers with 13.
- NC State forced 19 Louisville turnovers and only had eight for a +11 turnover margin. The Pack leads the ACC in turnover margin at +3.9 and ranks 30th in the NCAA. Despite registering just six steals (tied for their third-lowest performance of the season), NC State leads the ACC and ranks 33rd nationally in steals per game with an average of 9.3 per outing.
- DJ Burns has now led NC State in scoring in back-to-back games. He is averaging 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and is shooting 65.8 percent from the field in the four games he's started since the Pack lost Dusan Mahorcic to a dislocated patella in the Coppin State game on Dec. 6.
- One of the top guard duos in the country: Graduate Jarkel Joiner and sophomore Terquavion Smith form one of the top guard duos in the country. They are the second-highest scoring guard tandem in the ACC combining to average 34.2 points per game while also combine to have the most assists (122) of any two players in the ACC and they also have the most combined steals (44) of any two-guard tandem in the ACC.

Friday Storylines
- The rest of the ACC would love to replicate what Clemson was able to do last season... Slow down, Terquavion Smith. In two games against the Tigers last season, Smith averaged just 4.5 points per game on 10 percent shooting. Smith's totals were nine points on 2-of-20 shooting and he was 0-of-14 against Clemson from three-point range. In 46 career games, Smith has made 138 three-pointers. There are only three games that he has not made a three-pointer, two of those are against Clemson (other game was against Oklahoma State last season). Smith has made multiple three-pointers in 13 of 14 games this season and has made three or more three-pointers in nine of 14 games.
- DJ Burns stepping up in Mahorcic's absence: In the four games since Dusan Mahorcic was injured, graduate forward DJ Burns is averaging 14.5 points per game, 6.8 rebounds (including 3.5 offensive rebounds) per game and 2.0 assists per game. Burns is shooting 65.8 percent from the field (25-of-38) and is 88.9 percent (8-of-9) from the foul line. Over his last three games, Burns is shooting 77.3 percent from the field (17-of-22). Burns is the only NC State player that is a South Carolina native. He is from Rock Hill and played for three seasons at Winthrop University before transferring to NC State.
- Friday will feature some of the best three-pointer shooters in the ACC sharing the floor. The game will have the top-three players in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage playing in it. Clemson's Alex Hemenway leads the ACC at 50 percent (27-of-54), while the Pack's Casey Morsell is second at 48.8 percent (39-of-80) and the Tigers' Chase Hunter is third at 46.4 percent (26-of-56). Terquavion Smith leads the ACC in three-pointers made per game (3.0) while Morsell ranks fourth (2.79), Hemenway ranks sixth (2.25) and Hunter ranks 12th (2.0). NC State and Clemson, along with Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, are the only teams in the ACC that have multiple players average at least 2.0 made three-pointers per game.
- NC State is 7-0 this season when it hits 10 or more three-pointers and just 4-3 when it hits less than 10.
- Get Jack Clark going: NC State has been successful this season when its Jack of all trades stuffs the stat sheet. NC State is 8-0 this season when Clark scores in double figures. It is 8-1 when he leads the team in steals and is 5-1 when he leads the team in rebounding. Clark is coming off a 14-point, 9-rebound, career-high six assist performance for the Pack in the win over Louisville on Dec. 22.
- Pack still looking for more bench production: The loss of Dusan Mahorcic has hurt the Pack's depth. The Pack has played four games since Mahorcic - who started nine of the first 10 games of the season - dislocated his patella against Coppin State on Dec. 6. In three of the four games, NC State's bench has scored three or less points. Overall, the Pack is averaging 6.5 bench points in its last four games. In the first 10 games of the season, NC State's bench was averaging 17.1 points per game.
- Pack has held its own on the boards: NC State has outrebounded its opponent in 10 of 14 games this season (NC State only outrebounded its opponent in 10 of 32 games last season). In its most recent game against Louisville, the Pack tied the Cardinals in rebounding. In the three games it has been outrebounded, Kansas and Coppin State only edged NC State by one rebound and Miami finished +4 in rebounding in its win. The Pack ranks fourth in the ACC in rebounding margin at +4.2. It finished 14th in the ACC last season in rebounding margin at -2.8.
- NC State leads the ACC in turnover margin (+3.86), steals (9.29 per game) and forcing turnovers (15.1 per game). The Pack is 7-0 this season when it forces its opponent into 15 or more turnovers and 8-0 when it has at least 18 points off of opponent turnovers.

NC State - Clemson Series
- Friday will be the 162nd meeting between the two programs. NC State leads the all-time series, 104-57.
- Clemson has won three consecutive meetings in the series, and the Pack has lost its last four games at Littlejohn Coliseum. NC State last won at Clemson on March 3, 2015 (66-61). The only arena that the Pack has gone longer without a win is the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee. NC State last won at Florida State on Jan. 17, 2015.
- Kevin Keatts has a 4-5 record against Clemson as head coach of NC State, but is 0-3 against the Tigers in Littlejohn.
- Last season, Clemson won both meetings by almost identical scores. The Tigers won in Raleigh, 70-65, on Jan. 8 and then beat the Pack, 70-64, in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn on March 8.
- Last meeting in Littlejohn (Jan. 5, 2021): NC State led for a majority of the game, but couldn't close out the 19th-ranked Tigers, falling in overtime, 74-70. The Pack led for 35:14 in the game and only trailed for 5:09.
The Pack shot 55.6 percent in the first half, but shot just 26.1 in the second half and went the final 7:39 of regulation without a field goal. Clemson tied the game on a three-pointer with 38 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and scored on its first possession of overtime to take its first lead of the game, since it was 8-7 with 16:12 left in the first half. D.J. Funderburk led the Pack with 20 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 9-of-9 shooting from the foul line. Despite that game being just a little less than two years ago, none of the players that played in that game for NC State are on this year's roster.

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Players Mentioned

Jack Clark

Jarkel Joiner

Dusan Mahorcic

Casey Morsell

Terquavion Smith