Pack Heads to Chapel Hill to Face Tar Heels

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NC State Game Notes | North Carolina Game Notes

RALEIGH - The NC State men's basketball team (15-4, 5-3 ACC) is back in action Saturday when it travels to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina (13-6, 5-3 ACC).

TIpoff in the Dean E. Smith Center is set for 5 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 action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State won its fourth consecutive game - and seventh in its last eight outings - with a 78-66 win at Georgia Tech Tuesday night. The Pack fell behind 16-6 four minutes into the contest, but rallied to take its first lead of the game with two minutes left in the opening half and never trailed again.
- For the fifth consecutive game, sophomore guard Terquavion Smith led the Pack in scoring. The Greenville, N.C., native finished with 25 points, his eighth 20+-point performance of the season and his fifth consecutive. Smith leads the ACC in scoring with an average of 19.1 points per game. He has been named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List, the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List and was named a Midseason Third-Team All-American by The Sporting News.
- Jarkel Joiner added 19 points in the win over the Yellow Jackets, hitting all nine of his free throw attempts, and tied his season-high with eight rebounds. Casey Morsell stuffed the stat sheet for the Pack in the win, scoring 12 points and added a game-high nine rebounds and had a career-best three blocked shots.
- NC State has opened the 2023 calendar year with four consecutive victories. It's the first time the Pack has won its first four games in the new year since the 1988-89 team won its first six games in the month of January. Three of those first four wins in January 1989 were against non-conference teams. The last time NC State won its first four games in January and all the opponents were ACC teams was the 1973-74 NC State team that went 30-1 and won the National Championship.

Saturday Storylines
- Get a Road Win, Get Some Ice Cream: Since before he became head coach at NC State, Kevin Keatts has had a tradition of treating his team to some postgame ice cream if they win a neutral site or road contest. Since he became head coach of the Pack prior to the 2017-18 season, Keatts has led NC State to 22 ACC road wins. In that span of time only Virginia (38), Duke (31) and North Carolina (26) have more ACC road wins than the Pack's 22.
- During the Pack's four-game win streak, graduate guard Jarkel Joiner is averaging 18 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Joiner's performance might have the biggest impact on NC State winning or losing. In the Pack's 15 wins this season, Joiner is averaging 17.1 points on 47.5 percent shooting, including 40.7 percent from three-point range and 3.7 assists per game. In the Pack's four losses this season, Joiner is averaging 12.5 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting, including 16.7 percentage from three-point range and 2.8 assists per game.
- Sophomore guard Terquavion Smith has rattled off five consecutive 20 points or more scoring performances. It ties for the longest 20+-point performance streak of his career. Smith's eight 20-point performances this season are tied for the second-most by an ACC player, only UNC's Armando Bacot (9) has more. In 51 career games, Smith is averaging 17.3 points for his career which ranks as the eighth-highest career scoring average in program history. In 51 career games, Smith has scored in double figures 42 times, including 21 games of 20 or more points. He has led NC State in scoring 22 times in his career.
- Sophomore forward Ernest Ross enters Saturday coming off the best two game stretch of his career. Ross set career-highs in points (17) and rebounds (9) in the win over Miami last season. In the win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Ross set career-highs in assists (3) and steals (2). Overall in the last two games, Ross is averaging 12.5 points on 84.6 percent shooting (11-of-13), and 5.5 rebounds. Prior to the last two games, Ross had only scored 37 points in the first 17 games of the season (2.2 points per game).
- In two games against North Carolina last season, Smith averaged 27 points per game, including a career-high 34 points in the loss in Chapel Hill last season.
- NC State winning the battle on the boards. The Pack have been a strong rebounding team this season, outrebounding its opponent in 14 of 19 games. NC State ranks third in the ACC in rebounding margin at +3.74. The Pack is 14-1 this season when it outrebounds or ties its opponent in rebounding and just 1-3 if it is outrebounded. North Carolina ranks second in the ACC in rebounding margin at +5.0. The Tar Heels outrebounded NC State by 28 in the two meetings between the teams last season.
- The Pack shot 50.9 percent from the field in the win at Georgia Tech on Tuesday. The Pack shot 62.5 percent from the field against the Yellow Jackets on two-point field goals. This season, NC State is 14-1 when it shots 40 percent or better from the field and 0-3 if it shoots under 40 percent.
- Saturday is matchup of the top-two scoring teams in the ACC. In 19 games this season, North Carolina has scored 1,512 points (79.58 per game), one more point than NC State has scored in 19 games (1,511 points, 79.53 per game). NC State is 15-2 this season if it scores 70 or more points, but 0-2 if it scores under 70. North Carolina is 13-2 this season if it scores 70 or more points.
- DJ Burns stepping in Mahorcic's absence: In the nine games since Dusan Mahorcic was injured, graduate forward DJ Burns is averaging 12.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds (including 2.6 offensive rebounds) per game, 2.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. Burns is shooting 57.5 percent from the field (50-of-87).
- NC State leads the ACC in turnover margin (+4.0), steals (8.7 per game) and forcing turnovers (14.6 per game). The Pack is 9-0 this season when it forces its opponent into 15 or more turnovers and 10-0 when it has at least 18 points off of opponent turnovers.

NC State - North Carolina Series
- Saturday will be the 243rd meeting between the two programs.
- North Carolina leads the all-time series, 163-79, and is 29-7 against the Pack in the Smith Center.
- Last Season: North Carolina swept the season series with NC State, defeating the Pack, 100-80, in Chapel Hill on Jan. 29, and won in PNC Arena, 84-74, on Feb. 26. In two games against the Tar Heels, last season, Terquavion Smith scored 54 points, including a career-high 34 in Chapel Hill.

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Players Mentioned

Jarkel Joiner

Dusan Mahorcic

Casey Morsell

Ernest Ross

Terquavion Smith