Pack Returns to PNC Arena to Host UT Martin

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NC State Game Notes | UT Martin Game Notes

RALEIGH – The NC State men's basketball team (6-2) plays inside PNC Arena for the first time in 25 days Tuesday night when it hosts UT Martin.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 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 Notes
-NC State won its annual Heritage Game contest at Reynolds Coliseum, 93-61, last Wednesday.
- The Pack shot a season-high 59.3 percent from the field in the win over Maryland Eastern Shore. The game was the 200th for Kevin Keatts as head coach of the Pack and the 59.3 percent shooting was the seventh-highest field goal percentage in the Keatts era for NC State. It's the Pack's best shooting performance since shooting 61.9 percent in NC State's ACC Tournament second round win over Virginia Tech last season.
- NC State placed six players in double figures in the win over the Hawks. It's the first time NC State has had six players score in double figures in the same game since March 6, 2020 when the Pack had six reach double figures in NC State's senior day win over Wake Forest. The six players that scored in double figures on Wednesday against UMES combined to shoot 69.8 percent (30-of-43) from the field.
- Junior guard Jayden Taylor led the Pack with 21 points. The Indianapolis native was 8-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Over the last five games, Taylor is averaging 16.0 points per game and shooting 55.1 percent (27-of-49) from the field.
- Grad forward DJ Burns chipped in 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting while starters DJ Horne (10 points) and Casey Morsell (12) also reached double figures.
- Sophomore guards LJ Thomas and MJ Rice both scored in double figures for the first time this season in the win. Thomas scored 10 points and had a team-high three steals while Rice made his program-debut and scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Rice, transferred to NC State last spring after spending his freshman season at Kansas.

Tuesday Storylines
-NC State has a 47-2 (.959) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games under head coach Kevin Keatts.
-NC State Deploying Diverse Offensive Attack: Through eight games this season, NC State has now had 10 different players reach double figures in scoring. Every scholarship player that has played at least 10 minutes in a game this season has scored in double figures. Last season in 35 games, only nine NC State players had a double-digit scoring performance. Six different players have led NC State in scoring this season (DJ Burns, DJ Horne, Ben Middlebrooks, Casey Morsell, Dennis Parker, Jr., and Jayden Taylor). Four different players have led NC State in scoring in the Pack's last four games (Casey Morsell vs. BYU, Ben Middlebrooks vs. Ole Miss, DJ Horne vs. Boston College and Jayden Taylor vs. UMES) and no player has been the team's leading scorer in back-to-back games this season.
-NC State scored a season-high 48 points in the paint in the win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday. The Pack is averaging 36.8 points in the paint this season and has outscored its opponents by 56 in paint points this season.
-Get out and Go: NC State has outscored its last two opponents by 32 points in fast break points (43-11). For the season, NC State is averaging 18.0 fast break points per game which ranks as the 12th-most in NCAA DI. If you take out the game at Ole Miss on Nov. 28 when NC State was held to just two transition points, the Pack's average rises to 20.3 per game which would rank fifth in the NCAA.
-Pack turning bench back into an advantage. Kevin Keatts first four teams at NC State all averaged over 20 bench points per game and helped the Pack gain a significant advantage on its opponents as NC State had a +850 point advantage over its opponent in bench points in his first four years combined. The last two seasons saw NC State's bench scoring fall to a combined average of just 12.9 points per game, but this season NC State's bench is contributing at a higher level again. Through eight games, NC State is averaging 21.4 bench points per game this season and has already had five individual double-digit bench performances, including two last game in MJ Rice (11 points) and LJ Thomas (10 points).
- Win the turnover battle: NC State ranks 17th in the NCAA in turnover margin at +4.9. The Pack forces its opponents into an average of 14.6 turnovers per game (77th in NCAA/3rd in ACC) while turning it over themselves an average of just 9.8 times per game (25th in NCAA/4th in ACC). In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State is 91-36 (71.7%) when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents, 8-12 (40%) when it has the same amount of turnovers as its opponent and 20-33 (37.7%) when it has more turnovers than its opponent.

NC State Series with UT Martin
- Tuesday will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
- The Pack has a 6-1 record all-time against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference.

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Players Mentioned

DJ Horne

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Dennis Parker, Jr.

MJ Rice

Jayden Taylor

LJ Thomas