Pack Hosts Saint Louis Wednesday Night

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NC State Game Notes | Saint Louis Game Notes

RALEIGH, NC - The NC State men's basketball team (7-3) returns home to host Saint Louis (7-5) Wednesday night at PNC Arena.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Notes
- NC State fell to 12th-ranked Tennessee, 79-70, Saturday night in the Basketball Hall of Fame San Antonio event.
- The Pack overcame an early 11-point second half deficit to tie the game at 60 and was within two, 67-65, with under four minutes to play, but could never get over the hump in the final 20 minutes against the Vols.
- For the second consecutive game, DJ Horne led the Pack in scoring with 16 points. He's the first NC State player to go back-to-back games as the team's scoring leader. In 10 games this season, NC State has had six different players lead the team in scoring. Horne was 6-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. He also led the team with three steals.
- Horne has stepped up offensively in the last four games for the Pack as he's led the team in scoring in three of the last four outings. He scored a season-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the win over UT Martin on Dec. 12. He tied his career-high with six made three-pointers in the win over the Skyhawks. Over the last four games, Horne is averaging 17.3 points per game and is shooting 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the field and 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from three-point range in that stretch.
- Kam Woods made his season-debut in the team's game vs. Tennessee on Saturday night. Woods scored nine points, knocking down both of his three-point attempts and grabbed four rebounds in 18 minutes. The Bessemer, Ala. native is a two-time transfer and was waiting for the decision on his eligibility waiver until last Wednesday when a court judge issued an injunction to allow immediate eligibility for all two-time transfers.
- DJ Burns, Jr., added 15 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists vs. Tennessee. Burns has had four or more assists in five of 10 games this season and now leads the Pack in assists this season.

Wednesday Storylines
- NC State has a 48-2 (.960) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games under head coach Kevin Keatts.
- NC State is 20-2 at home since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. The Pack went 8-2 in ACC home games last season and is 12-0 against non-conference teams last season and this season.
Saint Louis enters the game Wednesday night ranked 16th in the NCAA in three-point percentage at 39.2 percent. In the Pack's seven wins this season they've limited their opponents to just 32.1 percent from long-range, but in its three losses, NC State's opponents have shot 40.7 percent from long range and is averaging to make 11 three-pointers per game.
- NC State Deploying Diverse Offensive Attack: Through 10 games this season, NC State has had 10 different players reach double figures in scoring. An 11th player (Kam Woods) made his season-debut on Saturday against Tennessee and scored nine points in 18 minutes against the Volunteers. 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). The Pack ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring at 79.3 points per game, but is just one of just three ACC teams (NC State, Virginia and Florida State) to not have a player rank in the top-20 in the conference in scoring.
- Get out and Go: NC State is averaging 16.8 fast break points per game which ranks as the 15th-most in NCAA DI. In the Pack's seven wins it averages 19.6 fast break points per game, but that totally is nearly cut in half in its three losses, averaging just 10.3 transition points per game in defeats.
- 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 10 games, NC State is averaging 20.3 bench points per game this season and has already had five individual double-digit bench performances.
- Win the turnover battle: NC State ranks 19th in the NCAA in turnover margin at +4.3. The Pack forces its opponents into an average of 14.1 turnovers per game (85th in NCAA/4th in ACC) while turning it over themselves an average of just 9.8 times per game (26th in NCAA/4th in ACC). In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State is 92-36 (71.9%) when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents, 8-13 (38.1%) 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 Saint Louis
- Wednesday will be the third ever meeting between the two programs. Saint Louis has won both previous games in the series.
- Last Meeting (Dec. 18, 2020): Saint Louis beat NC State 80-69 as the Billikens ended the game on a 32-14 run. The game was the first for the Pack after a two-week Covid pause and NC State only had nine players in uniform for the game. Sophomore Manny Bates had a career-game for the Pack, finishing with a career-high 20 points and a career-high eight blocked shots. The Pack forced Saint Louis into 21 turnovers and had an 18-3 advantage in points off turnovers, but the Billikens owned the boards, outrebounding NC State, 53-26.

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Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

DJ Horne

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Dennis Parker, Jr.

Jayden Taylor

Kam Woods