Pack Closes Non-Conference Play by Hosting Detroit Mercy

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NC State Game Notes | Detroit Game Notes

RALEIGH - The NC State men's basketball team (8-3, 1-0 ACC) plays its final non-conference game of the regular season Saturday afternoon when it welcomes Detroit Mercy to PNC Arena.

Tipoff against the Titans is scheduled for 1 p.m. and 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 defeated Saint Louis, 82-70, Wednesday night behind a game-changing 29-7 run in the second half that turned a 50-46 deficit with a little under 15 minutes to play into a 75-57 advantage with five minutes to go.
- The Pack finished the game with a +12 turnover margin and a 29-2 advantage in points off turnovers. The 27-point advantage in points off turnovers is the Pack's largest margin since outscoring Duke, 31-2, in points off turnovers in NC State's win last season on Jan. 4, 2023.
- NC State is now 50-7 (.877) in the Kevin Keatts era when it scores 20 or more points off turnovers. The Pack has won its last 12 games when it has at least 20 points off turnovers.
- After hitting zero three-pointers in the first half (0-8), NC State was 9-17 from long range in the second half. The last time NC State hit nine three-pointers in a half was last season when the Pack knocked down nine in the second half of its win at Boston College (2/11/23).
- The Pack held Saint Louis to just one three-pointer in the game - zero in the second half when NC State made nine. The Billikens entered the game shooting 39.2 percent from long range, which ranked 14th in the NCAA, but the Pack limited them to 1-for-12 shooting (8.3%) from downtown. In the Pack's eight wins this season it has taken the three-point line away from its opponents, allowing just 5.6 threes made per game. In NC State's three losses, opponents have made 33 three-pointers, an average of 11.0 per game.
- Casey Morsell shook off back-to-back low scoring performances (12 points combined in two games before Saint Louis) to score a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting against the Billikens. Morsell hit a season-high four three-pointers. It was his second 20+-point performance of the season and sixth of his career.
- DJ Horne (18 points) and DJ Burns, Jr. (13 points) joined Morsell in double figures in the win over Saint Louis.

Saturday Storylines
- NC State has a 49-2 (.961) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games under head coach Kevin Keatts. NC State is 21-2 at home since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. The Pack went 8-2 in ACC home games last season and is 13-0 against non-conference teams.
- DJ Horne Scorching Hot: The Raleigh native has been lethal from downtown in the Pack's last three games. After shooting 15-of-45 (33.3%) from three-point range in the first eight games of his NC State career, Horne is 14-of-23 (60.9%) from long-range in the last three outings. He has made at least four three-pointers in all three games, including tying a career-high with six made three-pointers in the win over UT Martin on Dec. 12. Horne is now fifth in the ACC in three-point percentage (42.6%) and sixth in three-pointers made per game (2.5). Through the first six games this season, Horne only had three double-digit scoring performances. He was averaging 10.7 points per game and shooting 34.8 percent from the field. Over the last five games, Horne is averaging 17.4 points per game and shooting 51.7 percent from the field. Through six games, Horne ranked fourth on the team in scoring, but after Wednesday's 18 point performance, Horne now leads the team in scoring at 14.0 points per game.
- Grad Guard Casey Morsell broke out of a mini slump on Wednesday with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The Ft. Washington, Md., native is now just 19 points shy of 1,000 for his career. If Morsell starts on Saturday it'll be his 59th consecutive start tying him with his teammate from the last two seasons, Terquavion Smith (59 straight starts) for the most consecutive starts in the Kevin Keatts era.
- NC State Deploying Diverse Offensive Attack: Through 11 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 79.6 points per game, but is just one of 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 16.4 fast break points per game which ranks as the 22nd-most in NCAA DI. In the Pack's eight wins it averages 18.7 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.
- Win the turnover battle: NC State ranks 17th in the NCAA in turnover margin at +5.0. The Pack forces its opponents into an average of 14.5 turnovers per game (72nd in NCAA/3rd in ACC) while turning it over themselves an average of just 9.5 times per game (13th in NCAA/3rd 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 Detroit Mercy
- Saturday will be the fourth ever meeting between the two programs. NC State leads the all-time series, 3-0.
- Last Meeting (Nov. 10, 2019): NC State beat Detroit Mercy, 84-65, to earn its first win of the 2019-20 season. Braxton Beverly led the Pack with a career-high 23 points. The junior guard took advantage of the Titans' zone, knocking down 6-of-9 three-pointers to also set a career high in three pointers made in a single game. He also dished out three assists on the night. C.J. Bryce and Devon Daniels complemented Beverly's charge with 19 points and 14 points, respectively. Detroit Mercy was led by Antoine Davis with 28 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Pack Closes Non-Conference Play by Hosting Detroit Mercy

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Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

DJ Horne

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Dennis Parker, Jr.

Terquavion Smith

Jayden Taylor

Kam Woods