Pack Hosts Wake Forest Tuesday Night at PNC Arena

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NC State Game Notes | Wake Forest Game Notes

RALEIGH - The NC State men's basketball team hosts Wake Forest in a showdown Tuesday night as both teams look to move to 5-1 in ACC play.

The game inside PNC Arena tips off at 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 trailed only once and turned back numerous Louisville rallies to beat the Cardinals, 89-83, Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.
- The Pack led for 37:31 of game time and had seemingly put the game away with a 15-5 run late in the second half, taking an 83-69 lead with 2:18 to play. But Louisville went on an 11-0 run in 86 seconds to pull within 83-80 with 52 seconds remaining. DJ Horne responded with a three-point play with 31 seconds to go to double the lead back to six, but the Cardinals answered with a three-pointer to once again get within one possession. Horne made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 14 seconds left and Louisville did not score again.
- NC State is off to a 4-1 start in ACC play for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The Pack has won its first three ACC road games for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
- DJ Horne shook off a poor shooting performance against North Carolina on Wednesday by scoring 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range. The six made three-pointers tied a career-high and it was the third time this season Horne has made six three-pointers in a game.
Horne came off the bench for the first time this season and his 27 points are the most by an NC State player off the bench since Allerik Freeman scored 29 points in the Pack's overtime win at North Carolina on Jan. 27, 2018. Overall, NC State scored 40 bench points. The 10th-most bench points in the Kevin Keatts era and the most for a Pack team since scoring 45 bench points against The Citadel on Dec. 22, 2019.
- Michael O'Connell made the first start of his NC State career on Saturday (he started 76 of the 89 games he played in at Stanford) scoring 11 points and passing out a game-high six assists. It was the second time this season (and first since the season-opener) that O'Connell reached double figures in scoring.

Tuesday Storylines
- NC State's 4-1 start in conference play is its best start in the ACC since the 2012-13 team started 4-1. A win on Tuesday would give the Pack its best start in the ACC since the 1988-89 team opened its ACC slate with a 5-1 record.
- NC State is 23-3 at home since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. The Pack is 9-3 in ACC home games and 14-0 against non-conference teams
- Dating back to last season, NC State has won nine of its last 11 ACC games played in the month of January. The Pack won six of its seven ACC games last January and three of four this January.
- In two games against Wake Forest last season, DJ Burns averaged 26.0 points per game. He scored a career-high 31 points in the Pack's win at Winston-Salem. He was unstoppable in the second half as he shot 10-of-15 from the field and scored 23 of his 31 points. NC State overcame a 10-point second half deficit to win 79-77, at Wake Forest. In the Pack's win at PNC Arena, Burns scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
- Whose day will it be? NC State has had six different players lead the team in scoring this season, including five different players in its five ACC games (DJ Horne has led the team in scoring twice in ACC play - Dennis Parker, Jr., and Jayden Taylor tied for team-high honors with each scoring 15 points in the win over Virginia on Jan. 6). This season, only once has NC State had the same leading scorer in back-to-back games.
- ACC foes have limited the Pack's transition points: In 11 non-conference games this season, NC State averaged 17.1 fast break points per game but that number has been cut nearly in half in ACC play where the Pack averages just 8.6 fast break point an outing in five conference games. NC State scored 16 fast break points in the win over Boston College in December but has just 27 fast break points total in its last four outings.
- Win the boards, win the game?: NC State is 8-1 this season when it outrebounds its opponent, but just 4-3 when the opponents win the rebounding battle. In ACC play, the Pack is 4-0 when it outrebounds the opponent and 0-1 when it is outrebounded.
- The Pack almost doubled its shooting percentage from Wednesday to Saturday last week. After shooting 27.3 percent against UNC on Wednesday, NC State turned around on Saturday afternoon and shot 54.2 percent. This season, the Pack is 11-2 when it shoots 40 percent or better from the field.
- Casey Morsell scored the 1,000th point of his collegiate career in last Wednesday's game at UNC. Morsell has scored 801 points in an NC State uniform. With at least 16 guaranteed games remaining, Morsell needs to average 12.4 points per the rest of the season to become the 57th member of NC State's 1,000-point club.
- Graduate guard Michael O'Connell has passed out 25 assists and just four turnovers in the last six outings. He ranks third in the ACC with a 3.33 assist/turnover ratio. The season isn't even at the halfway point yet, but O'Connell's assist/turnover ratio currently would be the third-best single-season average in program history. Currently, only three players in program history have finished a season with better than a 3.0 assist/turnover ratio.
- Dennis Parker, Jr., grabbing hold of starting four-man role. DJ Burns, Casey Morsell and Jayden Taylor have started every game this season, but the four-man role in the starting lineup has changed hands a few times. Mohamed Diarra started the first five games before giving way to Parker for one game and then Ben Middlebrooks started two consecutive games before Parker, Jr., moved back into the starting lineup for the UT Martin game on Dec. 12. Parker, Jr., has started every game since then and is averaging 8.5 points 5.9 rebounds per game over the last eight outings, including shooting 51.9 percent from the field as a starter.
- Ben Middlebrooks carving out a role. Over the last six games, the junior transfer from Clemson, is playing 15.8 minutes per game off the bench and is averaging 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in a backup role behind DJ Burns, Jr. Middlebrooks has been efficient offensively, shooting 59.1% (13-of-22) from the field during the six game stretch.

NC State Series with Wake Forest
- Tuesday will be the 255th all-time meeting between the two programs. NC State leads the all-time series, 146-108.
- Kevin Keatts is 9-3 against the Demon Deacons as head coach of the Pack, including a 5-1 record against Wake Forest at PNC Arena.
- Last Meeting (Feb. 22, 2023): NC State completed a season sweep of the Demon Deacons with a 90-74 win over Wake Forest. Jarkel Joiner and DJ Burns combined for 50 points in the Pack win. Joiner led the way for the Wolfpack with his second-straight 29-point performance, while Burns added 21 points. The duo combined to shoot 64.5 percent (20-of-31) from the field.

Pack Hosts Wake Forest Tuesday Night at PNC Arena

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Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

Mohamed Diarra

DJ Horne

Jarkel Joiner

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Michael O'Connell

Dennis Parker, Jr.

Jayden Taylor