Pack Hosts Rival UNC Wednesday Night at Sold Out PNC Arena

Wednesday, January 10

Raleigh, NC

8 PM

NC State

North Carolina

Pack Hosts Rival UNC Wednesday Night at Sold Out PNC Arena

1/9/2024 3:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Both teams enter Wednesday's Showdown Undefeated in ACC Play

ESPN | Stream | Tickets (Sold Out) - Secondary Ticket Market: SeatGeek | Live Stats

NC State Game Notes | UNC Game Notes

RALEIGH - The NC State men's basketball team (11-3, 3-0 ACC) hosts rival seventh-ranked North Carolina (11-3, 3-0 ACC) Wednesday night inside of a sold out PNC Arena.

Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Notes
- NC State ran its win streak to four games with a 76-60 win over Virginia on Saturday afternoon
With the win, the Pack improved to 3-0 in ACC play this season. It's NC State's best start in ACC play since the 2012-13 team started 3-0.
- Virginia led 19-15 at the under-8 media timeout. But coming out the timeout with just 1.4 seconds on the shot clock, Dennis Parker, Jr., drained a desperation 30-foot three-pointer that started an NC State run. The Parker three was the start of a 34-13 run over the next 12 minutes .
- The Pack was led by freshman Dennis Parker, Jr., and junior Jayden Taylor who each scored 15 points. Parker finished the game 5-of-8 from the field, including knocking down a season-best three three-pointers. DJ Horne added 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.
- Michael O'Connell passed out five assists and zero turnovers in 27 minutes of action on Saturday. The Stanford transfer has now passed out 17 assists with no turnovers in the Pack's last four games. O'Connell has gone nearly a month since last committing a turnover (Dec. 12 vs. UT Martin). The Mineola, N.Y., native leads the ACC and ranks 11th in NCAA DI with a 3.82 assist/turnover ratio.
- NC State only committed 10 turnovers last week (six against Virginia and a season-low four in the win at Notre Dame). The Pack now ranks third in the NCAA in turnovers per game, averaging just 8.6 per contest. NC State has had single digit turnovers in six of its last seven games and is 9-1 this season when it has less than 10 turnovers in a game.
- The Pack leads the ACC and ranks seventh in NCAA DI in turnover margin at +5.4. In the last four games, the Pack has a +32 turnover margin over its opponents and a 72-20 advantage in points off turnovers. In the Kevin Keatts era, NC State is 95-36 (72.5%) when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents.

Wednesday Storylines
- NC State is 23-2 at home since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. The Pack is 9-2 in ACC home games and 14-0 against non-conference teams.
- Also dating back to last season, NC State has won eight of its last nine ACC games played in the month of January. The Pack won six of its seven ACC games last January and both this season. The only loss was an 80-69 defeat in Chapel Hill on 1/21/23 to the Tar Heels.
- Kevin Keatts has led NC State to 11 wins over ranked opponents as head coach of the Pack, including an 8-8 mark against ranked opponents inside PNC Arena. NC State has won three of its last four home games against ranked opponents. NC State's last home win over a ranked opponent was Jan. 14, 2023 when the Pack knocked off #14 Miami, 83-81, in overtime. NC State's last home win over a top-10 opponent was Feb. 19, 2020. The Pack blew out #6 Duke, 88-66. Wednesday's game marks the first top-10 opponent to come to PNC Arena since #8 Florida State visited on Feb. 22, 2020.
- The Pack is off to a 3-0 start in the ACC for the first time since the 2012-13 season. A win on Saturday would give NC State its first 4-0 start in conference play since the 1973-74 team went 12-0 in the ACC.
- Wednesday's game will be the first time since Jan. 22, 1974 that NC State and North Carolina meet where both teams are at least 3-0. (credit to UNC's Steve Kirschner for the research on this note).
- Keep the Tar Heels Off the Foul Line: Despite splitting the season series last year, UNC outscored NC State by 34 points and shot 41 more free throws than the Pack in the two meetings combined. In the Pack's 11-point loss in Chapel Hill last January, UNC outscored NC State by 24 points at the free throw line. NC State shot a higher field goal percentage than the Tar Heels in both games last year, but that advantage was negated by UNC's dominance at the free throw line. This season both teams have played 14 games and UNC has made more free throws (270) than NC State has attempted (261).
- 1,000 Point Club: Grad Guard Casey Morsell has 996 career points and is now just four points shy of 1,000 for his career. Morsell played the first two years of his career at Virginia. He scored 220 points in 53 career games at UVA from 2019-21 (4.2 ppg.). He's scored 776 points in 78 career games with the Pack (9.9 ppg.) average.
- Stanford reunion: The Pack's Michael O'Connell and UNC's Harrison Ingram were teammates at Stanford the previous two seasons. The two players were both fixtures in the Cardinal lineup the last two seasons with Ingram making 62 starts and O'Connell 58 starts for Stanford.
- Dennis Parker, Jr., grabbing hold of starting four-man role: DJ Burns, DJ Horne, 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 9.5 points on 54.8 percent shooting, including 43.8% (7-of-16) from three-point range and 6.2 rebounds per game over the last six outings as a starter.
- Ben Middlebrooks carving out a role. Over the last four games, the junior transfer from Clemson, is playing 16.5 minutes per game off the bench and is averaging 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in a backup role behind DJ Burns, Jr. Middlebrooks has been efficient offensively, shooting 68.8% (11-of-16) from the field during the four game stretch.

NC State Series with North Carolina
- Wednesday will be the 245th all-time meeting between the two programs. North Carolina leads the all-time series, 164-80.
- Kevin Keatts is 3-9 against North Carolina as head coach of the Pack, including a 2-4 mark against the Tar Heels in PNC Arena.
- Last Meeting (Feb. 19, 2023): 23rd-ranked NC State outscored North Carolina, 29-15, in the final 10 minutes of the game to win going away, 77-69, inside PNC Arena. Jarkel Joiner scored a game-high 29 points, hitting 11-of-21 shots and all six of his free throws. He scored 20 of his 29 points in the final 20 minutes as he shot 8-of-11 from the field. DJ Burns scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half as he was 7-of-9 from the field in the final 20 minutes. Casey Morsell and Terquavion Smith each added 12 points. The Pack only turned it over three times in the game and had a 16-3 advantage in points off turnovers. NC State also finished with a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 25-7 advantage in fast break points.