NC State Closes Homestand by Hosting William & Mary Friday Night

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NC State Game Notes | William & Mary Game Notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (4-0) concludes its season-opening homestand Friday evening when it welcomes William & Mary (3-3) to the Lenovo Center.

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

Pack Tracks
- NC State moved to 4-0 with a 72-49 win over Colgate on Monday night. The Pack held Colgate to just 33.3 percent shooting, including 19.2 percent from long range while also forcing the Raiders into 15 turnovers (Colgate entered the game ranking 10th in the NCAA, averaging just 7.7 turnovers per game). Colgate's 49 points marked the first time NC State has held an opponent under 50 points since a 65-48 win over Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 9, 2021.
- The Pack is 4-0 for the third consecutive season and the fifth time in eight seasons with Kevin Keatts as head coach. A win on Friday night would give the Pack a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2018-19 team started 6-0.
- NC State was down 6-2 at the first media timeout but responded out of the break with a 17-0 run to take control of the game. After Colgate scored four straight to get within nine points, 19-10, another NC State run - this one a 15-3 spurt - gave the Pack a 34-13 lead with 3:48 left in the first half and Colgate never got closer than 16 the rest of the way.
- Ben Middlebrooks led the Pack with 19 points. The senior from Fort Lauderdale shot 5-for-8 from the field and made all nine of his free throw attempts. He added a team-best three blocks and tied for team-high honors with two steals.
- Also reaching double figures for the Pack on Monday night was Marcus Hill (17) and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (11). NC State has had eight different players score in double figures in the young season. Heading into Friday's game against William & Mary, NC State has eight players averaging 6.3 or more points per game.
- Seven of NC State's eight top scorers are shooting 50 percent or better from the field. The Pack's leading scorer, Jayden Taylor, is the only one not shooting over 50 percent through four games. Taylor is shooting 45.5 percent on the season. He is shooting 72.7 percent (16-of-22) on two-point field goals though and is tied for team-high honors in free throw percentage, converting 81.3 percent (13-of-16) at the charity stripe.
- Senior guard Michael O'Connell's assist-to-turnover ratio of 10.0 (20 assists/2 turnovers this season) is tied for the best mark in the ACC and is the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the NCAA.

Friday Storylines
- In the last two seasons, and counting the first four games of this season, NC State is 31-7 (.816) in home games, including a 17-0 mark against non-conference opponents.
- NC State has a 54-2 (.964) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games under head coach Kevin Keatts.
- NC State has been incredibly efficient on two-point field goals this season. The Pack has shot a combined 61.2 percent (101-of-165) on two-point field goals in NC State's first four games of the season. - NC State has scored 180 points in the paint this season and enters Friday's game averaging 45.0 points paint points per game.
- Making life uncomfortable: NC State has forced all four opponents it has faced this season into at least 15 turnovers. Overall, NC State opponents average 16.5 turnovers per game this season and the Pack has turned those turnovers into 80 points off turnovers (20.0 per game) this season. The Pack has outscored its opponent this season 80-29 in points off turnovers.
- Friday will be the Pack's stiffest test yet from long distance. Through the first four games of the season, NC State has been one of the nation's best teams at running its opponent off the three-point line. The Pack's opponents are shooting just 22.2 percent from three-point range this season (18-of-81) and no opponent has made more than five three-pointers in a game this season. William & Mary ranks eighth in the NCAA in three-point attempts per game, averaging 34.2 per game and ranks 12th in the NCAA with an average of 11.8 made threes per game. In six games this season, the Tribe have made 12 or more threes four times and have attempted over 30 threes five times.
- Battle of the Benches: William & Mary comes into the game Friday ranked 10th in the NCAA, averaging 42.5 bench points per game while the Pack is averaging 30.3 bench points per game this season.

NC State Series with William & Mary
- Friday will be the 31st all-time meeting between NC State and William & Mary. The Pack leads the all-time series, 24-6.
- The series between the two programs dates back almost 100 years as the teams first met in the 1931-32 season. Twenty-six of the previous 30 meetings took place before 1970. Fridays matchup will be just the fifth meeting in the last 55 years between the two teams.
- Last Meeting (Nov. 29, 2022): NC State defeated William & Mary, 85-64, to improve to 7-1. The Tribe had a 19-17 lead midway through the first half, but the Pack went on a 55-20 run that spanned both halves to take a 72-39 lead 10 minutes into the second half. Casey Morsell led the way for NC State with 23 points and tied his career-high with six three-pointers.

NC State Closes Homestand by Hosting William & Mary Friday Night

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Hill

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Michael O'Connell

Jayden Taylor

North Carolina State University Athletics