North Carolina State University Athletics
Thursday, November 28
San Diego, CA
3 PM
NC State
vs
Purdue
Pack Heads to San Diego for Rady Children’s Invitational and Final Four Rematch with Purdue
11/27/2024 10:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
FS1 | Live Stats
NC State Game Notes | Purdue Game Notes
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The NC State men's basketball team (5-0) plays its first game away from Raleigh Thanksgiving Day when it faces Purdue in the opening round of the Rady Children's Invitational.
The game against the Boilermakers is scheduled for a 3 p.m. ET tip and will be televised on FS1. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow call the game on the Wolfpack Sports Network.
The Pack will play again on Friday in San Diego against either BYU or Ole Miss.
Pack Tracks
- NC State improved to 5-0 with an 84-61 win over William & Mary on Friday night. The Pack forced William & Mary into 21 turnovers as NC State finished with a 29-15 advantage in points off turnovers and a 41-9 advantage in fast break points.
- The Pack is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2018-19 team started 6-0.
- NC State's 41 fast break points in the win over the Tribe are the most in the Kevin Keatts era. The Pack leads all NCAA DI teams in fast break points, averaging 28.4 per game. In five games this season, NC State has outscored its opponents, 142-44, in fast break points.
- Marcus Hill led five NC State players in double figures in the win over William & Mary with 19 points. Also reaching double figures for the Pack was Dontrez Styles (12 points), Jayden Taylor (12), Ben Middlebrooks (11) and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (10).
- NC State has had at least one player score in double figures off the bench in all five games this season. - Overall through five games, the Pack's bench has had six individual double-digit scoring performances by four different players (Ben Middlebrooks has scored in double figures three times off the bench). For the season, NC State's bench is averaging 29.0 points per game.
- Five of NC State's seven top scorers are shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Jayden Taylor (25-54 FGs) and Michael O'Connell (12-25 FGs) are the only two players under 50 percent shooting. As a team, NC State is shooting 50.5 percent from the field this season, second in the ACC and 31st in the NCAA.
- Season of Sharing: NC State is averaging 15.6 assists per game through the first three games. Michael O'Connell leads the Pack with 23 assists and has a 5.75 assist-to-turnover ratio. Overall, NC State has had 10 different players with multiple assists in a game this season and seven different players have had a game with three or more assists.
Thursday Storylines
- Thursday marks the first game this season NC State has played against a ranked opponent. In the Kevin Keatts' era, NC State has 16 wins over ranked opponents. Last season, the Pack went 5-5 against ranked foes.
- NC State's last regular season neutral site win over a ranked opponent was Nov. 22, 2017 when the Pack took down second-ranked Arizona, 90-84, in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
- NC State has been incredibly efficient on two-point field goals this season. The Pack has shot a combined 60 percent (126-of-210) on two-point field goals in NC State's first five games of the season. NC State has scored 228 points in the paint this season and enters Friday's game averaging 45.6 points paint points per game.
- Making life uncomfortable: NC State has forced all five opponents it has faced this season into at least 15 turnovers. Overall, NC State opponents average 17.4 turnovers per game this season and the Pack has turned those turnovers into 109 points off turnovers (21.8 per game) this season. The Pack has outscored its opponent this season 109-44 in points off turnovers.
- NC State has been one of the nation's best teams at running its opponent off the three-point line early this season as the Pack ranks fourth in the NCAA in opponent's three-point field goal percentage. The Pack's opponents are shooting just 22.3 percent from three-point range this season (25-of-112). Purdue will offer the Pack its stiffest test yet as the Boilermakers rank 10th in the NCAA in three-point field goal percentage, averaging to make 43 percent of their attempts from downtown this season. NC State's last opponent, William & Mary, entered the game against the Pack ranked 12th in the NCAA with an average of 11.8 made threes per game and had made 12 or more threes in four of their six games, but the Pack held the Tribe to just 7-of-31 shooting from downtown.
- Thursday will be a contrast of styles. NC State leads the nation in fast break points, averaging 28.4 per game this season while Purdue ranks 313th in the NCAA, averaging 6.7 fast break points per game. The Boilermakers have been credited with 40 fast break points all season, NC State had 41 fast break points in its game last Friday against William & Mary. In the Final Four matchup last season, NC State was limited to two fast break points in the loss to Purdue. Boilermakers were credited with zero fast break points in their victory.
- Ben Middlebrooks, the rim protector? Middlebrooks has 12 blocks in five games this season to lead the ACC in blocks per game at 2.4. The senior from Fort Lauderdale has always been praised for his low-post defense, but he's never been a prolific shot blocker in his career. Last season he had 24 blocks in 41 games. This season, he established a new career-high with four blocks vs. USC Upstate on Nov. 4 and then reset his career-high on Nov. 22 with five blocks against William & Mary.
NC State series with Purdue
- Thursday will be the eighth all-time meeting between NC State and Purdue. The Pack leads the all-time series, 4-3, but the Boilermakers have won the last three meetings.
- This will be the third time a Keatts-led NC State squad faces Purdue. In the first meeting, the Pack lost to top-ranked Purdue, 82-72, in overtime in Brooklyn on Dec. 12, 2021. The second meeting was last season's Final Four game.
- Last Meeting (April 6, 2024): Purdue stopped the Pack's magical postseason run with a 63-50 win over NC State in the Final Four. The win snapped NC State's nine-game win streak. The Pack's defense held Purdue to a then season-low 63 points, the Boilers shot just 40 percent from the field, its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season, and the Pack forced Purdue into 16 turnovers (second-most it had all season), but NC State's offense could never get on track as NC State scored a season-low 50 points and shot just 36.8 percent from the field, its lowest shooting percentage since Jan. 27. DJ Horne led NC State with 20 points while Jayden Taylor added 11 points off the bench. DJ Burns was held to just eight points, but did pass out a team-best four assists while Ben Middlebrooks led the team with seven rebounds.
NC State Game Notes | Purdue Game Notes
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The NC State men's basketball team (5-0) plays its first game away from Raleigh Thanksgiving Day when it faces Purdue in the opening round of the Rady Children's Invitational.
The game against the Boilermakers is scheduled for a 3 p.m. ET tip and will be televised on FS1. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow call the game on the Wolfpack Sports Network.
The Pack will play again on Friday in San Diego against either BYU or Ole Miss.
Pack Tracks
- NC State improved to 5-0 with an 84-61 win over William & Mary on Friday night. The Pack forced William & Mary into 21 turnovers as NC State finished with a 29-15 advantage in points off turnovers and a 41-9 advantage in fast break points.
- The Pack is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2018-19 team started 6-0.
- NC State's 41 fast break points in the win over the Tribe are the most in the Kevin Keatts era. The Pack leads all NCAA DI teams in fast break points, averaging 28.4 per game. In five games this season, NC State has outscored its opponents, 142-44, in fast break points.
- Marcus Hill led five NC State players in double figures in the win over William & Mary with 19 points. Also reaching double figures for the Pack was Dontrez Styles (12 points), Jayden Taylor (12), Ben Middlebrooks (11) and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (10).
- NC State has had at least one player score in double figures off the bench in all five games this season. - Overall through five games, the Pack's bench has had six individual double-digit scoring performances by four different players (Ben Middlebrooks has scored in double figures three times off the bench). For the season, NC State's bench is averaging 29.0 points per game.
- Five of NC State's seven top scorers are shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Jayden Taylor (25-54 FGs) and Michael O'Connell (12-25 FGs) are the only two players under 50 percent shooting. As a team, NC State is shooting 50.5 percent from the field this season, second in the ACC and 31st in the NCAA.
- Season of Sharing: NC State is averaging 15.6 assists per game through the first three games. Michael O'Connell leads the Pack with 23 assists and has a 5.75 assist-to-turnover ratio. Overall, NC State has had 10 different players with multiple assists in a game this season and seven different players have had a game with three or more assists.
Thursday Storylines
- Thursday marks the first game this season NC State has played against a ranked opponent. In the Kevin Keatts' era, NC State has 16 wins over ranked opponents. Last season, the Pack went 5-5 against ranked foes.
- NC State's last regular season neutral site win over a ranked opponent was Nov. 22, 2017 when the Pack took down second-ranked Arizona, 90-84, in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
- NC State has been incredibly efficient on two-point field goals this season. The Pack has shot a combined 60 percent (126-of-210) on two-point field goals in NC State's first five games of the season. NC State has scored 228 points in the paint this season and enters Friday's game averaging 45.6 points paint points per game.
- Making life uncomfortable: NC State has forced all five opponents it has faced this season into at least 15 turnovers. Overall, NC State opponents average 17.4 turnovers per game this season and the Pack has turned those turnovers into 109 points off turnovers (21.8 per game) this season. The Pack has outscored its opponent this season 109-44 in points off turnovers.
- NC State has been one of the nation's best teams at running its opponent off the three-point line early this season as the Pack ranks fourth in the NCAA in opponent's three-point field goal percentage. The Pack's opponents are shooting just 22.3 percent from three-point range this season (25-of-112). Purdue will offer the Pack its stiffest test yet as the Boilermakers rank 10th in the NCAA in three-point field goal percentage, averaging to make 43 percent of their attempts from downtown this season. NC State's last opponent, William & Mary, entered the game against the Pack ranked 12th in the NCAA with an average of 11.8 made threes per game and had made 12 or more threes in four of their six games, but the Pack held the Tribe to just 7-of-31 shooting from downtown.
- Thursday will be a contrast of styles. NC State leads the nation in fast break points, averaging 28.4 per game this season while Purdue ranks 313th in the NCAA, averaging 6.7 fast break points per game. The Boilermakers have been credited with 40 fast break points all season, NC State had 41 fast break points in its game last Friday against William & Mary. In the Final Four matchup last season, NC State was limited to two fast break points in the loss to Purdue. Boilermakers were credited with zero fast break points in their victory.
- Ben Middlebrooks, the rim protector? Middlebrooks has 12 blocks in five games this season to lead the ACC in blocks per game at 2.4. The senior from Fort Lauderdale has always been praised for his low-post defense, but he's never been a prolific shot blocker in his career. Last season he had 24 blocks in 41 games. This season, he established a new career-high with four blocks vs. USC Upstate on Nov. 4 and then reset his career-high on Nov. 22 with five blocks against William & Mary.
NC State series with Purdue
- Thursday will be the eighth all-time meeting between NC State and Purdue. The Pack leads the all-time series, 4-3, but the Boilermakers have won the last three meetings.
- This will be the third time a Keatts-led NC State squad faces Purdue. In the first meeting, the Pack lost to top-ranked Purdue, 82-72, in overtime in Brooklyn on Dec. 12, 2021. The second meeting was last season's Final Four game.
- Last Meeting (April 6, 2024): Purdue stopped the Pack's magical postseason run with a 63-50 win over NC State in the Final Four. The win snapped NC State's nine-game win streak. The Pack's defense held Purdue to a then season-low 63 points, the Boilers shot just 40 percent from the field, its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season, and the Pack forced Purdue into 16 turnovers (second-most it had all season), but NC State's offense could never get on track as NC State scored a season-low 50 points and shot just 36.8 percent from the field, its lowest shooting percentage since Jan. 27. DJ Horne led NC State with 20 points while Jayden Taylor added 11 points off the bench. DJ Burns was held to just eight points, but did pass out a team-best four assists while Ben Middlebrooks led the team with seven rebounds.
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