Pack Heads to Clemson for Saturday Night Clash

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NC State Game Notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (15-9, 7-6 ACC) heads south to South Carolina on Saturday night for a tangle with Clemson (17-7, 7-6 ACC).

Tipoff at Littlejohn Coliseum is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. and the game will be televised on The CW. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Notes
- NC State dropped a heartbreaker to Wake Forest last Saturday, falling to the Demon Deacons, 83-79, at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
- The game featured 15 ties and 12 lead changes and almost 10 minutes of game time was played with the score tied. The score was knotted at 79 when Wake Forest scored the winning basket on an Andrew Carr field goal in the paint with 17 seconds remaining. After the Pack came up empty on the other end, the Demon Deacons sealed the game with two free throws with 1.7 seconds left.
- DJ Horne led the Pack with a season-high 31 points. The 31 points are the most by an NC State player this season. The Raleigh native finished the game 13-of-21 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point range.
- Horne has now led NC State in scoring in seven of the last nine games. He has made three or more three-pointers in seven consecutive games and has now made three of more three-pointers in 13 of 24 games this season. Horne's 70 three-pointers are the fourth-most by an ACC player this season and his 43.2 percent three-point field goal percentage is the third-best mark in the conference.
- Horne has scored 24 or more points in four consecutive games. He is averaging 26.5 points per game over the last four outings and is shooting 52.3 percent (34-of-65) from the field, including 50 percent (16-of-32) from three-point range. Horne is now averaging 18.7 points per game in 13 ACC games, the fourth highest scoring average in conference play.
- Mohamed Diarra posted a double-double vs. Wake Forest with 13 points (5-5 FGs, 2-2 3FGs) and 12 rebounds. It was the second double-double of the season for Diarra, his first came back in the season-opener back on Nov. 6. Diarra ranks 11th in conference action, averaging 7.7 rebounds per game in ACC contests.

Saturday Storylines
- Saturday will feature the unique storyline of having two players on the court that played last season for the other team. NC State's Ben Middlebrooks played for Clemson last season while the Tigers' Jack Clark was a member of NC State's team last year. Middlebrooks played two seasons at Clemson, appearing in 60 games and making 11 starts for the Tigers. Ironically, Middlebrooks career-high in scoring while with the Tigers was a 10-point performance in last season's Clemson win over NC State at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clark played one season for the Pack (2022-23) after three seasons at La Salle. Clark started 17 of 23 games for NC State last season and averaged 9.0 points per game and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game.
- Saturday's game will feature two of the most experienced starting lineups in college basketball. If both teams start the same starting five as they did in their last game, the 10 players that start the game on Saturday night will combine to have played over 1,200 college basketball games. NC State's starting five the last four games of DJ Burns, DJ Horne, Casey Morsell, Michael O'Connell and Jayden Taylor have combined to play 635 college basketball games. Clemson's starting five on Wednesday night vs. Miami has combined to play 566 college basketball games.
- If Casey Morsell starts on Saturday night it'll be the 72nd straight start for the Fort Washington, Md., native. Morsell's 72 consecutive starts would put tie him with Richard Howell (2011-13) for the 10th-longest starting streak in program history.
- Saturday's game will have three of the top-four active scoring leaders in the ACC. Clemson's Joe Girard is second amongst ACC players with 2,000 career points while DJ Horne is third with 1,848 and DJ Burns, Jr., is fourth with 1,837. NC State is one of just four teams in NCAA DI basketball (North Carolina, Purdue and Wright State are the other three) to have two 1,800 point career scorers on their roster currently.
- Horne clicking from long range. The Arizona State transfer ranks fourth in the ACC in three-point field goals per game (2.92) and third in three-point percentage (43.2%). The Raleigh, N.C., native got off to a slow start this season from three-point range, through seven games he was only shooting 32.5 percent from downtown (13-of-40). In the last 17 games, Horne is shooting 46.7% from three-point range (57-of-122). Horne can heat up quickly, he has made multiple three-pointers in 19 of 24 games this season. In the 19 games where Horne has made at least two three-pointers, he is shooting 48.9% (67-of-137) from long range.
- The Pack ranks fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 42.8 percent shooting in conference action. Through 13 ACC games, only three teams (Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Louisville) have shot over 45 percent against the Pack.
- Casey Morsell Excelling at Foul Line: The grad guard in his fifth collegiate season has had 71 free throw attempts this season. That's already 15 more free throws this season than his previous most in a whole season (56 in 30 games in the 2021-22 season). The Ft. Washington, Md., native is shooting 83.1 percent from the foul line this season, his average rises to 91.1 percent (41-of-45) in ACC-only contests (3rd in the ACC). Morsell enters Saturday's game at Clemson having made 37 of his last 39 free throw attempts.
- NC State leads the ACC and ranks 25th in the NCAA with an average of 14.4 fast break points per game. NC State is 14-4 this season when it has more fast break points than its opponent, but is just 1-5 when its opponent has more fast break points. Last season, NC State averaged 14.9 fast break points per game to lead the ACC and ranked 13th in the NCAA overall, but in the three meetings with Clemson last season, the Tigers held NC State to just 18 fast break points total as Clemson won all three games.

NC State Series with Clemson
- Saturday will be the 165th all-time meeting in the series. NC State leads the all-time series, 104-60.
- Kevin Keatts is 4-8 against the Tigers as head coach of the Pack.
- NC State has lost five consecutive games at Littlejohn Coliseum. The last time NC State won at Clemson was March 3, 2015. Florida State is the only ACC opponent that the Pack has gone a longer amount of time without a win on the opponent's home floor. (Pack last won at FSU on Jan. 17, 2015)
- Last Meeting (March 9, 2023): Clemson defeated NC State, 80-54, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. NC State had the ball trailing 45-42 with a little over 16 minutes to play, but turned it over and Clemson went down and hit a three-pointer to start a 10-0 run. The Pack scored on back-to-back plays to get within 55-46, but the Tigers then put the game away for good with a 12-0 run to take a 67-46 lead with 7:22 remaining. DJ Burns led the Pack with 12 points while Terquavion Smith added 11. Jarkel Joiner and Jack Clark each added 10 points. Clark added four steals in the loss.

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Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

Jack Clark

Mohamed Diarra

DJ Horne

Jarkel Joiner

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Michael O'Connell

Terquavion Smith

Jayden Taylor