Pack Heads to Winston-Salem for Road Battle at Wake Forest

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NC State Game Notes

Pack Notes
- NC State could not run its win streak to three games as it dropped a close contest to Pitt, 67-64, on Wednesday evening.
- The Pack finished the game shooting a higher field goal percentage, higher three-point field goal percentage and made more field goals and three-point field goals than the Panthers, while also committing four less turnovers than Pitt, but the Panthers finished the game 18-of-20 from the foul line and NC State was a season-worst 40 percent (6-of-15) from the charity stripe.
- Pitt went on a 13-0 run to break a 30-30 tie to take a 43-30 lead with 19 minutes to go. NC State went on an extended 26-11 run over the next 12 minutes to take its first lead since it was 5-3 on a DJ Burns, Jr., basket with 6:30 remaining to give the Pack a 60-58 advantage.
- DJ Horne and DJ Burns, Jr., combined to score 44 of the Pack's 64 points as the duo shot 17-of-30 (56.7%) from the field.
- Horne led NC State in scoring for the sixth time in the last eight games. The Raleigh native scored 25 points, making five three-pointers against the Panthers. Horne has now made three or more three-pointers in six consecutive games. He has made three of more three-pointers in 12 of 23 games this season. Horne's 66 three-pointers are the third-most by an ACC player this season and his 42.6 percent three-point field goal percentage is the third-best mark in the conference.
- Burns scored a season-best 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting against Pitt. The Rock Hill, S.C., native broke out of a mini slump against the Panthers. In the five games prior to the Pitt game, Burns had scored in single digits three times and had shot below 50 percent in all five games (18-of-47 - 38.3%).

Saturday Storylines
- DJ Horne scored his 1800th career point in Wednesday's game against Pitt. He now has 1,817 career points, six behind - DJ Burns, Jr. NC State is one of just three teams in NCAA DI basketball (Purdue and Wright State are the other two) to have two 1,800 point career scorers on their roster currently.
- Horne ranks fourth in the ACC in conference-only games, averaging 17.7 points per game, trailing only UNC's RJ Davis (21.5), Clemson's PJ Hall (19.8) and Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis (17.73) Over the last eight games, Horne has scored over 20 points five times and is averaging 20.4 points per game. He has made 29 three-pointers in the last eight contests (3.6 per game) and is shooting 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from long-range during this stretch.
- Horne has averaged 25.0 points per game over the last three contests.
- Horne clicking from long range. The Arizona State transfer ranks third in the ACC in three-point field goals per game (2.9) and three-point percentage (42.6%). 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 16 games, Horne is shooting 46.1% from three-point range (53-of-115). Horne can heat up quickly, he has made multiple three-pointers in 18 of 23 games this season. In the 18 games where Horne has made at least two three-pointers, he is shooting 48.5% (63-of-130) from long range.
- NC State had just six turnovers on Wednesday night and just 18 turnovers total in its last three games. In the last two games, the Pack has had just three turnovers in the second half. NC State is 11-3 this season when it has fewer than 10 turnovers in a game.
- Despite the loss on Wednesday, NC State held Pitt to 42.3 percent shooting from the field. The Pack ranks fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 42.3 percent shooting in conference action. Through 12 ACC games, only two teams (Virginia Tech and Louisville) have shot over 45 percent against the Pack. In NC State's win over Wake Forest on Jan. 16, the Demon Deacons shot 53.4 percent from the field in the first half to open a 10-point halftime advantage, but the Pack limited Wake to just 33.3 percent shooting in the second half as it outscored the Deacs, 48-31, in the second period.
- Pack Needs to Get Off to Better Starts: NC State has trailed at halftime in six of its last seven games. In five of those six games, the Pack has battled back from trailing at halftime to lead in the second half (Syracuse on Jan. 27 is the only game where the Pack never led in the final 20 minutes). In three of those games (Wake Forest, Virginia and Pitt), NC State trailed by double-digits in the second half but managed to come back and take the lead.
- Michael O'Connell stuffing the stat crew as part of the starting lineup. The Stanford transfer has started the last three games for NC State and is averaging 5.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.3 steals in those three games. NC State is 11-3 this season when O'Connell has three or more assists.
- Casey Morsell Excelling at Foul Line: The grad guard in his fifth collegiate season has had 67 free throw attempts this season. That's already nine 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 83.6 percent from the foul line this season, his average rises to 92.7 percent (38-of-41) in ACC-only contests (2nd in the ACC). Morsell enters Saturday's game at Wake Forest having made 34 of his last 35 free throw attempts. Morsell actually rebounded his only missed free throw of his last 35 attempts, chasing down the rebound and then driving to the basket where he was fouled to earn two more free throws.
- NC State was held to just four fast break points and outscored 16-4 in fast break points in the loss to Pitt on Wednesday. The four transition points were the second-fewest in a game this season. The Pack leads the ACC and ranks 28th in the NCAA with an average of 14.4 fast break points per game. NC State is 14-3 this season when it has more fast break points than its opponent, but is now just 1-5 when its opponent has more fast break points.

NC State Series with Wake Forest
- Saturday will be the 256th all-time meeting in the series. NC State leads the all-time series, 147-108.
- Kevin Keatts is 10-3 against the Demon Deacons as head coach of the Pack, including a 4-2 record against
Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Earlier Meeting with Wake Forest
- NC State battled back from a double-digit second half deficit to beat Wake Forest, 83-76, on Jan. 16 inside PNC Arena. The Pack trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and as much as 11 in the second half, but NC State ended the game with a 17-7 run over the final 3:15 to secure its best start in ACC play since the 1988-89 season (5-1). DJ Horne led the Pack in scoring for the second time in as many games, finishing the evening with 21 points while Ben Middlebrooks, Jayden Taylor, and DJ Burns each finished in double figures as well with 14, 12, and 10, respectively. Mohamed Diarra contributed a game-high 13 rebounds for the Pack.

Pack Heads to Winston-Salem for Road Battle at Wake Forest

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Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

Mohamed Diarra

DJ Horne

Ben Middlebrooks

Casey Morsell

Michael O'Connell

Jayden Taylor