NC State Begins ACC Tournament with First Round Matchup vs. Louisville

ACC Network | Digital Stream | Live Stats

NC State Game Notes | Louisville Game Notes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NC State men's basketball team begins play at the ACC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon with a first round matchup vs. 15^th-seed Louisville. Tipoff at Capital One Arena is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.

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 its fourth straight game, falling to Pitt, 81-73, in its regular season finale on Saturday night at Petersen Events Center. NC State led for a majority of the first 12 minutes as Pitt didn't take its first lead until 7:21 remained in the first half, but a 16-3 Panthers run in the latter part of the opening half allowed Pitt to take a 39-29 lead into halftime. After the Pack opened the second half with a three-pointer, Pitt went on a 10-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, 49-32, with 16:55 to play. The lead stayed in double digits until an 11-0 NC State run brought the Pack within three, 70-67, with 2:26 to go. NC State could get no closer though as Pitt scored the next five points to put the game out of reach.
- Jayden Taylor scored a career-high 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-10 from three-point range on Saturday night at Pitt. Taylor has now scored 20 or more points in three of his last four games. He is averaging 19.0 points per game in the last four games and is shooting 59.5 percent (22-of-37) from the field, including 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from three-point range.
- Junior forward Mohamed Diarra led NC State in rebounding for the fifth straight game. He has now led the Pack in rebounding in seven of the last eight games and 11 of the last 15 overall. In the last eight games, Diarra is averaging just shy of a double-double with averages of 8.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. He is shooting 25-of-46 (54.3%) from the field, including 11-of-23 (47.8%) from three-point range. He finished the regular season fifth in conference action, averaging 8.0 rebounds per game in 20 ACC contests.
- DJ Horne left the Pitt game at the under-8 media timeout on Saturday night. Despite being limited to 12 minutes and just three points, Horne finished with an average of 18.1 points per game in conference action. For the season, Horne has made 88 three-pointers (fourth-most in ACC) and leads all players in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage at 42.9 percent.

NC State Series with Louisville
- Tuesday is the 28th all-time meeting all-time between NC State and Louisville. Louisville leads the all-time series with NC State, 14-13.
- Kevin Keatts is 4-3 against Louisville as head coach of NC State.

Earlier Meeting with Louisville this season
- NC State held off multiple Louisville comebacks to beat the Cardinals, 89-83, on Saturday, Jan. 13 inside the KFC Yum! Center.
- The Pack jumped out to a 12-0 lead and lead by as many as 14 points in the first half before taking a 44-35 lead into the halftime break. A 9-0 run early in the second half got the Cardinals within two and Louisville eventually took its one and only lead of the game on a three-pointer to take a 55-54 lead with 11:55 remaining. NC State would make a three-pointer on its next possession to retake the lead and eventually opened up a 14-point lead, 83-69, with 2:18 to play. UofL scored 11 consecutive points to get within three with 52 seconds to play, but DJ Horne scored the next five points of the game to put the game out of reach.
- DJ Horne scored a then-season-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range.
- DJ Burns, Jr., and Casey Morsell added 13 points while Michael O'Connell added 11 points and a game-high six assists. Mohamed Diarra scored seven points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
- The game against Louisville was the only game this season that DJ Horne did not start. His 27 points helped lead NC State to 40 bench points against Louisville. The 40 points off the bench are the most for NC State since scoring 45 bench points on Dec. 22, 2019 against The Citadel.

NC State in D.C. for the ACC Tournament
- NC State is 3-2 all-time in ACC Tournament games played in Washington D.C.
- The last time the tournament was held in Washington D.C. was in 2016. NC State was the 12th-seed that season and beat 13th-seed Wake Forest in the first round, 75-72, before falling to fifth-seed Duke, 92-89, in the second round.
- The other ACC Tournament held in Capital One Arena (then called the MCI Center) was in 2005. NC State was the seventh-seed and beat 10th-seed Florida State and 2nd-seed Wake Forest before falling to 3rd-seed Duke in the semifinals.

NC State Begins ACC Tournament with First Round Matchup vs. Louisville

Next Event

Players Mentioned

DJ Burns, Jr.

Mohamed Diarra

DJ Horne

Casey Morsell

Michael O'Connell

Jayden Taylor