Pack Hosts UAB Friday Night in Lenovo Center

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team is back in action Friday night when it hosts UAB in each team's second game of the season.

Tipoff against the Blazers is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and former Pack great Chucky Brown call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Notes
- NC State opened the Will Wade Era in dominating fashion Monday with a 114-66 dismantling of North Carolina Central.
- In the win, the Pack tied a program record with 19 three-pointers and its 114 points were the second-most in Lenovo Center history.
- NC State ended the game 19-of-40 from three-point range. The 19 made threes ties the school record previously set on Dec. 22, 2017 in a 116-64 win over Jacksonville. The Pack had seven different players make a three and four players made at least three triples - Tre Holloman (4), Paul McNeil, Jr. (4), Darrion Williams (4) and Matt Able (3).
- NC State featured a balanced scoring attack in the win as seven different players reached double figures. It's only the second time in at least the last 25 years that the Pack has had seven players reach double figures in the same game. Ironically, the last time NC State had seven players score in double figures was Nov. 10, 2017 when the Pack beat VMI, 102-67. That game marked the first contest of the Kevin Keatts era.
- NC State shot 57.8 percent from the field in the win. It's the Pack's highest field goal percentage in game since shooting 59.3 percent against Maryland Eastern Shore on Dec. 6, 2023. NC State's starting lineup was especially efficient offensively as they combined to shoot 68.6% (24-of-35) from the field, including 61.9% (13-of-21) from three-point range.
- ACC Preseason Player of the Year Darrion Williams stuffed the stat sheet in 24 minutes of action as he finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting (4-6 from 3) and added a game-best eight assists and had four rebounds.
- Red Reckoning: On March 23, 2025, Will Wade was announced as the head coach of the NC State men's basketball program. Wade comes to NC State after leading McNeese to a combined 58-11 record and back-to-back Southland regular season and tournament titles in his two seasons at Lake Charles. His final win with the Cowboys was on March 20th when he led McNeese to a 69-67 win over fifth-seed Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That win was the first March Madness win in McNeese history.

Friday Storylines
- Friday night marks the return of UAB head coach Andy Kennedy to NC State. Kennedy signed with NC State out of high school and spent one season with the Pack winning an ACC Championship in 1986-87, before transferring to UAB. Current NC State radio analyst - in his first season in the role - Chucky Brown was teammates with Andy Kennedy that season. Brown was a sophomore on that team.
- Dating back to the 2016-17 season, NC State has a 67-3 (.957) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games.
- 99 points - That's the combined victory total for the two teams in their season openers on Monday night. NC State beat NC Central by 48 points, 114-66, while UAB dominated Mississippi Valley State, 106-55.
- Quadir Copeland and UAB's Chance Westry were teammates at Syracuse in the 2023-24 season. Copeland averaged 9.6 points per game that season for the Orange, but Westry did not play in any games after a preseason injury forced him to miss the entire season.
- NC State shot 57.8 percent and had a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (27 assists vs 9 turnovers) in its win over NC Central on Monday night, but the Pack will face a stiff Blazer defense on Friday. UAB's defense held Mississippi Valley State to 29.1 percent shooting and forced them into 26 turnovers.
- Two brand new teams. NC State added 13 new players to its roster this season - nine from the transfer portal, two international players and two traditional freshmen. UAB brought in six DI transfers, four Junior College transfers and two freshmen. Overall, the two programs combined to return only three players from last season. NC State has back sophomore Paul McNeil, Jr., and walk-on Jordan Snell while UAB only brought back walk-on Joey Kahn.
- Watch your pockets around a Will Wade team - NC State had 13 steals in Monday's night win over NC Central. Freshman Musa Sagnia led the team with four in his collegiate debut while Tre Holloman added three steals and Matt Able and Quadir Copeland each had two. That aggressive defensive style is a hallmark of Will Wade's teams. During his two seasons at McNeese, his squads led the Southland Conference in steals each year and ranked among the top 20 nationally — finishing 20th in 2024–25 and fifth in 2023–24. Wade's last LSU team (2021–22) also topped the nation in steals per game, averaging 11 per outing.

NC State series with UAB
- UAB won the only previous meeting between the two teams, beating the Pack, 72-52, in Birmingham.
NC State has an all-time record of 51-12 against teams currently in the American Athletic Conference.
- Last Meeting (March 20, 2010): UAB never trailed in beating the Pack, 72-52, in the second round of the 2010 NIT. The Blazers jumped out to a 26-7 lead and were never seriously threatened by NC State in the game. Dennis Horner led NC State with 23 points and eight rebounds.

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Players Mentioned

Matt Able

Quadir Copeland

Tre Holloman

Paul McNeil, Jr.

Musa Sagnia

Jordan Snell

Darrion Williams