Pack Celebrates Seniors, Hosts Pitt on Wednesday Night

Wednesday, March 5

Raleigh, NC

7 PM

NC State

Pitt

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Pack Celebrates Seniors, Hosts Pitt on Wednesday Night

3/4/2025 8:17:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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NC State Game Notes | Pitt Game Notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team plays its final home game of the 2024-25 season on Wednesday night when it hosts Pitt inside the Lenovo Center.

Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNews. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

NC State will honor its seven senior players and four senior managers in a pregame ceremony ahead of tipoff. Senior Night celebrations will start at approximately 6:34 p.m.

Pack Notes
- Two Georgia Tech runs - a 20-7 run to end the first half and a 15-1 spurt in the middle of the second half - allowed the Yellow Jackets to break open the game in beating NC State, 87-62, on Saturday afternoon.
- Georgia Tech outscored NC State 23-4 in second chance points and had a 21-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the win. The 23 second chance points and 21 points off turnovers were both the most allowed by NC State this season.
- Eleven of the 12 players that appeared in the game for NC State scored but only Ben Middlebrooks and Dontrez Styles reached double figures with each scoring 13 points.
- Styles has scored 17 or more points in six of the last 10 games for the Pack. Over the last 10 outings, Styles is averaging 14.3 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game. The Kinston, N.C., native has made 26 three-pointers while shooting 42.6 percent from long-range during the last 10-game stretch.
- Despite a season-high 14 turnovers on Saturday at Georgia Tech, NC State continues to rank among the nation's best in valuing the basketball this season. NC State is second in the ACC and ranks 15th in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game (9.5).The Pack has had single digit turnovers in nine of its last 14 games and 15 total games this season. NC State is aiming for a fourth straight season ranked as one of the nation's best teams in valuing the basketball. The Pack finished 12th in the NCAA last season in turnovers, seventh in 2022-23 and 16th in 2021-22 season.
- Michael O'Connell ranks fifth in the NCAA with a 3.54 assist-to-turnover ratio. He has had one or fewer turnovers in 23 games this season. His current assist-to-turnover ratio ranks as the second-best season ratio in program history and his assist-to-turnover ratio in his two years at NC State is 2.90 which currently is the third-best career assist-to-turnover ratio in program history.
- Freshman Paul McNeil had the first double-digit scoring game of his career with 12 points vs. Louisville on Feb. 12, reset his career-best a week later with 14 points at North Carolina on Feb. 19 and then had a career-best 24 points in the win over Wake Forest on Feb. 22. McNeil has scored 59 points in the last six games. He's scored 67.8 percent of his total points this season (59 of 87) in the last six games.

Wednesday Storylines
- NC State will celebrate its senior class on Wednesday. The Pack has seven senior players on the roster and will also honor its four senior managers in pregame festivities. Participating in senior day will be first-year NC State players Marcus Hill, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Dontrez Styles, second year players Ben Middlebrooks, Michael O'Connell and Jayden Taylor and fourth-year player Breon Pass.
- This year's NC State team is averaging 69.6 points per game and is trending to be the lowest scoring team in the eight years of the Kevin Keatts era and the lowest scoring Pack team since the 2009-10 team averaged 66.6 points per game. The previous low for the Keatts era was 72.8 points per game in the 2020-21 season. Marcus Hill is leading this year's team in scoring with an average of 11.7 points per game. If the season ended today he'd be the lowest leading scorer for NC State since Adam Harrington led the Pack in scoring in the 1998-99 season with an 11.6 points per game average.
- NC State's bench contributed 27 points against Georgia Tech. The Pack's bench has provided a scoring boost in recent games. NC State is averaging 27.7 bench points per game in the last seven outings. NC State has had six double-digit scoring efforts by four different players off the bench during this stretch (Trey Parker (twice), Paul McNeil (twice), Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Breon Pass). NC State is now averaging 21.9 bench points per game this season which is the highest bench output for the Pack since the 2018-19 team averaged 29.0 bench points per game.
- Get out and run: NC State is 10-3 this season when it scores 14 or more fast break points in a game, but just 1-15 if it scores 13 or less fast break points.
- NC State finding the range from long-distance. The Pack is averaging just 6.5 made three-pointers per game this season but has now made 52 three-pointers in the last six games (8.7 per game).
Jayden Taylor is just 39 points shy of 1,500 career points, but has only scored nine points in the last three games. The Indianapolis, Ind., native had back-to-back games of 19 points on Feb. 15 vs. Boston College and Feb. 19 at North Carolina, but was held to five points in the win over Wake Forest on Feb. 22, didn't score against Syracuse last Wednesday and was held to four points at Georgia Tech on Saturday.
- Ben Middlebrooks is one of just eight players in the ACC that has combined for 60 or more blocks and steals this season The NC State senior leads the team in blocks with 38 and is third on the team with 24 steals. Middlebrooks has had 10 games this season where he's finished with three blocks or three steals. The more active Middlebrooks is, the better it is for the Pack. NC State is 7-3 when Middlebrooks has multiple blocks in a game this season and is 4-2 when he has multiple steals.
- Get Marcus Hill back on track. Hill has scored just 32 points in the last five games and hasn't reached double digits since a 10-point effort against Louisville on Feb. 12. He remains NC State's leading scorer this season and had scored in double figures in 15 of the 17 games prior to the last five outings.
- Finish out close games. NC State has held a second half lead in 13 of 18 ACC games this season. NC State has led in the second half in nine of its 14 conference losses this season. Seven of the losses have been within one possession with under four minutes to play and NC State has led in the final four minutes in four of those losses.
- One of NC State's calling cards in the Kevin Keatts era is turning opponent's turnovers into points. In the Pack's 11 wins this season, it is averaging 18.5 points per game off opponents turnovers and has outscored the opponents in points off turnovers by 114 points. In the Pack's 18 losses it averages just 10.9 points off opponent turnovers and has been outscored its opponents in points off turnovers by four points (201-to-197).

NC State series with Pitt
- Wednesday will be the 28th all-time meeting between NC State and Pitt.
- NC State leads the all-time series with the Panthers, 21-6.
- Last Meeting (March 9, 2024): Jayden Taylor scored 22 of his career-high 28 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough as Pitt defeated NC State, 81-73, at the Petersen Events Center last season in the regular season finale for both teams. Taylor finished the game 9-of-15 from the field, including 5-of-10 from three-point range. NC State went on an 11-0 run - with Taylor scoring nine of the Pack's 11 points during the stretch - to get within three, 70-67, with 2:26 to go, but the Panthers scored the next five points to end the Pack's comeback attempt.