N.C State: 15-16, 5-13 in the ACC
Head Coach: Mark Gottfried
Leading Scorer: Anthony "Cat" Barber (23.4 PPG)
Season Recap: After losing just three games in its nonconference slate, N.C. State lost seven of its first eight ACC contests. Given this start, the Wolfpack surprised the conference with a win against then-No. 15 Miami, but also managed to beat winless Boston College by just a single point on Mar. 2. Barber leads the conference with 23.4 points per game, nearly double that of the next-most dangerous Wolfpack scorer. The early departure of Trevor Lacey after last season and an injury to West Virginia transfer Terry Henderson has allowed opposing backcourts to key in on Barber, and the Wolfpack have struggled with consistency. Sophomore forward Abdul-Malik Abu nearly doubled his numbers from a year ago, but big man BeeJay Anya has not quite put all the pieces together inside for Gottfried’s squad.
How They Make a Run: N.C. State needs to be firing on all cylinders in back-to-back games, something they did not figure out how to do during ACC play as the Wolfpack have not posted two consecutive wins since ending their nonconference campaign in December against UNC-Greensboro and Northeastern. Led by Barber, N.C. State has shown glimpses of greatness in games aside from the Miami win, including playing North Carolina close until halftime and nearly erasing a 16-point deficit in a 77-72 loss against then-No. 16 Louisville. N.C. State hopes to make it to the championship spot, Barber, Abu and freshman Maverick Rowan need to get off to a fast start, bottle up that momentum and keep it going for five days in a row.
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