When: Wednesday December 17 – 7:00 PM
Where: James T Valvano Arena at William Neal Reynolds Coliseum
TV: ACC Network Extra
Opponent: Texas Southern Tigers (Southwest Atlantic Conference (SWAC) )
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 94-65 / NC State 97-67
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 7-4
- Rankings: KP #28, BT #28
- NET Ranking: NET 36, 7th in ACC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (1-3), Q2 (1-1), Q3 (2-0), Q4 (3-0)
Wolfpack Season So Far:
Coach Wade after the Kansas game:
“We are massively better than we were 10 days ago when we left Auburn
If we keep making progress, I feel good about where we will be at the end of the year.
Are we
where we want to be? Absolutely not. I’m disappointed that we haven’t put a better product out there for the fans, but we will.
At the end of the day, we’ve got to start winning some of these games
Good things are going to happen. I believe in this team.”
Opponent Overview:
Texas Southern is an HBCU located in Houston.
Coach Johnny Jones is from the Dale Brown coaching tree. He played for Brown at LSU and made it to the 1981 Final Four – losing to Ralph Sampson’s UVA team, and later worked 12 seasons as one of Brown’s assistants.
Small World! Coach Jones immediately preceded Will Wade as the LSU basketball head coach. He led the Tigers to one NCAA tournament, coincidentally losing to NC State – on BeeJay Anya’s legendary last second shot. He was hired by Texas Southern when Wade replaced him at LSU.
Media predicts them finishing 5th in the SWAC preseason voting
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 1-7
- Rankings: KP #326, BT #286
- NET Ranking: NET 341, 10th in SWAC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (0-2), Q2 (0-2), Q3 (0-1), Q4 (0-2)
Their Season So Far:
(This is a brief review of our opponent’s season to date. This lists their opponent, their KenPom rank to evaluate the quality of the opponent, the score with NC State’s opponent’s score first, and a sentence or two about the game where informative. If the description is “Blowout”, it was not competitive.)
- Gonzaga (KP #3) 43-98 Away – Blowout
- Texas A&M (KP #54) 70-104 Away – Blowout
- Samford (KP #245) 90-93 OT – TSU had the last possession but turned the ball over in the final seconds.
- Texas ST (KP #237) 67-77 – Texas St up 17 at the half, TSU closed to within 7 but Texas St held them off.
- Vanderbilt (KP #11) 74 – 109 Away – Blowout
- College of Biblical Studies (NCCAA D2) 102-44 – Blowout
- Sam Houston St (KP #123) 70-82 – SH up 14 at the half, TSU closed to within 4 a couple of times but alas, it was not to be.
- Minnesota (KP #118) 53-89 Away – Blowout
Player Notes
- Zaire Hayes – Voted preseason All-SWAC second team
What to watch for:
- The Last ‘Jordan Game’ of the season – Will Jordan Snell score in his final Heritage game? Will this be his final appearance in a Wolfpack game? This is the biggest uncertainty in this game.
- Paul McNeil’s shot – P2 is in a slump. He hasn’t scored more than 7 since the Texas game. He hasn’t played for more than 18 minutes in the last 3 games. This is a chance to regain his touch against an easier opponent.
- Darrion Williams’ health – He took another hard fall in the second half against Kansas but came back in and played well. This could be a game to rest the Wolfpack’s most important player.
- Matt Able’s game – Matt has played really well in games and then disappeared in others. Like McNeil, this is a chance to work on his game and shine against an easier opponent.
- The emergence of Alyn Breed – AB played 24 minutes against Kansas and has averaged 20+ for the last 3 games. Like McNeil, an opportunity to work on his offense.
- 3PT Shooting – On Sunday, Minnesota shot 44% and made 15-34 from the arc against Texas Southern. This is a chance for the Pack to warm up from deep after missing 25 3PT shots Saturday; it’s a critical piece of the Wade/Howard offense that needs to improve.
Prediction – There’s no mercy rule (or crying) in college basketball. Final score 180-69.
