When: Thursday March 12 – 12:00 PM
Where: Spectrum Center Charlotte NC
TV: ESPN2
Opponent: Virginia Cavaliers
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): UVA 79-75 / UVA 78-74
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 20-12, 10-8
- Rankings: KP #35, BT #38
- NET: 35 (Q1: 5-7, Q2: 6-4, Q3: 5-0, Q4: 4-1) – 6th highest NET in the ACC
Wolfpack Season So Far:
NC State got a much-needed 98-88 win against Pitt to begin the ACC tournament. That broke a 4-game losing streak, got the Pack their 20th win, and probably assured the Pack of an NCAA tournament bid.
What’s On the Line?
Beating Virginia would be the best win of the season. Losing will have
little impact on NC State’s NCAA bid.
Coach Wade on playing UVA again: “We’ll see if we can make a game of it”. Generally I like his candor, but this might fall under the “if you can’t say anything nice …” guideline.
Opponent Overview:
Virginia is having an outstanding season and is currently predicted as a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament. Their only losses on the season are to Duke, UNC, rival Va Tech (3OT), and Butler(???).
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 27-4, 14-3
- Rankings: KP #20, BT #18
- NET: 14 (Q1: 6-3, Q2: 9-1, Q3: 5-0, Q4: 7-0) – 3rd highest NET in the ACC
Previous game notes:
- The common factor in both games is NC State struggled to get good shots. These are 2 of the Wolfpack’s 3 poorest FG% of the season.
- As Coach Wade said in the Pitt postgame presser, UVA is huge and hard to shoot over
- UVA blocked 12 shots in Charlottesville – not a recipe for success
What to watch for:
- NCST – trends to watch
- Darrion Williams and Ven Lubin were both held to 7 points / 5 rebounds in the previous matchup. Both are undersized in their matchups but need to find a way to score.
- Paul McNeil had his 2nd highest scored in ACC play with 22 points in the previous matchup – With his height, he should be able to score on these guys.
- NCST – record watch – Paul McNeil has 96 made 3PT shots after 32 games. The leaderboard for Wolfpack made 3PT shots in a season: DJ Horne 105; Rodney Monroe / Scott Wood 104; Paul is tied with Terquavion Smith at 96
Prediction: The Wolfpack shocks us all, beating the Cavaliers 80-69 based on hitting an ACC Tournament record number of 3PT shots.
