North Carolina State University

NC State Game Notes | Clemson Game Notes

 

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team starts the month of February off by hosting Clemson Saturday afternoon inside the Lenovo Center.

Tipoff against the Tigers is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on The CW. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

 

Pack Tracks

– NC State led for over 21 minutes, but could not complete its upset bid as second-ranked Duke held on at home, 74-64.

– The Pack led by as many as 13 points in the first half and found itself down by just one point, 63-62, with under four minutes to play, but only made one field goal the rest of the way.

NC State tied its season-high with 10 three-pointers in the loss and also shot a season-best 45.5% (10-of-22) from long-range in the loss. Dontrez Styles tied his career-high with four made three-pointers while freshman Trey Parker made three-pointers, a career-best for the young guard.

– Styles led NC State with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. The Kinston, N.C., native added a team-best two blocks against the Blue Devils and ranks second on the team with 20 blocks this season. Styles is the first NC State player other than Marcus Hill or Jayden Taylor to lead the team in scoring since Ben Middlebrooks had a team-best 14 points at Kansas on Dec. 14.

– Freshman Trey Parker had the best game of his young career, scoring a career-best 15 points. The Fayetteville, N.C., native made his first six shots from the field as it was just his second double-digit scoring game of the season with the other being a 13-point effort against Coastal Carolina back on Nov. 13.

– Brandon Huntley-Hatfield reached double figures for the first time since the Dec. 31 game at Virginia with 10 points at Duke. The Louisville transfer scored in double figures in the first six games of the season for NC State, but has only scored in double figures four times since then.

– Marcus Hill had his 12-game streak of double-digit scoring games snapped at Duke on Monday where he was held to just four points. The Rockford, Ill., native continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. Hill is second on the team with 42 assists and has a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio (42-to-20). In nine conference games, Hill has upped his average to 14.1 points per game. He also leads the team in conference action in rebounding, averaging 5.2 per game and has nearly a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (19-to-7).

 

Saturday Storylines

– Ben Middlebrooks vs. his former school. Saturday marks Middlebrooks second career game against Clemson. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native started his collegiate career at Clemson, playing two seasons with the Tigers. He transferred to NC State prior to the start of the 2023-24. Last season, Middlebrooks had four points, one steal and one rebound in 21 minutes in the Pack’s last second win at Clemson. In his three-year collegiate career, Middlebrooks has always been on the winning side when Clemson and NC State have played each other.

– Ben  Middlebrooks ranks second in the ACC in blocks at 1.6 per game. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native has 31 blocks this season which already mark the most he’s ever had in a single season. Coming into this season, Middlebrooks had multiple blocked shots in nine of 101 career games, but has already had eight multiple block games this season.

– Middlebrooks (31 blocks/21 steals) and Clemson’s Viktor Lakhin (34 blocks/21 steals) are two of just three players in the ACC that have over 30 blocks and 20 steals this season. Florida State’s Taylor Bol Bowen (30 blocks/24 steals) is the other player in the conference that has accumulated those stats.

Saturday’s game will be a matchup of the top-two teams in the ACC in turnover margin. NC State leads the ACC with a +3.6 turnover margin (25th in the NCAA) while Clemson is right behind the Pack in second at +3.0 (42nd in the NCAA).

– Pack is used to playing close ones in conference action. Eight of the Pack’s nine ACC games have been a one-possession game in the final five minutes of regulation. NC State started league play off by beating Florida State in overtime, its other win is a one-point win over Notre Dame. Four of its six losses have also come down to the last possession. NC State lost to UNC by two and at Virginia, at Virginia Tech and home against Cal by three. Last Saturday’s loss to SMU didn’t come down to the last possession, but the Pack had the ball down by four with under 30 seconds to play and on Monday night at Duke, NC State trailed 63-62 with 4:40 to play.

– One of NC State’s calling cards in the Kevin Keatts era is turning opponent’s turnovers into points. In the Pack’s nine wins this season, it is averaging 19.3 points per game off opponents turnovers and has outscored the opponents in points off turnovers by 102 points. In the Pack’s 11 losses it averages just 12.1 points off opponent turnovers and has outscored by its opponents in points off turnovers by just 21 points (133-to-112).

 

NC State series with Clemson

– Saturday will be the 166th all-time meeting between NC State and Clemson. NC State leads the all-time series, 105-60.

– Kevin Keatts is 5-8 against Clemson as head coach of the Pack, including a 3-2 mark against the Tigers in games played in Raleigh.

– Last Meeting (Feb. 17, 2024): DJ Horne made the game-winning basket with under 10 seconds to play to give the Pack a 78-77 win at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson led 77-73 with one minute to play when Michael O’Connell drove the lane and laid it in to cut the deficit in half with 50 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, Mohamed Diarra stole the ball and was fouled. He made the front end of a one-and-one, missed the second, but on the rebound, NC State forced a jump ball, giving the ball back to the Pack and setting Horne up for his game-winning bucket. Horne led the Pack with 27 points. Jayden Taylor added 12 points off-the-bench.