Raleigh, NC – The #RV/24 NC State men’s basketball team is in action Wednesday night when it hosts Wake Forest at PNC Arena.
Members of the 1983 NC State basketball Championship Team at Reynolds Coliseum on 12.6.23 (photo by Gene Galin)
The Wolfpack will celebrate the 1983 National Championship team at Wednesday’s game. This game was chosen by the 1983 team as it allowed the most former players the ability to attend the reunion.
Tipoff against the Demon Deacons is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the game will be televised on regional sports networks. Bally Sports South will air the game in North Carolina. A complete list of affiliates showing the game can be found here.
NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.
Pack Tracks
– NC State closed the game on a 29-15 run to beat North Carolina 77-69 on Sunday afternoon. The Pack made 12 of its final 13 field goal attempts in the run that spanned the last 10 minutes of the game. The only missed field goal in the run was a dunk. The win improved the Pack to 10-3 since the calendar turned to 2013.
– Graduate guard Jarkel Joiner scored a game-high 29 points to lead NC State to the win. Joiner scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half and made his final seven final field goal attempts. He scored 18 of the Pack’s 29 points in the game-ending 29-15 run.
– Joiner was named Co-ACC Player of the Week on Monday. His second ACC Player of the Week honor this season. He started the week with a triple-double in the loss at Syracuse on Tuesday. It was the first triple-double of this career and fifth in NC State history. The Oxford, Miss., native finished with 15 points, a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the second triple-double by an ACC player this season and the 38th triple-double in ACC history. It was the 14th triple-double to happen in a league game.
– Joiner is averaging 23.3 points, 6.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals over the Pack’s last three games.
– DJ Burns added 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting against the Tar Heels. Over the last four games, Burns is shooting 63.0% (29-of-46) from the field. Burns is second in the ACC in league games, shooting 56.6 percent from the field.
Wednesday Storylines
– NC State will honor the 1983 National Championship Team at Wednesday’s game. All living members of the ’83 team will be in attendance and introduced to the crowd at halftime. The Pack will wear ’83 throwback uniforms in the game.
– Protecting its home court: NC State enters Wednesday night with a 14-1 home record. Since the inception of the ACC (1953-54 season), the Pack has only had seven seasons with one home loss or less. The last team to only lose one home game was the 2012-13 team that went 16-1.
– The Pack has won seven consecutive ACC home wins this season. It’s the longest ACC home win streak in the same season in program history. The 1972-73 and 1973-74 NC State teams both went undefeated in home ACC games but there were only six home games in the league schedule in those seasons. Most recently, the 2012-13 team went 8-1 in ACC home games. That NC State team won its first four ACC home games, dropped a one-point contest, 79-78, to 14th-ranked Miami on 2/2/13 and then won its remaining four home games. NC State’s 7-1 home record in ACC play this season is the best for NC State since head coach Kevin Keatts’ 2017-18 team went 7-2 in home ACC games.
– A win on Wednesday night would give NC State 22 wins in the regular season. That would mark the most regular season wins for NC State since the 1987-88 season team entered the ACC Tournament with a 23-6 record.
– NC State scored 46 points in the paint in the win over North Carolina on Sunday. The 46 paint points are the most for the Pack since scoring 52 in the win over Miami on Jan. 14. NC State is 19-2 this season when it scores 30 or more points in the paint and just 2-5 if it is held under 30 points in the paint.
– Wake Forest leads the ACC in three-pointers made with an average of 9.26 per game and is second in three-point field goal percentage at 36.9 percent. NC State has allowed just 158 three-pointers this season (5.64 per game), the fewest of all ACC teams. It is limiting ACC opponents to just 30.5 percent shooting from three-point range, the top defensive mark in the ACC.
– Jarkel Joiner has made 38 of his last 39 free throws. For the season, Joiner is shooting 84 percent from the foul line and has improved that mark to 90.2% (55-of-61) in ACC games. The Oxford, Miss., native has been even better this season in clutch moments. In the final four minutes of regulation or in overtime, Joiner is shooting 91.7% (44-of-48) from the foul line.
– Speaking of free throws … the Pack needs to start getting back to the line. In its last four games combined, NC State has shot a total of 27 free throws. The Pack shot seven at Virginia on 2/7, five at Boston College on 2/11 and at Syracuse on 2/14 and 10 Sunday vs. North Carolina. DJ Burns has only shot three free throws in the last four games. He shot a season-high eight in the Pack’s win over Wake Forest on Jan. 28.
– NC State continues to rank among the nation’s leaders in fewest turnovers per game. The Pack averages just 9.7 turnovers per game to rank sixth in NCAA DI. The Pack only had two turnovers in its win over North Carolina on Sunday. It’s the second time in the last month that NC State has had just two turnovers in a game (Jan.24 vs. Notre Dame). NC State is 20-2 this season when it has the same number or fewer turnovers than its opponent.
– The Pack ranks second in the ACC and 22nd in NCAA DI in blocked shots per game despite not having a single player rank in the top-15 in the ACC in blocks. DJ Burns and Ernest Ross lead the team with 24 blocks, but Ebenezer Dowuona (21) and Casey Morsell (21) are right behind them. NC State had a season-high 11 blocks in the win over Wake Forest on Jan. 28. It’s the most blocks for the Pack against an ACC opponent since the 2016-17 season.
– NC State scored 16 points off turnovers and had 25 fast break points in the win over North Carolina. NC State leads the ACC and ranks sixth in the NCAA in fast break points, averaging 15.7 per game. In the Pack’s wins this season it averages almost double the amount of points off turnovers than in losses. In NC State’s 21 wins, it averages to turn opponent’s turnovers into 18.5 points. In its seven losses, it only averages 9.3 points off turnovers. NC State is 13-0 this season when it has at least 18 points off of opponent turnovers.
NC State – Wake Forest Series
– Wednesday will be the 256th all-time meeting between the two programs.
– NC State leads the all-time series, 147-108, and has a 17-6 record against the Demon Deacons at PNC Arena.
– Kevin Keatts has an 8-3 record against Wake Forest as head coach of NC State, including a 4-1 mark against the Demon Deacons at PNC Arena
– Last Meeting (1/28/23): D.J. Burns scored a career-high 31 points to lead NC State back from a double-digit second half deficit to beat Wake Forest, 79-77. Burns shot 10-of-15 from the field and scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half. After shooting just 33.3 percent in the first half, the Pack shot 63.3 percent in the final 20 minutes.
RSN | Bally Sports South in North Carolina | Affiliates Showing the Game | Live Stats | Tickets