North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Duke
Pack Visits Duke For Nationally-Televised Showdown
2/5/2016 9:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| NC State (12-11, 2-8) at Duke (16-6, 5-4) | ||
| Date | Saturday, Feb. 6 | |
| Time | 2 p.m. ET | |
| Location | Cameron Indoor Stadium – Durham, N.C. | |
| Tickets | StubHub | |
| Television | ESPN (Dave O'Brien, Dick Vitale, Allison Williams) | |
| Radio | Wolfpack Sports Network (Gary Hahn, Tony Haynes) | |
| Game Notes | NC State | Duke | |
| Season Statistics | NC State | Duke | |
| Live Stats | Live Stats | |
| Social Media | @PackMensBball | Facebook | |
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THE STARTING 5Â -Â The Top 5 Storylines For This Game
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1. HIS NAME IS CAT BARBERÂ
Cat Barber is having a season that would rank among the all-time great performances in school and ACC history. In addition to leading the ACC in scoring with 23.4 points per game, he's on pace become the second player in ACC history to average 23 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 4.5 apg (Kenny Anderson in 1990). Barber has a league-best six games with 30 or more points, including four in ACC play. His 15 games with 20 or more points is far and away the best in the ACC, as nobody else has more than 10. Additionally, he is also leading the conference in free throws made (165) and minutes per game (38.7) and is fourth in both assists (4.6) and free throw percentage (.868). For his efforts, Barber was last week's ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Week and has captured that award three times this season.
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2. THREE STRAIGHT 30-POINT EXPLOSIONS
Cat Barber has scored 30 or more points in each of the last three games, a feat that hadn't been accomplished at NC State since David Thompson in 1975. Barber has scored 97 points over the last three contests: 36 vs. Georgia Tech, 30 vs. Miami and 31 at Florida State. Thompson had such a three-game streak in March of 1975. Barber has scored at least 30 points in four of the last five games, a stretch that was last matched in NC State history by T.J. Warren (2014), Rodney Monroe (1991) and Kenny Carr (1977).
3. NC STATE-DUKE HISTORY
Saturday's contest at Cameron Indoor Stadium is the 243rd meeting between the two long-time Tobacco Road rivals. It is NC State's 74th trip to the stadium built in 1940 that inspired the construction design of NC State's legendary Reynolds Coliseum. Reynolds, currently under renovation, was designed similarly to the blueprint of then-Duke Indoor Stadium in 1940. Reynolds, after delays due to World War II, opened in 1949 and was the Pack's men's basketball venue for 50 seasons.
4. 22 MILES WEST, BUT SO FAR AWAYÂ Â
NC State's PNC Arena and Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium are located 22.6 miles apart, but for many of the Wolfpack players it will be new territory. Of the current State roster, only Cat Barber (31 minutes) and BeeJay Anya (9 minutes) have played at Duke. In January 2014, Lennard Freeman missed the game at Duke due to injury. From 2011-14, there was a stretch where four of the five meetings in the series were played at Cameron. Â
5. NC STATE AGAINST UNRANKED DUKEÂ
The last time NC State and Duke played while Duke was not ranked in the AP poll was Feb. 17, 1996 in Durham. Duke edged the Pack 79-76 in overtime. Todd Fuller had 25 points and 11 rebounds for NC State and Jeff Capel scored 27 for Duke. While Duke is unranked for the first time since 2007, the Blue Devils were indeed ranked No. 21 that year when they faced the Wolfpack. NC State has faced an unranked Duke team coached by Mike Krzyzewski 11 times dating back to the 1980-81 season.Â
