Pack Starts 2025 with Trip to Wake Forest

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NC State Game Notes | Wake Forest Game Notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men's basketball team (8-5, 1-1 ACC) plays its first game in 2025 as it travels west on I-40 to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest on Saturday.

Tipoff against the Demon Deacons is scheduled for noon 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 dropped its final contest of 2024 calendar year on Tuesday, falling at Virginia, 70-67, on New Year's Eve.
- The game against the Cavaliers was a tale of two halves. In the first half, NC State shot 61.9 percent and made 6-of-11 three-pointers. The Pack assisted on 11 of its 13 first half field goals to build a 39-29 lead at the break. In the second half, Virginia shot 56.5 percent and made 7-of-13 three-point field goals. The Cavaliers assisted on 12 of their 13 field goals in the second half to overcome a 14-point NC State advantage to win.
- The Pack led 43-29 early in the second half when Virginia went on an extended 30-8 run to take the lead. UVA led by 12 points, 67-55, with five minutes to play, but the Pack held the Cavaliers without a field goal the rest of the game to close within three with 10 seconds to play.
- Jayden Taylor led the Pack in scoring for the second consecutive game, finishing with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting against Virginia. He also tied his career-high with five assists.
- Jayden Taylor made three of his six three-point attempts against Virginia and is now 8-of-13 (61.5%) from long range in his last three games. Taylor made 64 three-pointers and shot 36.4 percent from three-point last season, but had started this season by only shooting 25.9 percent (10-of-39) from three-point range in the Pack's first 10 games.
- Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Marcus Hill also reached double figures for the Pack with each scoring 12 points apiece. Huntley-Hatfield and Hill each have nine double-digit scoring games this season to tie for the most by an NC State player. Hill added a season-high eight rebounds in the loss to Virginia.
- Michael O'Connell now ranks second in the ACC and sixth in the NCAA with a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio this season. O'Connell finished last season third in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.54). His career assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.14 is the 12th best active assist-to-turnover ratio in DI. O'Connell averages to play 30 minutes per game and is the Pack's primary ball handler but has had one or fewer turnovers in 10 of 13 games this season.

Saturday Storylines
- Saturday will be Breon Pass' 100th career college game. Pass can be considered a unicorn in the current college basketball era as he has never transferred, playing all four years at NC State. (He is one of nine scholarship upperclassmen on the Pack's roster, but the only one who has played their entire collegiate career at NC State.) Pass' patience has paid off as the veteran has carved out a role in NC State's lineup this season. Pass is playing 16 minutes per game this season and has developed into a knock down shooter for the Pack. He is shooting 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from long-range this season and is 9-for-15 (60%) from long range in the last five games. Entering his senior season, Pass had only made multiple three-pointer twice in 86 career games, but he's now made at least two three-pointers in 5 of 13 games this season.
- Pack Needs Ben Middlebrooks in the lineup. The senior forward missed the Virginia game on Tuesday after catching a stomach bug early in the morning in Charlottesville. Middlebrooks tried to warm up for the game, but got sick again and the coaching staff decided to have him sit out the game. Middlebrooks entered the game leading NC State in blocks (20 - 2nd in the ACC) and steals (15). He's the only player in the ACC to have at least 15 steals and 20 blocks this season. Without Middlebrooks in the lineup against Virginia, NC State had zero blocks as the Cavaliers shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) on its two-point field goal attempts. The Pack also had just four steals against UVA, tied for its second-fewest in a game this season.
- Get to 70 points: NC State is 7-0 this season when it scores 70 or more points, but just 1-5 when it scores under 70 points. Dating to last season, NC State has won 15 straight games when it scores at least 70 points.
- Win the Paint, Win the Game? NC State is 8-1 this season when it scores more points in the paint than its opponent, but 0-4 when it ties or is outscored in the paint. The Pack is averaging 41.8 points in the paint in its eight wins, but just 25.8 points in the paint in its five losses.
- One of NC State's calling cards in the Kevin Keatts era is turning opponent's turnovers into points. In the Pack's eight wins this season, it is averaging 20.6 points per game off opponents turnovers and has outscored the opponents in points off turnovers by 98 points. In the Pack's five losses it averages just 8.2 points off opponent turnovers and has been outscored by its opponents in points off turnovers (43-to-39).

NC State series with Wake Forest
- Saturday will be the 257th all-time meeting between NC State and Wake Forest. NC State leads the all-time series, 147-109.
- Kevin Keatts is 10-4 against Wake Forest as head coach of NC State, including a 4-3 record in games played at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
- Last Meeting (February 10, 2024): Wake Forest scored the go-ahead bucket with 17 seconds left on its way to an 83-79 win inside LJVM Coliseum. The game was a nip-and-tuck affair that featured 15 ties and 12 lead changes. The final count was NC State with 16:19 of lead time, Wake Forest leading for 14:13 and the game was tied 9:25. The final 7:30 minutes of the game were all played at a margin of a single possession until Wake made two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to extend its lead to four points. DJ Horne led the Pack with 31 points.

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Hill

DJ Horne

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield

Ben Middlebrooks

Michael O'Connell

Breon Pass

Jayden Taylor