Pack Travels West to Take on Golden Bears

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NC State Game Notes | California Game Notes

BERKELEY, CALIF. – The NC State men's basketball team starts a two-game road trip to the West Coast when it plays at California on Wednesday night.

Tipoff against the Golden Bears is scheduled for 11 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

Pack Tracks
- NC State fell to Clemson, 68-58, Saturday afternoon inside the Lenovo Center. NC State only forced five Clemson turnovers (season-low) as the Pack only had three points off Clemson turnovers (also a season-low) in the loss.
- The Pack led by one with 12 minutes to go, but a 13-4 run Clemson run pushed the Tigers back in front and NC State could never get closer than five points the rest of the way.
- Dontrez Styles led the Pack in scoring for the second consecutive game, finishing with a season-high 24 points against Clemson. The 24 points are the most scored by an NC State player this season.
Styles finished the game 9-of-14 from the field, including 6-of-8 from three-point range. The six three-pointers are a career-best for the Kinston, N.C, native and the most three-pointers by an NC State player since DJ Horne made six three-pointers last season (Feb. 20) against Syracuse.
- In the last two games, Styles is averaging 21 points per game and is shooting 61.5% (16-of-26) from the field. He has made 10 three-pointers and is shooting 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from three-point range in the last two outings.
- NC State has made 19 three-pointers in the last two games, the most three-pointers in back-to-back games this season for the Pack. NC State made a season-high tying 10 three-pointers against Duke on Jan. 27 and followed up that performance with nine against Clemson on Saturday.
- Senior guard Jayden Taylor had four steals against Clemson and now has 16 in the last seven games (2.3 per game). He's had two or more steals in six of the last seven games and now ranks ninth in the ACC in steals, averaging 1.5 per game.
- Ben Middlebrooks had three blocks against Clemson and leads the ACC in blocks at 17 per game. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native has 34 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 nine multiple block games this season.

Wednesday Storylines
- Pack is used to playing close ones in conference action. Eight of the Pack's 10 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 eight 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. Against SMU, the Pack had the ball down by four with under 30 seconds to play and last Monday night at No. 2 Duke, NC State trailed 63-62 with 4:40 to play. The Pack has led in the second half of seven of their eight conference losses this season.
- Get back to winning the turnover battle: NC State entered the game at Duke on Jan. 27, leading the ACC and ranked 24th in the NCAA in turnover margin at +3.9. In the game at Duke and on Saturday vs. Clemson the Pack's combined turnover margin in those two games is -10. NC State which rank fourth in the NCAA in turnovers at 9.2 per game, turned it over 25 times in the two games vs. the Blue Devils and Tigers while only forcing 15 turnovers for Duke and Clemson. In the Kevin Keatts era, the Pack's winning percentage is almost exactly double when the Pack wins the turnover battle (70.55%) vs. when it loses the turnover battle (35.29%).
- Get Marcus Hill back on track: Prior to last week, Marcus Hill had a streak of 12 straight games scoring in double figures. He was held to just four points against Duke on 1-of-10 shooting and then had eight points against Clemson on 4-of-10 shooting. Despite shooting just 25 percent last week, Hill still ranks 10th in the ACC in field goal percentage at 47.8 percent. The Rockford, Ill., native continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 12.5 points per game. Hill is second on the team with 43 assists and has a 2.04 assist-to-turnover ratio (43-to-21).
- 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 12 losses it averages just 11.3 points off opponent turnovers and has outscored its opponents in points off turnovers by just 11 points (136-to-125). NC State had a season-low three points off Clemson turnovers in Saturday's loss to the Tigers.

NC State series with California
- Wednesday will be the fourth all-time meeting between NC State and California. Cal leads the all-time series, 2-1
- Last Meeting (Jan. 18, 2025): Cal scored the final four points of the game to beat NC State, 65-62, in Raleigh less than three weeks ago. Jayden Taylor's three-point play with 1:20 left completed a 7-0 run for the Pack to give NC State a 62-61 lead, but Jovan Blacksher Jr., made a lay-up to put the Golden Bears back in front on the ensuing possession and NC State would not score again. Taylor led NC State with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Marcus Hill added 13 points while Ben Middlebrooks finished with 11.
- NC State had a season-low five assists and made just one three-pointer in the loss to Cal on Jan. 18.

Players Mentioned

Marcus Hill

DJ Horne

Ben Middlebrooks

Dontrez Styles

Jayden Taylor

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