What It Means
• NC State is 2-0 in ACC play for the first time since 2003-04.
• The Pack is looking to go 3-0 in the league for first time since 1988-89.
• NC State is seeking to extend its longest winning streak under second-year
head coach Mark Gottfried to 10 straight, matching the program’s
longest streak since the 1988-89 team won 11 in a row.
• The Wolfpack is looking to extend its home winning streak to 11 games.
• This will be NC State’s 33rd game against a No. 1 ranked team. The
Wolfpack, with a 5-27 all-time record against top-ranked teams, is one of
18 Division I programs to win five or more games against No. 1 teams.
• NC State’s .530 field goal percentage leads the nation, .11 ahead of
second-place Creighton.
• Nationally, the Pack is one of two teams with six players averaging
double-digit points. Oregon State is the other. NC State and Duke are the
ACC’s only teams with five players averaging 10 or more points.
• This year, 51 percent of the Pack’s scoring production coming from in the
post, compared to 43.9 percent of the scoring output for its opponents’
post players.
• Junior C.J. Leslie is seeking his 12th consecutive double-figure scoring
game and 15th of the season.
• Senior Scott Wood’s 269 3-pointers lead all active ACC players. That
mark is second all-time at NC State (Rodney Monroe - 322, 1987-91).
• Over the last two seasons, the Wolfpack’s record is 21-2 when Wood hits
three or more 3-pointers in a game and 13-0 when he hits four or more.
NC State Hosts Top-Ranked Duke
For the fifth time since moving to PNC Arena for
the 1999-2000 season, NC State is hosting a
Duke team that is ranked No. 1 in the nation.
The Wolfpack is 1-3 in the previous contests,
with the lone win coming in a 78-74 victory
on Feb. 15, 2004. In that game, senior Julius
Hodge scored 14 of his 18 points in the second
half, including a pair of game-sealing free
throws with seven seconds remaining.
The Wolfpack win ended Duke’s 18-game winning
streak and was State’s fifth consecutive
ACC victory, its longest winning streak in league
play since 1974-75.
Saturday’s game is the 11th time the Wolfpack
and Blue Devils have met when Duke is ranked
No. 1, dating back to Jan. 29, 1966. Duke owns
a 9-1 advantage in the 10 prior meetings.
NC State is one of 18 men’s Division I college
teams to win five or more games in its history
over top-ranked teams.
A Strong Start
NC State’s 78-73 victory over Boston College last Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass., was the
first time the Wolfpack opened ACC play with
a road win since Dec. 4, 1997, when the Pack
beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Wednesday’s 83-70 victory over the Yellow
Jackets at PNC Arena gave the Wolfpack its
first 2-0 record in league play for the first time
since 2003-04, which is also the last time NC
State beat a top-ranked Duke team.
A win against the Blue Devils on Saturday would
be the Wolfpack’s first 3-0 start to the ACC
season since 1988-89, when head coach Jim
Valvano led State to its most recent regularseason
league championship.
Accuracy Counts
NC State currently leads the nation in field goal
percentage at .530.
In 13 of 15 contests this season, State has shot
.500 or better, including a season best .614 in
its season-opening victory over Miami of Ohio.
In the Wolfpack’s 13 wins, it is averaging 84.1
points per game and shooting .544 (361-663)
from the field.
Only once has the Pack shot below .500 and
won. In its ACC-opening 78-73 win over Boston
College, NC State shot .458.
In its two losses, NC State is averaging 64.0
points per game and shooting .458 (54-of-118)
from the field.
Sharing The Wealth
NC State is one of only two teams in the nation
with six players averaging 10 or more points.
Oregon State is the other.
NC State and Duke are the only two ACC
teams with five or more players averaging in
double figures. Only eight teams nationally have
double-digit scorers: NC State, Oregon State,
Duke, Indiana, Detroit, Iowa State, Missouri and
Oregon.
The Pack is led by junior C.J. Leslie with an average
of 15.6 points per contest. Junior Lorenzo
Brown is second on the team in scoring, averaging
13.1 ppg.
Senior Richard Howell is contributing 12.7 ppg,
while Freshman T.J. Warren is chipping in 12.5
ppg.
Senior Scott Wood is averaging 12.1 ppg, while
Purvis averages 10.0 ppg.
The Wolfpack spreads its scoring responsibility
around the lineup, with five different players
leading the team in scoring more than once,
with Leslie posting a team-high five times as the
Pack’s top scorer.
Recapping Last Year’s Meeting With Duke
NC State played Duke only once last season
at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 16, 2012.
The Wolfpack got off to a fast start before the
Blue Devils stormed back to take a 78-73 victory
in the closing moments.
Then-sophomore Lorenzo Brown had a
team-best 19 points and five assists for the
Wolfpack, which led by as many as 20 points
in the first half.
Duke cut NC State’s 13-point second-half lead
down to two points with three minutes to play
and then scored the final five points of the
contest to take the dramatic come-from-behind
victory.
Sophomore C.J. Leslie had 12 points, nine
rebounds and a career-high six blocks for the
Wolfpack.
It was the third time in the last four years that
the Wolfpack and Blue Devils met only once in
the regular season.
State makes a return trip to Cameron Indoor
Stadium on Feb. 7.
Opening ACC Play At Home
Since moving into the PNC Arena on a
permanent basis with the 1999-2000 season,
NC State has posted a winning record in ACC
home openers. Including Wednesday’s win
over Georgia Tech, the Pack is 9-4 in its conference
home debuts at PNC.
When Wood Hits From Three
When senior Scott Wood has success from
beyond the 3-point arc, so does NC State.
Since Mark Gottfried took over the program,
whenever Wood hits three or more 3-pointers
in a contest, the Wolfpack’s record is 21-2. Its
record improves to 13-0 when Wood connects
on four or more 3-pointers in a contest.
Mr. Clutch
Senior Scott Wood knocked down big shots
when NC State needed them the most in the
Pack’s ACC opening win at Boston College
last Saturday.
Wood was 0-for-4 on the day for the first 36:14
of the game and had gone to the bench with
four fouls, but exploded for 12 points over the
final 3:46 of the contest.
He scored his first six points on consecutive
3-pointers. Then in the final 27 seconds of the game, Wood connected on all six of his free
throw attempts, including two with a second
remaining to seal the victory.
One-Two Punch
Freshman T.J. Warren and senior Richard
Howell are ranked one and two in the ACC
statistics in field goal percentage.
Warren, despite an 0-for-1 performance
against Georgia Tech, is connecting on .627
of his shots from the floor, which is seventh
nationally. Howell’s season percentage is .627,
which is the 25th best shooting percentage in
the nation. Howell had an impressive 8-for-8
performance against Western Michigan, tying
him for second best shooting exhibition in PNC
Arena history.
The last Wolfpack freshman to lead the ACC
in field goal percentage was J.J. Hickson, who
shot .591 for the 2007-08 season. The Warren
and Howell are the only teammates that rank
in the top 20 nationally in shooting percentage.
1,000-Point Club
By the end of the January, the Wolfpack’s four
upperclassmen could all be members of the
program’s 1,000-point club.
Junior C.J. Leslie earned his place in the
fraternity with a made free throw with 58.3
seconds remaining in the first half in NC
State’s win over Western Michigan on Dec. 29,
becoming the 46th player in NC State’s storied
basketball history to score his 1,000th point.
He now is 41st on the list with 1,055 points.
Leslie was 5-for-10 from the field in the game
and 9-for-11 from the free-throw line, scoring a
game-high 19 points as the Wolfpack earned
its sixth consecutive win and its eighth straight
win at home.
Among the many former Wolfpack stars who
have reached the 1,000-point plateau is current
teammate Scott Wood, who scored his
1,000th point in last season’s opening-round
win over San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament.
Wood currently has 1,188 points (37th).
Senior forward Richard Howell is 40 points
away from joining them and junior Lorenzo
Brown is 45 points earning a spot in the club
as well.
The last time NC State had three 1,000-point
scorers on the same team was in 2008-09,
with Engin Atsur (1,181), Ben McCauley
(1,138) and Courtney Fells (1,060).
The 1982-83 squad also had a trio of 1,000
scorers led by Thurl Bailey (1,495), Dereck
Whittenburg (1,272) and Sidney Lowe (1,048).
That squad went on to win the national title.
The Streak Is On
NC State’s current nine-game winning streak
is the longest under coach Mark Gottfried.
The last time the Wolfpack recorded nine
consecutive victories was the 1983-84 season.
State also had nine-win streaks in 1981-82 and one
that covered 1946-47/1947-48 seasons.
The most recent double-digit winning streak occurred
during the 1988-89 campaign, when NC
State put together 10 consecutive wins, starting
with a 109-81 victory over Alabama State (Dec.
20) and stretching to an 82-64 victory over Wake
Forest (Jan. 18). North Carolina handed the Pack
its first setback in a month, handing State an 84-81
loss in Chapel Hill.
The longest winning streak in NC State history is
36 games which spanned the 1973-74 and 1974-
75 seasons.
Head Of The Freshman Class
T.J. Warren is one the top scoring freshmen in the
ACC with an average of 12.5 points per game.
He owns the top two scoring games in the conference
among freshmen this year with 22 against
Penn State (tied with BC’s Oliver Hanlon, who also
had 22 versus Penn State) and 21 versus Massachusetts
and Norfolk State.
Warren has led the Pack in scoring four times, with
three of those performances coming as a reserve.
The Freshman 20
In just 15 games this season, freshman forward T.J.
Warren has already hit the 20-point mark on three
occasions, becoming the Wolfpack’s first freshman
since J.J. Hickson in 2007-08 to score 20 or more
points multiple times in a season.
Hickson scored at least 20 points on seven occasions
in his only season with the Pack, including 33
in his first game.
C.J. Leslie had a season-high 21 in his first game
with the Wolfpack in 2010-11 and Scott Wood
surpassed 20 once with his 31-point performance
against Florida State in his inaugural season.
Brandon Costner had nine 20-point performances
as a redshirt freshman in 2006-07.
Paint Production
The Pack has outscored its opposition, 618-471, in
the paint this season. That’s 41.2 points per game
for NC State coming off of shots around the rim, while its opponents are scoring 31.4 points a contest in the
lane, giving the Pack a 9.8-point advantage.
That equates to .507 of the Wolfpack’s scoring production
coming from in the post, compared to .450 of the scoring
output for its opponents’ post players.
Lending A Helping Hand
Four times this season, junior Lorenzo Brown has
recorded double digits in assists, versus Michigan, Massachussetts,
St. Bonaventure and Georgia Tech.
Against the Yellow Jackets on Wednesday, Brown had 10
assists to go along with a game-high 21 points for his third
career double double.
All of last season, Brown had two peformances with 10 or
more assists, including a career-best 13 in the Pack’s loss
to Syracuse. Against the Orange, he also registered his first
career double-double, adding 10 points.
Brown, who leads the ACC in assists per game at 6.7, is
the conference’s active leader for double-digit assist games
with three. Brown’s assists per game are the most by a
Wolfpack player since
Chris Corchiani averaged 9.6 per game during the
1990-91 season.
Chairmen Of The Boards
Senior Richard Howell and junior C.J. Leslie are teammates
on the ACC list of career double-digit rebound games.
Howell is second among active players with 32 10-plus
rebound contests, while Leslie is fifth with 16.
Howell is also second in the league for career rebounds
with 823 and Leslie is sixth with 575.
Howell’s rebounding total places him in eighth all-time in
program history. Howell needs 11 more
to overtake Kenny Inge (833, 1998-01) for ninth in school
history.
On The Break
One of the points of emphasis in NC State’s
offensive style is to score points in transition. This season,
the Pack has outscored its opponents, 262-105, on fastbreak
points.
Through 15 games, NC State is averaging 17.5 points per
game on the fastbreak, compared to 7.0 points per contest
for its competition.
In The Rankings
NC State has been ranked in the Associated Press poll
since the preseason, opening the year at No. 6.
The Pack was ranked 20th in the Jan. 7 AP poll, marking
the 10th straight week it has been ranked. New polls are
released every Monday afternoon.
It is the longest stretch that NC State has been ranked by
AP since spending 15 weeks in the poll during the 2005-06
season.