NC State game notes | Kansas game notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team (7-3, 1-0 ACC) plays its first true road game of the season on Saturday afternoon when it takes on 10^ThKansas (7-2) at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.

Tipoff against the Jayhawks is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on ESPN. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and Tony Haynes call the shots on the Wolfpack Sports Network.



Pack tracks
— NC State hosted its annual Heritage Game — the program’s annual return to Reynolds Coliseum, its home from 1949 to 1999 — on Tuesday night, defeating Coppin State 66-56.
– For the third time in a row Marcus Hill And Dontrez styles led NC State’s offensive attack. Hill scored a game-high 16 points while Styles contributed 15. Hill and Styles were also the top two scorers for NC State in its win over Florida State last Saturday and the top two scorers against Texas.
– Over the last three games, Hill scored 56 points (18.7 ppg) on ​​19 of 34 shooting (55.9%) while Styles scored 53 points (17.7 ppg) on ​​20 of 40 shooting (50%). Styles made three three-pointers in all three games. After shooting just 5 of 20 (25%) from three-point range in the first seven games of the season, Styles is 9 of 17 (52.9%) in the last three games and is now leading the team 14 three-pointers this season.
– Mr. Second Half: In the last three games Dontrez styles dominated after halftime. The Kinston, NC native has scored 41 of his 53 points after halftime in the last three games. He shot 15 of 24 (62.5%), including 7 of 10 (70%) from three-point range after halftime.
– Marcus Hill has been an efficient goalscorer this season. He shot 50 percent or better in seven of 10 games. His field goal percentage of 53.3 percent would rank second in the ACC rankings, but he is one field goal short of qualifying for the list (to qualify for the FG% chart, must average five field goals per game. He has made 49 field goals in 10 games).
– Michael O’Connell leads the ACC and ranks 14th^Th in the NCAA with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.2. O’Connell ranked third in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.54) last season.
– NC State leads the ACC at No. 25^Th in the NCAA with a turnover margin of +4.6. The Pack has had fewer turnovers than its opponent in every game but one this season. NC State forces 14.7 turnovers per game (4th^Th in ACC/68^Th in the NCAA) and only turns it over 10.1 times per game (3rd).^approx in ACC/33^approx in the NCAA).



Saturday stories
– Saturday marks the Pack’s second game of the season against a ranked opponent. NC State previously played Purdue (then ranked 13th).^Th (in the Associated Press poll) at the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego, falling to the Boilermakers 71-61.
– Since Kevin Keatts Coming to NC State, the Pack has 16 wins against ranked opponents, including seven wins against teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll. During last season’s nine-game winning streak in the postseason, NC State defeated two top-10 neutral-site opponents by defeating No. 4 North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game to secure the No. 8 seed^Th-Ranked Marquette in the Sweet 16. The last time NC State beat a top 10 team on the road was Jan. 27, 2018, when Keatts and the Pack defeated 10^Th-Ranked North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 95-91, in overtime.
– Connections: NC States Marcus Hill and AJ Storr of Kansas both grew up in Rockford, Illinois. They attended rival high schools in Rockford (Rockford Christian for Hill and Rockford Lutheran for Storr) before Storr’s family moved out of Rockford after his freshman season. Kansas guard Shakeel Moore is from Greensboro, North Carolina, and signed with NC State out of high school. He played one season with the Pack (2020–21 season) and averaged 6.8 points, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He was named ACC Freshman of the Week on 12/28/20 after scoring 17 points and helping NC State beat 17^Th-Ranked North Carolina, 79-76.
– NC State has been efficient in making two-point field goals this season. The Pack has shot a combined 53.9 percent (212 of 393) two-point field goals through NC State’s first 10 games of the season.
– The Pack ranks fourth in the NCAA in fast break points, averaging 19.4 fast break points per game this season, and are +106 in fast break points this season his opponents. NC State is 7-0 this season when scoring 14 or more fast break points in a game.
– One of NC State’s calling cards Kevin Keatts Era turns opponents’ ball losses into points. In the Pack’s seven wins this season, the Pack averaged 21 points per game on turnovers and outscored opponents on turnovers by 88 points. In the Pack’s three losses, the average margin of opposition turnovers was just 9.0 points and were outscored by opponents in points on turnovers (33 to 27).
– Dennis Parker, Jr. will finally get well. It was a frustrating 2024 for Parker Jr. The only freshman on last season’s team, he missed the entire ACC and NCAA tournaments due to an illness. This season, Parker Jr. has sprained both ankles in separate incidents, including two different sprains on the same ankle. The Richmond, Virginia, native is starting to feel healthy again and had his best game Tuesday against Coppin State, scoring 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting and adding four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
– Receive Brandon Huntley Hatfield back on track. Through the first six games of the season, Huntley-Hatfield was the only NC State player to score in double figures in every game, averaging 11.8 points per game on 59.1 percent shooting. Over the last four games, Huntley-Hatfield is averaging 4.0 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting. Last year at Louisville, Huntley-Hatfield averaged 12.9 points per game on 56.7 percent shooting as he was an Honorable Mention All-ACC selection.



NC State series with Kansas
– Saturday marks the 14th all-time meeting between NC State and Kansas. Kansas has a 12-1 advantage over the Pack and has won the last 12 games between the two programs.
– Last meeting (November 23, 2022): NC State gave the reigning national champions all they had to deal with, but Kansas pulled ahead late and beat the Pack 80-74 in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Kansas had a 39-31 halftime lead, but NC State scored the first eight points of the second half to tie the game. The Jayhawks extended their lead to nine, but a 12-3 NC State run tied the game at 61 with 7:42 left to play. Kansas led 71-68 with 3:30 to play when it used a 6-0 run to extend its lead back to nine points and NC State never got within six points the rest of the game. The Pack trio consisting of Jarkel Joiner, Casey Morsell and Terquavion Smith combined for 57 of NC State’s 74 points.
– Although the game was only two seasons ago, only three players who played in that game are still in the team’s squad for this meeting:. NC States Breon Pass and KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris, Jr. of Kansas.