Jeremy Brevard/USAToday sports
Wolfpack Tipoff: Game 9, Wake Forest
NC State (6-2, 0-1 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (5-4, 0-1)
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (14,665)
2 p.m., ACC Network (PxP: Will Fleming; Analyst: Dan Bonner)
Streaming: ACC Network Extra; Live stats: GoPack.com
Series history: State leads 144-106 (6-23 at Joel Coliseum)
Last meeting: Wisconsin won 94-74 in Raleigh, Feb. 24, 2019
Most recent game: State beat Wisconsin 69-54, Wake Forest lost to Penn State 76-54
BetOnline line: State minus 3 | Over/Under 147
PROJECTED STARTERS
NC State stats | Wake Forest stats
| NC STATE | Stats | WAKE FOREST | Stats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Markell Johnson | 6-1 Senior | 12.0 ppg 6.0 apg | Brandon Childress | 6-0 Senior | 15.1 ppg 4.9 apg |
Braxton Beverly | 6-0 Junior | 9.0 ppg 2.0 apg | Andrien White | 6-3 Redshirt Senior | 8.1 ppg 4.0 rpg |
C.J. Bryce | 6-5 Redshirt Senior | 15.5 ppg 6.8 rpg | Chaundee Brown | 6-4 Junior | 11.5 ppg 6.5 rpg |
Jericole Hellems | 6-7 Sophomore | 12.3 ppg 4.1 rpg | Isaiah Mucius | 6-8 Sophomore | 7.8 ppg 4.9 rpg |
Manny Bates | 6-10 Freshman | 6.5 ppg 3.4 bpg | Olivier Saar | 7-0 Junior | 13.2 pp 9.6 rpg |
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"Our guys know that we only have eight guys right now, and so everybody is going to play. So, we’re trying to get everybody to have complete 100 percent buy-in. You’re going to play as hard as you can or we’re going to get somebody else in there and let those guys play hard.” Coach Kevin Keatts
"We want to stack wins on top of wins. Playing at Wake Forest is our next game, so that’s the most important game of the season right now because that’s our next game. We’ve just got to lock in for the couple of days that we have to prepare for them and go in there and play hard and compete." Junior guard Devon Daniels
NOTABLE
State has committed only 13 turnovers in its last two games, seven against Memphis on Thanksgiving Day and a season-low six against Wisconsin on Wednesday. One of the turnovers against the Badgers was at the end of the game when State elected to dribble out the shot clock rather than attempting a shot. The Wolfpack has committed fewer turnovers than all eight of its opponents this season and leads the ACC in turnover margin at plus-5.4. Wake Forest ranks 14th in the ACC at minus-2.67. ...
After registering only 10 steals in the first two games of the season, the Wolfpack has had at least seven steals in each of the next six games and is averaging 8.83 steals per game over those games. State is the only team in the ACC to have three players (Markell Johnson (fourth at 1.86), C.J. Bryce and Devon Daniels (12th at 1.63) in the top-12 of the conference in steals per game. ...
Jeremy Brevard/USAToday sports
Wake Forest is one of the top rebounding teams in the ACC with a rebounding margin at plus-5.67 and an average of 11.9 offensive rebounds per game. Olivier Sarr, last week's ACC Player of the Week, leads the conference in offensive rebounds at 3.6 per game. State, by contrast, enters Saturday's game having been outrebounded in three straight games and ranks 11th in the ACC in rebounding margin at minus-0.63. ...
Wolfpack forward Jericole Hellems is in the midst of a career-best stretch over the past three games. The sophomore had career-highs in assists (6) and steals (4) in the win against Little Rock on Nov. 23. He followed up with a then-career-high 17 points against Memphis on Nov. 28 before upping his personal best to 23 points in the win over Wisconsin on Wednesday. Over the last three games, Hellems is averaging 15.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 46.9 percent from the field.
