NC State Visits Notre Dame With ACC Stakes Rising
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RALEIGH — NC State men's basketball is back in action on Saturday, looking to recover from a disappointing 29-point loss to No. 11 Virginia. Will Wade and the Wolfpack made the trip to South Bend, Ind., to face a struggling Notre Dame squad that has been decimated by injuries, yet remains in the hunt for a bid to the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.
The Wolfpack remains in the mix for a top-four seed, but can't afford slippage against a team near the bottom of the ACC standings. Still, the Fighting Irish are a team that fights hard for coach Micah Shrewsberry, meaning NC State won't just walk into the Joyce Center and easily secure a win like No. 1 Duke did on Tuesday.
What to expect from Notre Dame
After a solid start to the season, injuries began to mount when ACC play started for Shrewsberry and the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame suffered two different five-game losing streaks in conference play, sinking lower and lower in the standings. The starting backcourt, which looked like one of the better tandems in the country, did not get the reps needed to carry the Irish to a successful ACC season.
Star guard Markus Burton, who averaged 18.5 points in 10 games, hasn't played since early December. Notre Dame's other leading scorer in the backcourt, Jalen Haralson, missed the last three games, but could return against the Wolfpack. The 6-foot-7 freshman averages 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists, playing a similarly slithering style of basketball to NC State's Quadir Copeland.
Notre Dame forward Carson Towt figures to be a highly problematic matchup for the Wolfpack, as he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the ACC, averaging over three boards on the offensive end per game. Beyond Towt, Notre Dame isn't a particularly strong rebounding team, but it will still cause issues for NC State.
While the Fighting Irish play hard, it hasn't amounted to much on either end of the court. Shrewsberry's group ranks last in the ACC in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Teams haven't shot the three incredibly well against Notre Dame, but NC State is a bit of a different animal.
Braeden Shrewsberry offers his father a quality counter to Paul McNeil of NC State. The junior averages 11.6 points per game, knocking down 3-point shots at a 38.7% clip since the start of the season.
How the Wolfpack can attack Notre Dame
So long as it doesn't come out as sloppily as it did against Virginia, NC State shouldn't have nearly as much trouble getting quality looks against the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has a bottom-three scoring defense since the start of conference play, allowing 79.5 points per game. While NC State ranks in the middle of the league defensively, its points per game totals are inflated by blowout losses to Virginia and Louisville.
The poor 3-point shooting against Virginia dropped the Wolfpack to second in the league in that category. Notre Dame doesn't pose even close to as strong a 3-point defense as the Cavaliers, meaning NC State should have much better success from downtown if it sees its first few shots go down. Look for Darrion Williams to be aggressive early.
The Wolfpack had 12 shots blocked against the Cavaliers on Tuesday, as Virginia showed its top-tier paint defense against the undersized visitors from Raleigh. Notre Dame averages fewer blocks per game than NC State does, meaning the Pack should have more success getting into the paint and scoring. After a porous effort on Tuesday, Copeland should have far more room to maneuver, so long as he avoids similar foul trouble and comes out with an edge.
The size equality also bodes well for Ven-Allen Lubin, who struggled to get clean looks inside against Virginia, too. Getting his confidence back ahead of the Duke matchup is important for Wade, as he'll be a key part of any upset bid NC State hopes for against the top-ranked Blue Devils on Monday.
All signs point to a turnaround for the Wolfpack from a statistical standpoint, but NC State can be mercurial and unpredictable in nature. The version of the Pack that shows up at noon on Saturday remains to be seen.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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