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NC State Basketball

Keys to the Game: NC State vs. Tennessee

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NC State vs Tennessee
7pm | PNC Arena | ESPN2

Tennessee comes to Raleigh with a 4-3 record, but don’t take that too lightly. So far the Vols don’t have a bad loss, they just have a very tough early season schedule. They lost to #15 VCU, #11 Kansas and Marquette (on a neutral court). This will be Tennessee’s first true road game.

Players to Watch:
Tennessee relies heavily on the scoring of senior guard Josh Richardson, who is averaging 17 ppg so far this season. Richardson is a big 6’6 slashing guard with decent touch and good athleticism. He’s backed up by junior forward Armani Moore. The 6’5 wing is a smaller guy that plays classic Volunteer basketball. He’s long, wrangley and tough. He averages 10 ppg, but is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.

Who is Tennessee:
The Vols are coming off a big win over #15 Butler and a 1 point win over Kansas State a few days earlier. This a hot team right now that is coming into Raleigh with the Pack still trying to find themselves.

Tennessee is a team that want to play a messy, gritty, physical basketball game. They are going to bump State off their cuts and not allow them to run their offense. They are not really that great a rebounding or a scoring team, but they’ll keep games in the mid-60s if it’s up to them.

Keys to the Game:
Keys for State will be to play through contact. This is going to be a physical game and the Pack is going to have to deal with it. Tennessee is not a big team and they aren’t a great rebounding team so State has a big advantage there. Last time out the Wolfpack bigs didn’t do too much. Tonight the game is on their shoulders. They’re going to need to keep the Vols off the glass and limit second chance opportunities.

Another key is going to be Trevor Lacey. Right now Lacey is scoring at about the same clip Warren was at this point last season. The only different is that Lacey isn’t being used as much. I know it’s against Trevor’s style of play to be a high volume scorer, but he’s going to have to if this team wants to put points on the board, and especially if the bigs are going to be as uninvolved as they were against Wofford.

Bench points! State needs them. Against Wofford they didn’t get them. Washington, the Martin Twins and Dez Lee are all going to have to contribute if they want to be this Tennessee team that is built to wear you down and knock you out.

 

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NC State Basketball

An NC State Win Over Marquette in the Sweet 16 Would Be…

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Awesome. Obviously.

#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette tomorrow night in the Sweet 16. What would a win mean for the Wolfpack? Many things, but here’s just a few:

It would give NC State 25 wins on the year (25-14), which would be the most wins since 1982-83, when the Wolfpack went 26-10, winning the National Championship.

It would mark the 12th time in school history that NC State has won 25+ games in a single season.

1982-83 – 26-10 

1973-74 – 30-1 

1972-73 – 27-0 

1954-55 – 28-4 

1953-54 – 26-7

1952-53 – 26-6 

1950-51 – 30-7 

1949-50 – 27-6 

1948-49 – 25-8 

1947-48 – 29-3

1946-47- 26-5

It would be the 7th time NC State has advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

1950

1951

1974

1983

1985

1986

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NC State Basketball

NC State has Won 5 ACC Championships this Year

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NC State has won 5 ACC Championships this year, which is the most of any athletic program in the conference this year.

The Wolfpack has won ACC Titles in Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics.

The last time NC State won 5 ACC Championships in one year was 1979-80.

As far as I can tell, here’s a look at the Wolfpack Conference Titles from 1979-80:

Football
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis

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NC State Basketball

NC State is 1 of 4 Schools to Have Both Men & Women’s Basketball Teams in Sweet 16

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NC State is 1 of 4 schools to have their Men and Women’s Basketball teams BOTH advance to the Sweet 16, along with Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN.

NC State and Duke are the only two schools in the country to send both Basketball teams to the Sweet 16, and also send the Football team to a bowl game.

This marks only the third time in school history that BOTH teams made the Sweet 16.

Years NC State’s Men & Women’s Teams Made the Sweet 16

1985
1989
2024

Despite the fact that the Men’s team has made the Elite 8 six times (1950, 1951, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Women have made it 2 times (1998 & 2022), in the three occasions they both went to the Sweet 16 in the same year, neither team advanced to the Elite 8.

In 2024, Why Not Us?

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NC State Basketball

#3 seed NC State Holds on Against #6 Seed Tennessee, Defeating the Vols 79-72 to Advance to the Sweet 16

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#3 seed NC State held on last night, defeating #6 seed Tennessee 79-72 in Reynolds Coliseum to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 5th time in the last 6 tournaments.

The Wolfpack led by only 1 after the 1st Quarter, but they looked like they had things under control at halftime, leading by 18 points.

At one point, NC State led by as much as 20 points in the 3rd Quarter, but the Lady Volunteers weren’t about to give up.

With 4:19 left in the 4th, Tennessee cut the lead to 2 points, but NC State might have bent, but they wouldn’t break.

Junior Guard Aziaha James led the way with 22 points and 7 assists, which were both team highs. She scored 7 points in the final 3.5 minutes, helping to squash tue Last Vols’ comeback attempt.

Junior Guard Saniya Rivers had 20 points (6-14 FG) and 6 boards.

Freshman Zoe Brooks was clutch off the bench, chipping in 16 points and 6 boards.

This marks the 16th time the NC State Women’s Basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16.

The Wolfpack will play #2 seed Stanford on Friday night at 7:30pm on ESPN in Portland.

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