NC State’s ACC Team Stat Rankings: The Highs & Lows

As the regular season has come to a close, it’s time to look back and see how NC State as a team statistically compared to the rest of the conference strictly in ACC play.

My goal is to highlight the Wolfpack’s “highs” and “lows” in ACC play this year. In order to do this, we will specifically look at the statistical categories where NC State ranked in the top-5 in the conference, and the categories where they ranked in the bottom five.

Highs

NC State was one of the strongest offensive teams in the ACC this year. There are many reasons for this, as you can see below. They shot the ball well ranking in the Top 5 in field goal percentage and 3-Point field goal percentage. The Wolfpack also shared the ball well, ranking in the Top 5 in assists. The Wolfpack also was excellent at giving themselves more opportunities to shoot, ranking in the Top 5 in steals and turnover margin. When you’re a team that shoots the ball well, it’s imperative that you hold on to the ball, and the Wolfpack did just that, ranking in the Top 5 in assist-to-turnover-ratio. Finally, a key in scoring a lot of points, is second chance opportunities, and that comes from the offensive glass, and NC State specialized in that this year.

Lows

This years team did have some weaknesses in conference play, as you can see below. It’s good to score a lot of points, but not good to give up a lot of points, but the Wolfpack did just that. Reason #1 being, they had the worst field goal percentage defense in the ACC. Reason #2 being, they allowed their opponents to dominate the offensive glass, creating second chances to put points on the board. A lot of this had to do with weak on-the-ball defense, which resulted in a need for help defense, which resulted in a failure to box out.