NC State had had Success in Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament

#11 seed NC State will play #6 seed Texas Tech on Thursday night in the 1st Round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and the game will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I’m a fan of the Wolfpack playing in Pittsburgh for a couple of reasons.

For starters, after playing 5 games in 5 days to win the ACC Tournament, it is beneficial for these players to get as much rest as possible before tipoff. Being able to play this game somewhere where the clocks are set to Eastern Standard Time is a plus.

Secondly, NC State is familiar with playing in Pittsburgh. Under Kevin Keatts, the Wolfpack has played at Pitt 5 times, going 3-2 in Pittsburgh. The game on Thursday will be played in PPG Arena, where the Pittsburgh Penguins play hockey, and not the Petersen Events Center, where the Panthers play basketball, but nonetheless Keatts and crew are used to winning in this city.

Finally, the only other time that NC State played NCAA Tournament games in Pittsburgh was in 2015, when the Wolfpack went 2-0 (also in PPG Arena). As the #8 seed, the Wolfpack defeated #9 seed LSU 66-65 in the 1st round, which was followed up by a major win over #1 seed Villanova 71-68 in the 2nd round, advancing to the Sweet 16.