GAMEDAY PRIMER @ Notre Dame | Keys to the Game, Team Trends and How to Watch

NC State Wolfpack at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Time: 12:00 PM ET
Location: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center, South Bend, IN
TV: The CW Network

The NC State Wolfpack wrap up their regular-season road slate with a noon tip against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tomorrow at Purcell Pavilion. NC State stands at 19-9 overall and 10-5 in ACC play, coming off a tough 90-61 road loss at Virginia where the Cavs simply punked the Pack in almost every aspect of the game. The Wolfpack have been strong in stretches this season – averaging 84 PPG while holding opponents to 73.8, but need a bounce-back performance to keep their hold on 4th place in the league heading into the final home games and the ACC Tournament.

Notre Dame enters at 12-16 overall and 3-12 in conference, struggling badly this year with a recent 44-point home blowout loss to Duke and ongoing issues in offensive efficiency and defense. The Irish rank near the bottom of the ACC in several key metrics and have been hampered by injuries (notably to key players like Markus Burton earlier this year), making Purcell Pavilion less intimidating than in past years. NC State has had success in this matchup historically on the road and views this as a prime opportunity for a comfortable win to close out the away portion of the schedule on a high note.

Wade’s Thoughts on Notre Dame:
“Certa’s been averaging 20 points a game in February in the league. He’s had two 30-point games. He’s been averaging 11 three attempts a game. He’s had six games where he made six plus threes.

That’s a huge number. Yeah, so look, first off, Coach Shrewsberry is an unbelievable coach. I coached against him when he was at Penn State. He’s a phenomenal coach. He’s as good as any X’s and O’s basketball coach as there is in our conference and in the country.

Look, they’ve been… one of my good friends is on his staff. I worked with him and we’re actually roommates for a little while. Kyle Getter. We worked together at VCU for a long time. He’s one of his assistants. One of the best human beings you’ll ever meet. KG.

But look, they’ve been decimated by some injuries but they still play extremely, extremely hard. Their big kid, 33, plays as hard as any player in the country. Towt—he’s physical. He averages, he leads the ACC in offensive rebounding—three and a half offensive rebounds a game.

So just, he’s a transfer but really, really good player. And look, they play extremely hard. They’re still… it’s not like they’ve mailed it in or anything like that. The game got away from them against Duke but with 58 seconds left, they’re still diving on the floor for loose balls.

It’s gonna be an incredibly challenging game, incredibly difficult game for us. And Towt was a great player at Northern Arizona and he’s done a really good job for those guys. So this is gonna be tough sledding on Saturday.”

Keys To the Game

• Dominate inside with rebounding and paint scoring — When the Pack own the paint they’re good,  if they can overwhelm Notre Dame’s frontcourt, who doesn’t have a great rim protector, they’ll win this game. That means big nights for Copeland and Lubin.
• Stay hot from deep to stretch the floor — NC State still ranks among the ACC’s best in three-point shooting. The Pack need to get good clean looks, which were few and far between vs. UVA. Copeland creating havoc is key, but as teams have been sinking into the paint and Copelands 3 point shooting has leveled-0ff, he’s slowed down a bit.  They’ll need him to get going, which creates space for guys like McNeil and Able.
• Avoid complacency in a noon road tip — Early starts on the road can lead to slow starts for this team; the Wolfpack must bring energy from the jump, handle any Senior Day atmosphere for Notre Dame, and avoid foul trouble which has hurt them in the last couple of games.

Players to Watch

• For NC State: Quadir Copeland – Copeland struggled vs UVA last time out (3 pts) and only had 11 vs. Miami two games ago. Teams have stopped guarding him on the perimeter, and it’s gotten in Copelands head, as his 3pt percentage has plummeted. He is now 2 for his last 12. This is clogging the lane and allowing wing defenders to stay home on 3pt shooters, which is taking away NC State’s best weapons.
• For Notre Dame: Jalen Haralson – This guy is the highest-ranked recruit in ND history. He’s a 6’7 guard who can create havoc for defenses with his ability to handle the basketball and finish at the rim at 6’7. He was out vs. Duke , which is an issue since their leader, Markus Burton has been lost for the season since December 5th. If Haralson plays, he can create mismatches that can create space for shooters like Braeden Shrewsberry who is 2nd in the ACC in 3pt %.

Game Notes

– NC State fell to 11th-ranked Virginia, 90-61, on Tuesday night. NC State matched its season-low scoring output with 61 points — a mark it had previously set in its Jan. 3 matchup against the Cavaliers. The Wolfpack also struggled from the field, shooting a season-worst 29.4 percent. Their prior season low was 36 percent, which also came against Virginia in that earlier January meeting.

– Paul McNeil, Jr., led the Pack with 22 points at Virginia. He made three three-pointers in the game and now has 86 on the season which is the ninth-most in program history. He has five guaranteed games left in the season and at his current rate he will become just the fourth player in program history to make 100 three-pointers in a season. McNeil leads the ACC and ranks 19th in the NCAA with a three-point percentage of 42.6 percent. He ranks second in the ACC in three-pointers per game, making an average of 3.1 an outing.

– NC State has made double-digit three-pointers in 12 of 28 games this season. The Pack has had two games with 19 made three-pointers, a game with 17 made threes and three games with 16. The 1986-87 season was when the three-point line was introduced to college basketball. From the 1986-87 season through the 2024-25 season, NC State made 16 or more three-pointers in a game six times in 39 seasons. The current NC State team has made 16 or more three-pointers in six of 28 games this season. – The Pack currently ranks second in the ACC and 25th in the NCAA with an average of 10.5 three-pointers made per game. NC State leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the NCAA in three point percentage, making 39.0 percent of its attempts from long range this season.

NC State’s next made three-pointer will set a program record for most three-pointers in a single season. – – The Pack has made 294 three-pointers this season which ties for the most in a single season in program history with the 2004-05 season which made 294 threes in 35 games.

– Quadir Copeland is saving his best for last as he is averaging career best in points (13.6), assists (6.8), steals (1.8), field goal percentage (50.2%), three-point percentage (41.5%) and assist-turnover ratio (2.66). He ranks second in the ACC in assists, fourth in steals and fifth in assist-turnover ratio. In ACC-only games, Copeland leads the league in both categories, averaging 7.6 assists and 2.35 steals through 14 contests. His 114 assists in league play are 23 more than the next closest player. He has 189 assists on the season and is 10 assists away from breaking into the program’s single season top-10 chart for assists in a season.

Saturday storylines

– The Pack currently has a 10-5 record in the ACC. This is only the fourth season in the last 35 years that NC State has been 10-5 through 15 games in ACC play. A win on Saturday at Notre Dame would give the Pack its best record through 16 league games since the 2003-04 Pack team was 11-5.

– NC State’s six ACC road wins this season are already the most in a single season for the program since the 1973-74 team went 6-0, but a win in at Notre Dame on Saturday would give the program its most ACC road wins in a single season in program history. This is the 72nd year of the ACC’s existence. In addition to the most ACC road wins in program history, a win on Saturday would give the Pack seven road wins in the regular season for the first time since the 1972-73 season and would be only the fourth time in the program’s ACC era that it had seven or more regular season road wins in a single season.

– Through games of Thursday, Feb. 26, NC State has an 11-8 record against Q1 and Q2 teams in the NET rankings. The only ACC team has that more Q1/Q2 wins than the Pack are Duke (17) and Virginia (13). There are only 17 teams in all of NCAA DI that have more combined Q1 and Q2 wins than the Pack.

Saturday marks the return of Ven-Allen Lubin to Notre Dame. Lubin signed with the Irish out of high school and played one season for Notre Dame in 2022-23. He appeared in 28 games, making seven starts and finished the season averaging 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 58 percent from the field.

– Four of the ACC’s top-10 three-point shooters will be on the court on Saturday. In addition to Paul McNeil, Jr., who ranks second in the ACC in threes per game and leads conference in three-point percentage, the Pack has Darrion Williams (10th in 3s per game & shooting 40.8% from 3) while Notre Dame counters Braeden Shrewsberry (3rd in threes & 4th in 3FG%) and Cole Certa (8th in 3s & 6th in 3FG%).

– Ven-Allen Lubin’s shooting efficiency continues to dominate the conference and is on pace to break the program’s single-season field goal percentage record. Lubin is shooting 67.6 percent from the field, which leads the ACC and ranks third nationally. Lubin’s current mark would surpass NC State’s single-season record of 64.1 percent, set by Manny Bates during the 2020-21 season. His 67.6 percent clip currently ranks as the third-highest single-season field goal percentage in ACC history, trailing only UNC’s Brendan Haywood’s 69.7 percent in 1999-2000 and Duke’s Zion Williamson’s 68.0 percent in 2018-19.

– Pick Your Poison: The Pack’s scoring balance has been on full display this season, with the team’s top four scorers separated by just six points through 28 games. Paul McNeil, Jr., leads NC State with 385 total points, followed closely by Darrion Williams (383) Quadir Copeland (381) and Ven-Allen Lubin (379). In ACC play, the Pack’s top four scorers are separated by just 10 points. Lubin leads NC State in scoring in ACC games with 208 total points while Williams has 206, McNeil has 199 and Copeland has 198.

The keys in the Pack’s 6-1 ACC road record is three-pointers and turnovers. NC State has made an average of 13.2 three-pointers per game and shooting 48.2 percent from long range in its six ACC road wins, but in losses at Louisville and Virginia made just 13 threes in the two games (6.5 per game average) and shot just 23.6 percent (13-of-55) from three-point range. The Pack has had single digit turnovers in every ACC road win and is averaging just 7.2 turnovers per game in ACC road wins, while it had double-digit turnovers in both ACC losses. NC State has a 2.35 assist-to-turnover ratio (101-to-43) in ACC road wins and a +32 turnover margin in the six road wins, but had 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio at Louisville and just a +2 turnover margin.

– NC State has scored 100 or more points in four games this season. It’s the most 100 point games in a single season for NC State since the 1995-96 team had four. For the season, NC State averages 84.0 points per game which is third in the ACC and 27th in the NCAA. The Pack is currently on pace to average its most points since Fire & Ice (Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe) led the Pack to an average of 89.3 points per game in the 1990-91 season.

– NC State leads the ACC and ranks ninth in the NCAA in turnover margin at +3.9 The Pack is second in the league and 18th in the NCAA, averaging just 9.5 turnovers per game. NC State’s advantage in the turnover battle has led to the Pack having great success in turning its opponents mistakes into points. NC State has outscored its opponent in points off turnovers in 12 of 16 ACC games this season. In 16 ACC games this season, the Pack has outscored its opponents by 123 points in points off turnovers.  In 28 games overall this season,  NC State has outscored its opponents by 191 points in points off turnovers.

– Win the Boards, win the game? The Pack is 12-0 when it outrebounds its opponent this season, but just 7-9 when it is outrebounded. NC State enters the game against Notre Dame having been outrebounded in six straight games and last won the rebounding battle in the win over Wake Forest on Jan. 31.