After winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on Saturday night and receiving the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, the NC State men's basketball team learned it was an 11th-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will face sixth-seed Texas Tech in a first round game played in Pittsburgh, Pa., as the 2024 NCAA selection show aired on CBS Sunday night.

Tipoff and television designation will be announced later tonight.

This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the two programs, but they have not met since the 1954-55 season. The two programs met three times between the 1951-52 and the 1954-55 season with NC State willing two of the three meetings.

This is the Pack's second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 29th all-time. NC State has an all-time record of 37-26 in the NCAA Tournament.

Ugh....9:40PM (which certainly means after 10PM tip) pic.twitter.com/uIINyfBKgk

— Phillip Ayscue 🐺⚾️ (@PAYSCUE) March 18, 2024

#6 Texax Tech vs #11 NC State
9:40 p.m. CBS
Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Evan Washburn

#6 Texas Tech vs #11 NC State
9:40 p.m. CBS
Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Evan Washburn

The NC State men's basketball team opens the NCAA Tournament Thursday evening when it takes on Texas Tech at PPG Paints Arena.

Tipoff against the Red Raiders is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS. NC State fans can also listen to Gary Hahn and Tony Haynes call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

NC State Series with Texas Tech
- The two programs have met three times previously, but this will be the first meeting in the modern era as the teams last played a game against each other on Dec. 18, 1954. All three previous meetings were played in Raleigh.
- The programs first met on Dec. 10, 1951 (two seasons before the Atlantic Coast Conference was formed) with Texas Tech upsetting the 10th-ranked Pack in Raleigh, 63-62. NC State won the next December (12/20/52) as the 6th-ranked Pack beat Texas Tech, 80-55. In the most recent meeting (12/18/54), the 4th-ranked Pack beat Texas Tech, 85-74.
- NC State's two-time All-American Ronnie Shavlik had 24 rebounds in the Pack's win in 1954. The 24 rebounds still rank as the seventh-most in a single game in program history.

https://gopack.com/news/2024/3/20/mens-basketball-pack-opens-ncaa-tournament-thursday-against-texas-tech

#MarchMadness First Round 🕺

vs. Texas Tech | 9:40 PM | CBS #GoPack pic.twitter.com/UWQfJ3CM9y

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 21, 2024

A new season.

Why not us. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zYEisCvUb1

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 21, 2024

The 11th-seed NC State men's basketball team used a 10-0 run towards the end of the first half to take the lead and never looked back in knocking off sixth-seed Texas Tech, 80-67, Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.

The win is NC State's first NCAA Tournament win in nine years when the Pack beat No. 1 seed Villanova in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. That game against the Wildcats was also played at PPG Paints Arena.

Ben Middlebrooks and Mohamed Diarra both set career-highs in points to lead the Pack to victory.

Middlebrooks tied his career-high in points in the first half alone, scoring 14 points to lead all scorers. He added seven points in the second half to finish with a game-high 21 points.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native finished the game 6-of-8 from the field and 9-of-10 from the foul line.

Diarra scored a career-high 17 points, finishing the game 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the foul line and added a game-high 12 rebounds. Diarra has now had a double-double in three of his last four games.

DJ Burns, Jr., and DJ Horne also reached double figures with both players finishing with 16 points.

After scoring in double figures in five straight games in the ACC Tournament, Michael O'Connell was held scoreless, but he did pass out a game-high six assists and had zero turnovers in 37 minutes of action.

NC State took a 37-33 lead into halftime courtesy of a 10-0 run towards the end of the first half.

Texas Tech had a 30-27 lead with 3:58 left in the opening half when the Pack went on it's run. Diarra started the run with a putback basket, Middlebrooks put NC State back in front with two free throws and Morsell would make a three off a steal to push the Pack's lead to four. After another defensive stop, O'Connell found Middlebrooks for a lay-up as he was fouled. Middlebrooks made the free throw to complete the Pack's 10-0 run.

The second half started with both offenses clicking. The Red Raiders got withing three, 52-49, on a jumper with 12:30 remaining, but the Pack would rattle off nine straight points to take a 61-49 lead with 9:21 to play.

NC State would extend its lead to as many as 17 points as Texas Tech would not get the deficit into single digits until under one minute remained.

NC State advances to the second round where it will face 14th-seed Oakland on Saturday night. Tipoff at PPG Paints Arena is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and the game will be televised on TBS.

https://gopack.com/news/2024/3/22/mens-basketball-pack-cruises-past-red-raiders-to-advance-to-second-round

CBS gave NC State star DJ Burns ice cream after beating Texas Tech in the first round and he immediately tried to pass it off to someone else. pic.twitter.com/CEyVjYeJHG

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 22, 2024