PREGAME NOTEBOOK: Senior Day For State

NC State concludes regular season play tonight against Louisville on Senior Night.  Here are some pregames notes on the Wolfpack.

Pack Tracks

NC State had its four game win streak - its longest regular season ACC win streak since 2006 - snapped Thursday night as Georgia Tech defeated the Pack, 78-75. The game had 11 lead changes in the final 10 minutes. The Yellow Jackets had a six point lead with 37 seconds to go, but the NC State hit a three-pointer and then forced a turnover to get one last crack at extending the game to overtime. The Pack missed two three-pointers on its final possession as Georgia Tech held on.

* Allerik Freeman led the Pack in scoring with 19 points against the Yellow Jackets. Freeman has led NC State in scoring in five consecutive games. In the last five games, he is averaging 21 points on 49.3 percent shooting (33-of-67), including 50% (14-of-28) from three-point range., 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

* Sam Hunt has hit 77.8% of his three-point attempts (14-of-18) over the last five games. He was 4-of-6 at Syracuse, 2-of-3 at Wake Forest and a perfect 4-of-4 in back-to-back games last week vs. Boston College and Florida State. Hunt missed his first two three-point attempts at Syracuse, before hitting all four of his attempts in the second half, so he has hit 14 of his last 16 three-pointers.

Trends

The Pack has won 10 ACC games this season. It’s the seventh double-digit ACC win season for NC State since NC State went 12-0 in back-to-back season (1972-73 & 1973-74).

* A win Saturday would give the Pack an 11-7 record in the ACC, it’ll be the most record for the Pack since 2012-13 team went 11-7 in the ACC.

* A win Saturday would give the Pack a 16-3 home record this season. It would be the most wins for NC State at home since the 2012-13 team went 16-1 in Raleigh.

* Head Coach Kevin Keatts has won 20 regular season games this season. One more win will tie Keatts with legendary coach Everett Case (21-4 in 1946-47) for the most wins in the regular season in first season as head coach of the Pack.

* The Pack has forced its opponent into an even or worse assist-to-turnover ratio in six of the last eight games. Virginia Tech (12 assists/11 turnovers) on Feb. 7 and Georgia Tech (18 assists/14 turnovers) on March 1 are the only teams to have more assists than turnovers against the Pack.

* Georgia Tech shot 50 percent from three-point range (6-of-12) Thursday night. It snapped a streak of nine games where the Pack hadn’t allowed a team to shoot over 35.7% from three-point range dating back to the Jan. 21 home game against Miami.

* In the last six games, NC State is shooting 50.4% (59-of-117) from three-point range. During that same five-game span, the Pack’s opponents are shooting 25.5% (26-of-102).

* During the last five games, NC State has outscored its opponents 156-60 from the three-point line.

* The Pack ranks second in the ACC in opponent three point field goal percentage in overall games (31.6%) and ACC games (31.7%).

* NC State has hit more three-pointers than its opponent in eight of the last nine games (Notre Dame on Feb. 3 is only team to hit more 3-pointers than the Pack, 8-6).

* NC State shot 50 percent or better in five consecutive games from 2/10-2/25. It is the first time the Pack has shot 50 percent or better in five consecutive ACC regular season games in the same season since the 1985-86 season when NC State shot 50 percent or better in five consecutive ACC games from 2/5/1986 to 2/23/1986.

* NC State is 13-2 this season when Torin Dorn grabs 6+ rebounds. The Pack is 7-8 when he grabs less than six rebounds. The Pack is 16-4 this season when Dorn scores in double figures, 4-6 when he doesn’t.

Allerik Freeman: Two-Time ACC Player of the Week

NC State guard Allerik Freeman is the reigning ACC Player of the Week after averaging 22.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in two wins last week. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native led the Wolfpack in scoring with 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting with six rebounds and three assists in an 82-66 win over Boston College on Tuesday night. He then scored a game-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added four rebounds, three assists and tied his career-high with four steals in a 92-72 win over No. 25 Florida State on Sunday evening.

* Freeman was previously honored on Jan. 29 after his record-setting performance in the Pack’s win over No. 10 UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday, Jan. 27. Freeman set an ACC record for three-pointers made without a miss, connecting on all seven of his attempts.

* He joins Duke’s Marvin Bagley III and Grayson Allen and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Luke Maye as players to be honored as ACC Player of the Week multiple times this season.

Omer Yurtseven: ACC’s Most Improved Player?

There are a number of good candidates for the ACC Most Improved Player award, including NC State’s Omer Yurtseven.

* - Yurtseven leads the Pack in all four categories in ACC play

Last year in ACC play, Yurtseven only had 3 double-digit scoring games and 3 games with 6 or more rebounds. This season, the sophomore has scored in double figures in 13 of 17 ACC games, including over 20 points in five games and has had 6 or more rebounds in 11 games.