GAMEDAY: NC State vs. Georgia Tech
NC State opens the season tonight in PNC Arena against ACC rival Georgia Tech. Here are some pregame notes on the Wolfpack.
Pack Tracks
- NC State opens its 110th season of basketball Tuesday evening when it hosts Georgia Tech.
- Tuesday’s game marks the first time since the 1967-68 season that NC State has opened the season with an ACC game. The 1967-68 NC State team opened the season with a 79-63 win at Wake Forest on Dec. 2, 1967.
- NC State has won 24 of its last 25 season-openers.
- The Pack returns six of its top-seven scorers from last season’s 24-12 team. NC State’s returning players combine to account for 69% of the scoring, 61% of the rebounding, and 72% of the assists from last season.
- NC State returns three starters from last season and overall has seven returnees. This makes it the most experienced team head coach Kevin Keatts has had since taking over the program. His first team with the Pack returned six scholarship players from the previous season, and last season NC State had only three returnees to go along with 10 newcomers on the roster. This season NC State has seven returnees and seven newcomers.
- The Pack is entering year three with Kevin Keatts as head coach. Keatts has led the program to a 45-24 record in his two seasons as head coach.
Noting NC State
- Tuesday marks the third season with the Pack for Head Coach Kevin Keatts. He welcomes back three starters from last season's 24-12 team. In two season, Keatts has guided the Pack to a 45-24 record, including a 20-16 mark in ACC play.
- NC State returns six of its top-seven scorers from last season.
- For the third consecutive season, Keatts has added two grad transfers to the roster (2017-18 Allerik Freeman (Baylor) and Sam Hunt (North Carolina A&T); 2018-19 - Eric Lockett (FIU) and Wyatt Walker (Samford)).
This year, the Pack has added Pat Andree and Danny Dixon. Andree comes to NC State from Lehigh.
One of the top-shooters in the Patriot League, Andree averaged 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season. Dixon averaged 7.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last season at UMKC.
Tuesday Storylines
- NC State is 19-1 all-time in season openers at PNC Arena.
- This is the first time since Nov. 19, 1999 that NC State has opened a season against a Power-5 opponent. NC State defeated Georgia, 67-63, in that game (which also happened to be the first game NC State ever played in PNC Arena).
- Redshirt freshman Manny Bates will make his NC State debut on Tuesday. The Fayetteville native missed his senior season of high school with a shoulder injury and sat out last year after having preseason shoulder surgery. Bates’ appearance on Tuesday will be his first game representing his school since his junior campaign of high school wrapped up on Feb. 24, 2017 - that is a span of 985 days.
- Tuesday’s game marks the first time the Pack has opened its season with an ACC opponent since Nov. 30, 1979 when it played North Carolina as part of the Big Four Tournament. That game did not count towards either team’s ACC record. The last time NC State opened the season with an ACC game is Dec. 2, 1967 at Wake Forest.
- Georgia Tech is one of three ACC schools Kevin Keatts has not defeated yet in his two years at NC State. The other two schools are Virginia and Virginia Tech.
- NC State has led in the final two minutes in both contests against the Yellow Jackets in the last two seasons.
- Last season, Georgia Tech shot 58.1 percent from the field. That was the best shooting percentage NC State allowed an opponent to shoot last season. The Yellow Jackets attempted only five three-pointers in the game which are the fewest by an opponent in the Kevin Keatts era.
NC State - Georgia Tech Series
- NC State leads the all-time series, 57-40, with Georgia Tech.
- Georgia Tech has won four of the last five meetings.
- The Yellow Jackets have an all-time (losing) record of 13-31 in Raleigh, but they enter Tuesday’s game with a three-game winning streak in North Carolina’s state capital. The Pack last beat Georgia Tech in Raleigh on Jan. 26, 2014 (80-78 overtime win).
- NC State has an 11-5 record against Georgia Tech inside PNC Arena.
Pack Scoring Plenty Under Keatts
The NC State men’s basketball team has averaged over 80 points per game in both of the seasons Kevin Keatts has been head coach of the Pack. Prior to Keatts arriving at NC State, the Pack hadn’t averaged over 80 points per game in a season since the 1995-96 team averaged 81.2 points per game. Last year’s team set a program-record for most points scored in a single season with 2,882 points.
Lethal From Long Range
- The Pack’s returning players this year account for 256 of the 292 three-pointers NC State made last season. The 292 threes ranked as the second-most in a single-season in program history.
- Markell Johnson hit 68 three-pointers last season and finished the year fourth in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage at 42.2%. He is the top returning three-point shooter in the ACC (by shooting percentage).
- Braxton Beverly led the team with 76 three-pointers last season and has hit 136 three-pointers in his first two year at NC State which are the most for any player in program history through their sophomore season.
- C.J. Bryce (38 three-pointers last season) and Devon Daniels (37) both averaged to make over one three-pointer per game last season.
- In addition, NC State welcomes grad transfer Pat Andree to this year’s team. Andree made 189 three-pointers in three seasons at Lehigh, including 149 the last two years where he shot over 40 percent from long distance in both seasons.
- Last season, NC State averaged 8.17 three-pointers made per game. In the Kevin Keatts’ era, the Pack is 17-4 when it hits 10 or more three-pointers in a game.