N.C. State Wolfpack (8-1) vs. Wofford Terriers (7-2) – 4pm @ William Neal Reynolds Coliseum
Tv: Fox Sports South/Regional – (646 on Direct; 40 on Time Warner); Espn 3 – subject to blackout
The Pack is back in Reynolds again today, returning quickly after defeating Charleston Southern 86-50 on Friday evening in the old coliseum. Playing without Trevor Lacey (ankle), the Wolfpack looked very efficient on both ends of the floor and were able to pull away from the Buccaneers early. Encouragingly, N.C. State never let up – giving Charleston So. no space to work back into the ballgame and apply game pressure. A running theme over the past couple of seasons has been the Pack going up 15-20 points in various games, yet letting their opponent work back into the game. Not this time, thankfully.
As for Lacey, unfortunately I have been unable to find any definitive info on his status for today’s contest – so I suppose we’ll know at 4pm. If you do know of anything, please feel free to list it in the comments.
Like Charleston Southern, today’s opponent – the Wofford Terriers – run their offense with an emphasis on efficiently shooting the 3-ball. Wofford enters today’s contest close to the very top of the overall 3-point FG percentage standings (4th overall heading into Saturday). Needless to say, the Pack’s defensive pressure will once again go a long way in determining how today’s game flows.
Wofford returns all five starters from last season’s SoCon Tournament champions. The Terriers lost in the round of 64 (second round) to #2 seed Michigan in last season’s NCAA Tournament. That tournament appearance marked the third time in the past five seasons that Wofford had won the SoCon tournament and made the NCAA Tournament – accounting for each of the Terriers all-time NCAA Tourney appearances. It’s an impressive feat, considering that Davidson (now in the A-10) was long the class of the SoCon.
The Terriers were routinely picked to repeat as SoCon champions this season by most preseason prognostications, though the league did shake-up a bit and added Mercer, ETSU, and VMI (most of you probably recall Mercer’s defeat of Duke here in Raleigh in last season’s NCAAT). Wofford is currently ranked at #17 in the mid-major top 25. The Pack and the Terriers have faced no common opponents, but Wofford does own a win over a very solid Iona squad. Wofford’s next three opponents are all future or past Pack opponents – Charleston So., West Virginia, and Duke.
Please leave your comments and thoughts here, enjoy the game and Go Pack! See you in the comments at 4pm 🙂
As always, we’ll end with a video:
