NC State Looks To Bounce Back As They Host North Carolina

Last time against North Carolina NC State won in overtime on January 27th  in Chapel Hill and Saturday North Carolina will travel to Raleigh for the rematch.

NC State comes into their game with North Carolina with a record of 16-8 while they're 6-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and are coming off a loss on the road in Blacksburg Virginia against Virginia Tech.

The NC State men's basketball team had its three-game win streak snapped Wednesday evening as the Pack fell to Virginia Tech, 85-75, inside Cassell Coliseum. "according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

NC State falls to 16-8, 6-5 in the ACC with the loss, while Virginia Tech improves to 17-7, 6-5 in the ACC with the win."according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

The Pack trailed by 18 points early in the second half, but battled back to cut the deficit to six with over 10 minutes remaining in the game, but could get no closer. "according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

Omer Yurtseven led NC State with 20 points, while Markell Johnson registered a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists. The 10 assists extend the sophomore's double-digit assist streak to five games. Yurtseven and Johnson were the lone NC State players to reach double figures. Abdul-Malik Abu led the Pack with a game-high seven rebounds."according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

The game was back-and-forth for the opening 10 minutes with both teams exchanging the lead. A Torin Dorn jump shot with 8:50 left in the first half tied the game at 23, but Virginia Tech responded with a 12-0 run to take a 35-23 lead with 5:43 left in the half. The lead would grow to as many as 15 points before NC State cut it to 13, 47-34, at the break."according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

Yurtseven scored eight points in the first four minutes of the game, but picked up his second foul at the 15:24 mark of the first half. "according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

In the second half, the Hokies extended the lead to 18, 55-37, with 17:22 to go, but the Pack would not quit as NC State responded with an 18-6 run over the next six-plus minutes to cut the deficit to 61-55. The Hokies scored the next six points to extend the lead back to 12 and despite another response from NC State to get within seven with 6:51 to play, Virginia Tech would not allow the Pack to get any closer."according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

Justin Robinson led the Hokies with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field. The 32 points are the most NC State has allowed an opponent to score this season. "according tohttp://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

NC State ended the game with a 34-27 advantage in rebounding, but Virginia Tech had a 56-30 points in the paint advantage."according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball

North Carolina meanwhile comes into their game with NC State with a record of 18-7 and 7-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference "according to http://goheels.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball  and are coming off a win over rival Duke on Thursday night.

North Carolina went from looking a step slow and struggling to keep Duke's touted freshmen off the boards to roaring out of halftime with an aggressive edge on the way to a rousing win. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

Maybe the 21st-ranked Tar Heels just needed their fiercest rival to bring out something that had been missing for weeks."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

Joel Berry II scored 21 points and UNC hung on late to beat the ninth-ranked Blue Devils 82-78 on Thursday night, capping an emotional performance that included a comeback from a dozen down in the first half."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

The Tar Heels (18-7, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) had recently emerged from their first three-game losing streak in four years by beating the only team (Pittsburgh) yet to win a league game. And they had struggled to find much of a confidence-building flow. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

Until Thursday, with the Blue Devils (19-5, 7-4) in the Smith Center in front of a crowd operating at ear-ringing levels."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

"Once everybody got going," said Kenny Williams, who matched his career high with 20 points, "we proved to ourselves how good we can be." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

The Tar Heels had four players score at least 15 points, including Pittsburgh graduate transfer Cameron Johnson going for 18 points and 13 rebounds in his first taste of the Duke-UNC rivalry. And that helped the Tar Heels reverse a first-half rebounding struggle against Duke's bigger front line of Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr., and dominate the glass after halftime. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

"Everybody crashed the boards," said senior Theo Pinson, who had seven rebounds. "We told them at halftime: Me and Luke (Maye) are going to do everything we can to keep Carter and Bagley off the boards. You have to come in and rebound.'" "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

UNC finished with a 28-17 rebounding advantage after halftime that included 15 offensive rebounds, a sign of how the Tar Heels were outworking the Blue Devils as they turned the game out of the break."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

"The start of the second half, they played great," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "and we were awful." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

The Tar Heels opened the second half on a 16-2 run to erase what was left of Duke's early lead and go ahead for good. UNC led 61-51 at the end of its run and played from in front the rest of the way."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

"We turned a four-point lead into a 10-point deficit," Duke senior Grayson Allen said. "That's hard to come back from against a really good team." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

The Tar Heels were tough enough to win despite going just 2 for 18 from the field in the final 8 minutes, while they tied a program record by having just two turnovers for the entire game."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

Duke got as close as 74-71 late, and freshman Gary Trent Jr. (team-high 16 points) missed a corner 3-pointer for the tie with 3:33 left. Johnson responded with a huge 3 for the Tar Heels, who got Pinson's dunk off the press break with 11.1 seconds left to all but seal it."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball



BIG PICTURE
Duke: The Blue Devils were coming off Saturday's loss to a St. John's team that was 0-11 in the Big East — the Red Storm stunningly followed that with a road upset of No. 1 Villanova — in a performance that coach Mike Krzyzewski described as "disgusting" and not up to the program's standards. It looked like Duke was ready to bounce back in the first half, but the Blue Devils couldn't match UNC's second-half edge. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

UNC: The Tar Heels hadn't played particularly well coming in, suffering their first three-game losing streak in nearly four years with their only win in the past two-plus weeks coming against a Pittsburgh team that's now 0-12 in the ACC. But Thursday's run after halftime — and their composure for much of the second half, for that matter — was some of the best basketball the Tar Heels have played in weeks. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball


OUTSIDE PUNCH
Williams' 20 points included six 3-pointers, tying the record for a UNC player against Duke held by current assistant coach Hubert Davis since 1992. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball


POINT PLAY
Berry overcame a 7-for-20 shooting day and finished with six assists, four rebounds and two steals in his matchup with touted freshman point guard Trevon Duval. Duval had nine points on 2-for-9 shooting before fouling out with 3:23 left, including a flashy first-half dunk that fired up Berry."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

"That's why I started picking him up full-court and just trying to get into him," Berry said, "letting him know that you're still a freshman and I don't care how good you are, one and done, that doesn't scare me. I'm a competitor and I'm going to come to compete each and every day." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/2/8/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-duke-82-78.aspx?path=mbball

Tip-off is set for 2:00pm from PNC Arena. The game will be televised on the ACC Network. "according to http://gopack.com/news/2018/2/7/mens-basketball-pack-falls-to-virginia-tech-85-75.aspx?path=mbball