When: Saturday February 28 – 12:00 PM
Where: Purcell Pavillion, South Bend IN
Opponent: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 79-74 / NC State 79-73
NC State is in the tough half of the schedule and has lost 3 of the last 4 games. They are still searching for that 20th win. This will be a test of coaches and players to see if they can recover from being thoroughly dominated by Virgina and get a win before facing Duke Monday night.
“We need to win. We’ve lost three out of four. This is a game where we need to find a way to dig it out.” Will Wade
The Irish are ranked NET 93. Since this is an away game, it is a Q2 opportunity.
Notre Dame was picked to finish 10th by the ACC media preseason vote. Marcus Burton was voted to the first team ALL-ACC preseason team and Marcus got a couple of votes for preseason POY. The Irish went 7-3 with Burton, but unfortunately 10 minutes into that 10th game he broke his left ankle. He had surgery and rather than attempting a return, he will seek a medical redshirt in hopes of returning next season. If approved, he could have two seasons of eligibility.
Since that game they are 5-13.
Worst home loss since 1898
The Irish are coming off a 44-point home loss to Duke in which they were missing both Burton and second leading scorer Jalen Haralson, out for his third consecutive game. They were down by 32 at the half. To make matters worse (if possible), Coach Shrewsberry twisted his ankle in the first half and wore a boot in the second. Fun Fact: Their only worse home loss was in their first official game in program history, a 64-8 loss to First Regiment of Chicago.
NC State puts the “whipped wolves” behind them and become the “road dogs” again. DW dominates, Q sizzles, P2 gets hot, and Matt is able to do some damage. The Pack regains their mojo and controls this one start to finish, 80-69 Wolfpack.
