The Bears make their first trip to Raleigh
When: Saturday January 18 – 6:00 PM
Where: Lenovo Center
TV: ACCN
Opponent: California Golden Bears
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 78-70 / NC State 77-70
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 9-8, 2-4
- Rankings: KP #93, BT #96, WAB -3.1 ranked 137th *
- NET Ranking: NET 106, 11th in ACC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (0-3), Q2 (1-3), Q3 (1-2), Q4 (7-0)
Wolfpack Season So Far:
Four of NC State’s last five games have been one possession games, and the Wolfpack has lost three of them. Last Saturday against UNC, the Pack failed to score on their final possession, losing by two. On Wednesday, State let a 15-point second half lead get away at Virginia Tech and lost by 3.
The Wolfpack is 2-4 in the ACC, coming off a two-game losing streak, and desperately in need of a course correction. This is a MUST WIN game.
Cal is a Q3 opponent.
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Mike James had arthroscopic knee surgery on 10/30. No ETA on expected return.
- Brandon Huntley-Hatfield injured his shoulder against Notre Dame and has since missed the UNC and VT games. No ETA on expected return.
Opponent Overview:
California was voted to finish 16th in the ACC preseason polls.
Former Stanford star, coach Mark Madsen is in his second season at California having finished 13-19 in his first season. He has had a complete roster turnover this season, bringing in 10 transfers and 1 scholarship freshman.
The gem of the class is sophomore Andrej Stojakovic who transferred from Stanford. He is a former 247 5-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American.
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 8-9, 1-5
- Rankings: KP #138, BT #143, WAB -3-6 ranked 180th *
- NET Ranking: NET 142, 12th in ACC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (1-6), Q2 (0-0), Q3 (1-2), Q4 (6-1)
Their ACC Rankings of Note : (Source: theacc.com)
- 16th in team FG percentage
- 17th in opponent FG percentage
- 17th in opponent 3PT percentage
- 2nd in team offensive rebounds
- 18th in assist / turnover ratio
- 18th in assists per game
Their Season So Far:
The Bears went 1-3 against their P4 OOC opponents. They beat USC on the road (+5), and lost to Vanderbilt (-16), Missouri (-5), and San Diego St (-21). None of them at home.
They are 1-5 in the ACC having beaten UVA at home (+14), and lost home games to Stanford (-8) and Virginia Tech (-3), and on the road at Pitt (-12), Clemson (-12), and UNC (-26).
Player Notes
- Jeremiah Wilkinson got one vote for preseason ACC ROY
- Andrej Stojakovic is 2nd in the ACC in scoring
Keys To The Game
- Control Andrej Stojakovic – He is a problem. He’s about the same size as VT’s Lawal who gave us so much trouble Wednesday, but he plays wing rather than forward. He averages 21.2 ppg in ACC play. Until Wednesday’s game against UNC, he’d scored in double figures every game this season. He scored 30 against Clemson. In ACC play he’s averaging 34.2 mins per game. He’s a 85.4% FT shooter. I’m sure Taylor will get the assignment, but the staff might want to consider a bigger solution and try DPJ or Styles on him as well.
- Keep Taylor out of foul trouble – JT has been pretty good at avoiding fouls this season, he hasn’t had 4 in a game yet, but Stojakovic will be a big (pun intended) challenge.
* Welcome to the WAB
The WAB (wins against bubble) shows how many more, or fewer, wins a team has against its schedule versus what a bubble team would expect to have against the same schedule.