NC State is trending in the wrong direction at the moment. Can they pull it together and avoid a disastrous loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers?
TV schedule: Saturday, February 9, 2:00 pm ET. ACC Network
Arena: Peterson Event Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The last couple of weeks have been brutal for NC State 16-7 (4-6). The Wolfpack have lost three straight, in very different ways. They lost in overtime to a top-5 team in Virginia, scored 24 total points in a defeat to Virginia Tech, before just recently, giving up 113 to the rival UNC Tar Heels. Despite five different NC State players scoring in double figures, it wasn’t enough to survive four different Tar Heels putting up 17+ points each, including Luke Maye’s 31.
In terms of Bracketology, NC State is in rough shape when it comes to securing an at-large bid. Their best win in ACC play is Clemson, with just Auburn from the non-conference being the only true quality win on their whole resume. They have done a good job so far of avoid the “bad losses” and will hope to continue to do so on the road at Pittsburgh.
The Panthers 12-11 (2-8) have fallen back to preseason expectations after splitting the team’s first four conference games. They’ve since lost six in a row, just coming off and overtime defeat to Wake Forest, a team even worst than them. Freshman Xavier Johnson had a game-high 23 points and nine assists, with Trey McGowens chipping in with 17. But Pittsburgh allowed three different Demon Deacons to score 18+ to get the slight edge.
Jeff Capel’s team has fallen back into the territory of being a “bad loss” going forward, which means that bubble teams such as NC State will have to win or suffer big consequences. These teams have already played earlier this season, with the Wolfpack winning a tight one, 86-80. Johnson had a great game for the Panthers with 25 points, but NC State prevailed thanks to 54 bench points.
Neither team has any momentum heading into this game. But the difference has been the level of effort. While lacking the talent, Pittsburgh has been playing hard every game, while NC State hasn’t shown up on one side of the court in the last two games. The desperate Wolfpack should bounce back but the Panthers will make them work for it for 40 minutes.