NC State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to upsetting Louisville at home

Defense rising to the occasion

Before the bad home loss to rival North Carolina, NC State was playing some of the best defense of the season to date according to Barttorvik. NC State managed to get 5 blocks from Manny Bates on Monday evening, however, that was the only bright spot for the Wolfpack on the defensive end.

With a top 15 offense coming into town on Saturday afternoon, NC State will need more than just Manny Bates on the defensive end of the floor. They will need guys pressing the ball to create steals and bad passes. Louisville is good, not great at taking care of the ball as they average 12.5 turnovers per game, NC State will need to force live ball turnovers if they want any chance to win on Saturday. When shots go up NC State will need to put a body on every Louisville player as they are the second best offensive rebounding team in the ACC, averaging 11.3 offensive rebounds per game in conference play.

Louisville is the best 3 point shooting team in the conference shooting 43.7% as a team. Limiting open looks will be a big key for NC State which means running Jordan Nwora and Ryan McMahon off the 3 point line and making their life much more difficult. Nwora has lived up to his hype as being the ACC Preseason player of the year, he’s averaging 19.5 ppg and 7.4 rpg for the Cardinals and is a big reason for their success. If NC State can hold Nwora to under 12 points and 5 rebounds Saturday they should feel pretty confident in their ability to win the game.

NC State has been struggling over the past two games and really needs to new life if they have hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. The Louisville game Saturday is a big opportunity to gain confidence and add to their résumé.