Notre Dame and NC State meet on Wednesday night in South Bend. Can the Irish get another win to stay towards the top of the ACC standings? Or will the Wolfpack get one game closer to .500 in conference play?
TV Schedule: Wednesday, January 26th, 9:00pm EST. ACCN+
Arena: Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana
Notre Dame (12-6, 5-2 ACC) welcomes NC State (10-10, 3-6 ACC) to town for a late Wednesday night tip-off in South Bend. The Irish come home after a three-game road trip that featured wins over Howard and Louisville last week. They have also have won eight of their last ten games with the losses coming against Indiana before Christmas in Indianapolis, and at Virginia Tech on January 15th.
NC State is coming into this contest on a high note after a big win on their home court on Saturday over Virginia 77-63. The Wolfpack are hoping this latest win over the Cavaliers can give them some momentum moving forward as they are just 3-7 in their last 10 games.
One Wolfpack player who is off to a great start to the year is sophomore guard Dereon Seabron. The Virginia native is averaging 19.0 ppg, 9.3 rebs, and 5.3 assists. Seabron really is a walking bucket scoring in double figures in all twenty games this season. Eight of those games he scored at least 20 points with a career-high coming against Nebraska where he scored 39 points. Two other players who are also averaging double figures in scoring for NC State are Terquavion Smith and Jericole Hellems. Smith is averaging 14.9 ppg with 3.6 rebounds. Hellems is putting up 14.5 ppg, and 4.6 rebounds.
One key guy that NC State is missing this year is forward Manny Bates. The big man in Bates really helps protect the rim for the Wolfpack. Without him back there more opponents are way more comfortable with taking the ball to the rim on a regular basis. Bates averaged 9.8 ppg, and 5.9 rebounds during his sophomore season. He also finished runner-up in ACC Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Notre Dame has two players having very solid years so far through the first eighteen games of the season. Those two players are senior guard Dane Goodwin and freshman guard Blake Wesley. Goodwin comes into this matchup averaging 15.2 ppg, 4.8 rebs, and 1.2 assists. The South Bend native in Wesley is averaging 15.0 ppg, 3.1 rebs, and 2.2 assists. An impressive stat for both players is Goodwin has scored in double figures in all eighteen games, while Wesley has scored in double figures in sixteen of the eighteen games.
Both of these teams come in averaging around the same per game in points scored with NC State averaging a little bit more in 75.3 points per game, and Notre Dame a bit less averaging 71.6 points per game. Where they are different is on the defense end and points given up to their opponent.
NC State comes into this matchup giving up 73.7 points against (293rd out of 358) and a defensive rating of 106.2 (320th of 358). Notre Dame is giving up 66.6 points against (114th of 358) and a defensive rating of 100.3 (223rd of 358). The Wolfpack are 54th in strength of schedule with Notre Dame coming in at 46th.
Watching Blake Wesley go up against Dereon Seabron is worth the price of admission alone. With this game being at home for Notre Dame it definitely gives them the edge to come away with the victory even though NC State comes into this contest with a 2-2 record away from home in ACC play. Notre Dame is currently undefeated at home winning all seven of its home game so far in the 2021-2022 season.
Prediction: Notre Dame 76, NC State 68