It’s an opening round matchup of the Battle 4 Atlantis when a member of the ACC takes on the Big 12 on the college hardwood down on an island paradise. The NC State Wolfpack are the “road” team as they take on the #3 Kansas Jayhawks Wednesday afternoon. NC State comes in off a 74-63 home win over Elon in their previous contest Saturday, though they failed to cover the line as a 25-point favorite. Kansas hung on to down Southern Utah 82-76 at home Friday night in their last game though they failed to cover the line as a 21.5-point favorite. In the all-time series between the schools, the Jayhawks own an 11-1 advantage and have won 11 straight meetings. That includes a 60-57 triumph in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in the most recent matchup on March 23, 2012.
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NC State took care of business against Elon in their previous contest to improve to 4-0 on the season. The Wolfpack now face easily their toughest test of the season as they take on a top-10 team in the country here. Against Elon, NC State used an early 12-0 run to take a 17-7 lead and controlled the game from that point. The Wolfpack closed the first half on an 8-2 run to lead by 10 at intermission and didn’t let the Phoenix closer than five the rest of the way to earn the win. NC State shot 42% from the field, including 11 of 33 from three-point range, and held Elon to 38.3% shooting in the contest. Jack Clark led the Wolfpack with 21 points and nine rebounds in the win.
The Wolfpack enter this game 18th in the nation in scoring offense with 88.2 points per game this year. NC State is 142nd in rebounding with 38.3 boards a night and dish out 17.5 assists a night. The W olfpack is above average on the defensive end, ranking 84th in the nation by allowing 63.5 points per game this season. Devon Daniels leads the Wolfpack with 16.5points per contest on the year. Terquavion Smith leads the Wolfpack as he averages 19 points plus 5.3 assists a game this season. Jarkel Joiner (17 points, five assists), Casey Morsell (14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds) and Jack Clark (12 points, 6.3 rebounds) are solid secondary scoring options. Dusan Mahorcic, D.J. Burns, LJ Thomas, Ernest Ross and Breon Pass are other important pieces in the NC State rotation. The Wolfpack is shooting 51% from the field as a team on the year. NC State connects on 10.3 three-pointers a night while shooting 36.9% from beyond the arc. The Wolfpack is an above average team at the charity stripe as they cash in 73.8% of their attempts on the season.