Three teams in the ACC remain undefeated in league play through Saturday. NC State could be one of them.

Instead, the Pack squandered two late second-half leads in back-to-back games over the past five days.

Now the Wolfpack sits at 2-2 through four conference contests and requires a road win against a ranked opponent Wednesday to remain above .500 in league play.

It’s only January and still far too early to start worrying about conference standings or NCAA Tournament resumes. NC State will be fine if it can just figure out how to close games.

But the Pack needs to figure out how to do so quickly amidst the toughest month of its schedule. The road becomes a lot more challenging over the next two weeks, and NC State can’t afford more missed opportunities in January.

Three of the Wolfpack’s next four games will be on the road against opponents ranked above No. 32 according to KenPom. The other is a home contest against a team that has notoriously been a thorn in the Pack’s side in recent years.

NC State’s upcoming road games include meetings with the defending ACC regular-season champions, Florida State (Jan. 13), the most-recent NCAA Tournament champions, Virginia (Jan. 20), and a rematch against a rival that will be looking for revenge, North Carolina (Jan. 23).