NC State has had two noticeable stains in its year so far. One was scoring just 24 points in a loss at home to Virginia Tech. The other was losing at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem Jan. 15.
The Pack can try to get some revenge on the latter when Wake comes to PNC Arena Sunday in Raleigh for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
The Demon Deacons are the lowest rated team in the ACC in the NCAA’s NET rankings. At No. 187 (as of Friday), this game is a quad four contest, the lowest of the four quads the NCAA selection committee uses to help quantify the quality of games on the schedule.
Head coach Kevin Keatts did not sound like someone buying into the notion that the Deacons are less than a quality opponent. He alluded to the fact WFU is coming off a road win at Notre Dame Tuesday.
“I think you’re talking about a good Wake Forest team who is coming off a great win at Notre Dame, did a tremendous job,” Keatts noted. “They got a great road win. We will see similar to Boston College, I think … a good dose of man-to-man with some matchup 3-2 zone. They’re playing with great confidence right now.”
Wake Forest jumped out to a 22-point second half lead on NC State. The Pack came roaring back in a 10-minute stretch to tie the game, but the Deacons came up with the timely shots to close out a 71-67 victory.
Keatts though is a firm believer that when two teams play twice in a season, the second game is typically a different act from the first. He noted, for instance, in the first meeting NC State did not have junior guard Markell Johnson.
“You are looking at two different teams,” Keatts stated. “They are obviously coming off one of their better wins, especially winning on the road. If you look at our game, the last time we played we were … without having Markell Johnson. I think it took our team a little bit of time to adjust to that.”
One player that could also be different from the first game is redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels, who is emerging as a defensive stopper on the perimeter and is coming off his best game of the year with 19 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and four assists in 25 minutes against Boston College.
“He’s been great,” Keatts stated. “I’ve been excited because, if anything, with me any time a young man turns a corner, especially on the defensive end, that makes me smile. I know I am doing my job as a coach. I think it started at the Syracuse game where he played great defense.”
Keatts gave NC State the day off Thursday. The focus till Sunday is solely on Wake Forest and not on the final four games in general ahead of the ACC Tournament.
“We don’t talk about the four games,” Keatts said. “I did that one time before because I wanted to address how many games we have left in our season, but we really are just concentrating on just the next game and obviously for us Wake Forest.
“You can’t get to the next game until you get to the one that’s ahead of you. I think our guys are excited. I think everyone, all of our guys in our program, are feeling good about themselves and that’s good for us.”
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