GREENSBORO — NC State will have to wait to around 6:30 p.m. today to find out its opponent in the ACC Tournament on Wednesday.
The Pittsburgh vs. Wake Forest winner will likely conclude around 6:30 p.m., but NC State does have the advantage of just playing both teams in the last two weeks of the regular season. NCSU (19-12 overall, 10-10 ACC) rallied to defeat Pittsburgh 77-73 on Feb. 29, and the Wolfpack dominated Wake Forest 84-64 to complete the season sweep against the Demon Deacons.
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said keeping the team fresh and loose since the win over WFU on Friday has been the goal.
“We’ve tried to stay healthy the last couple of days,” said Keatts, who had redshirt freshman center Manny Bates practicing Tuesday after missing the WFU win with a knee bruise. “Our guys understand every game we play from his point on, any tournament situation, you win or you go home. That is important to us.”
NC State is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but Keatts feels good about his program’s resume. He and the players both said that a loss Wednesday is tempting fate the wrong way.
“We are approaching it one game at a time,” Keatts said. “I have no idea. When you think about the NCAA, we are excited and hope we have the opportunity to hear our name called on Sunday. I thought we answered all the critics from last year.”
NC State ended up a second seed in the NIT last year, partly due to finishing last in non-conference strength of schedule. Keatts pointed out that the Wolfpack topped Wisconsin this season, plus got good resume wins over Arkansas-Little Rock and UNCG. The non-conference schedule is top 100 this season.
“Our resume looks good,” Keatts said.
The 80-77 win over UNC Greensboro on Dec. 15 took place at the Greensboro Coliseum. NC State senior point guard Markell Johnson hit a three-pointer from halfcourt to win it. Johnson, who has hit three halfcourt shots in games this season, made another at practice Tuesday.
“I hit one today,” Johnson said. “We all got memories from this arena.”
Keatts said Johnson, who earned second-team All-ACC this week, needs to play at that level this week for the Wolfpack to have a chance to make a deep postseason run.
“When Markell Johnson is playing really good basketball, we are playing good basketball,” Keatts said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean he has to be the leading scorer on the team.”
Some of the NC State players have studied its half of the ACC Tournament bracket, and know that Duke awaits if the Wolfpack take care of business Wednesday. Then again, some players didn’t want to know the Blue Devils could await and that Florida State earned the No. 1 seed.
“I’ve looked at it,” NCSU redshirt junior center D.J. Funderburk said. “We have a good path, but we have to focus on the next game and after we get that win, we’ll focus on the next game.
“If we go one and done [lose Wednesday], our season is over. I feel like we have a good path.”
NC State redshirt junior wing Devon Daniels didn't want to know who they could play Thursday.
"All of us right now are pretty much locked in," Daniels said. "I think all of us know that if we don't win tomorrow, that will hurt our chances to keep going forward."
The other big news item circulating the ACC Tournament is the coronavirus. North Carolina governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for it. The Ivy League cancelled its tournament this week. The ACC released a statement and will close the locker rooms to the media this week.
“After consultation with local and state health authorities, including the Governor and his medical staff, the Atlantic Coast Conference will hold its men’s basketball tournament as scheduled this week at the Greensboro Coliseum,” said the ACC in a statement. “As was outlined by the Governor during his press conference, high-risk individuals are discouraged from attending mass gatherings.”
Keatts said he is definitely a hand sanitizer’s guy this week.
“I feel bad for anybody who has had some contact, or has the virus,” Keatts said. “Our country is not in a good place with what is going on. We can figure a way to solve it as quick as we can.
“I feel bad for the kids on the other teams in the Ivy League.”
——
• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker
• Like us on Facebook
