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NC State takes a one game at a time philosophy, but Wednesday’s showdown against No. 7-ranked Auburn has been looming ever since the schedule was released.

The Tigers are off to a 9-1 start with their lone loss against Duke 78-72 on Nov. 20 on a neutral court. Auburn almost suffered a second setback this past Saturday, but pulled out a 75-71 overtime win against UAB. AU welcomed back power forward Danjel Purifoy who had been suspended the last year and a half, but he had just two points in seven minutes of action.

NCSU head coach Kevin Keatts pointed out that playing Auburn will give the Wolfpack four Power Five Conference opponents in the non-conference slate. The Wolfpack defeated Vanderbilt and Penn State, but lost to Wisconsin in previous games.

“You go back to the Penn State game [Saturday], it was a great game for us,” Keatts said. “The same thing could be said about the Vanderbilt game. This will be a great test, but another great opportunity for us.”

NC State defeated Arizona, Duke and North Carolina when they were ranked in the top 10 last year, so rising up to upset national powers is nothing new for Keatts and the three returning Wolfpack players. The Tigers overcame the suspensions of Purifoy and center Austin Wiley last year to go 26-8 overall, losing 84-53 to Clemson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn has scored at least 82 points in six contests this season.

“They are playing great basketball and [AU coach] Bruce Pearl has done a tremendous job with his team,” Keatts said. “They go 10 deep and they press you and shoot a lot of threes and are athletic.

“It’s a really good basketball team. He’s got Final Four talent on that team.”

Keatts played coy on whether junior point guard Markell Johnson would return to the NC State starting lineup. He was disciplined against Penn State and came off the bench to play 22 minutes.

Sophomore point guard Braxton Beverly capably filled in and had 18 points and five assists in the 89-78 win over PSU.

“It’s more of me continuing to build the program,” said Keatts who had previously benched redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce against Vanderbilt. “Markell was late, and around here, there is no such thing as late. That was probably three-four days prior to when we needed him to be on time, and he was late.

“It is part of our culture. I’m focused on guys doing the right thing on and off the court. Accountability is part of our culture.”

Keatts joked that Beverly is trying to grow his beard back, which will be OK if he can continue to play like he did against the Nittany Lions.

The NCSU guards will get a strong test against Auburn junior point guard Jared Harper and senior shooting guard Bryce Brown. Each are averaging a little over 16 points per game, and have had some explosive outburst of late. Harper had 31 points and three assists in the win over UAB, and he had 20 points and seven assists in the 82-72 win over Dayton on Dec. 8. Brown poured in 34 points and went 6 of 13 on three-pointers against the Flyers.

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