NC State men's basketball history started with roots from Indiana.

The Wolfpack and Hoosiers are meeting for the first time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at 7:15 p.m. tonight at the RBC Center in Raleigh, and just the third time ever. Both teams are looking for a key non-conference victory to validate their starts of the season. NC State is 5-1 with a big neutral court win over Texas, while Indiana is 6-0 and coming off a victory over Butler last Sunday.

NC State's ties to Indiana go back to former coach Dr. Richard "Red" Crozier of Evansville, Ind., who coached the Pack during and after World War I. However, the Indiana to North Carolina pipeline started to gush when Everett Case was hired in 1946. Case recruited numerous players from Indiana and won 10 conference titles in 16 years. Eventually seven different former NC State players or coaches were inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Case also brought the prep tradition in Indiana of cutting down the nets after winning championships to the Southern Conference.

Former NC State coach Norm Sloan hailed from Indianapolis, Ind., and later recruited Monte Towe of Converse, Ind., and Tim Stoddard of East Chicago, Ind., who were key parts of the 1974 national championship team.

Towe later served as an assistant coach at NC State during two different stints. Current junior small forward Scott Wood and former combo guard Julius Mays were both recruited by Towe out of Marion (Ind.) High, which is near his hometown. Towe is now an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State, while Mays is starting for Wright State.

Game time: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 7:15 p.m. — RBC Center, Raleigh, N.C.

Television: ESPN2

PG — 2 Lorenzo Brown (6-5, 189, Soph., 13.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.5 apg, 3.3 spg)

SG — 21 C.J. Williams (6-5, 224, Sr., 10.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.2 spg)

SF — 15 Scott Wood (6-6, 175, Jr., 11.4 ppg, 0.4 rpg, 1.2 apg)

PF — 1 Richard Howell (6-8, 250, Jr., 13.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.0 bpg)

C — 0 DeShawn Painter (6-9, 231, Jr., 11.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.8 bpg)

PG — 1 Jordan Hulls (6-0, 175, Jr., 9.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.0 spg)

SG — 12 Verdell Jones (6-5, 185, Sr., 9.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.0 apg)

SF — 4 Victor Oladipo (6-5, 210, Soph., 12.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.7 spg)

PF — 2 Christian Watford (6-9, 230, Jr., 9.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.7 apg)

C — 40 Cody Zeller (6-11, 220, Fr., 14.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, 2.7 spg, 1.2 bpg)

Location: Bloomington, Ind.

Nickname: Hoosiers

2010-11 record: 12-20 overall, 3-15 Big Ten

2011 postseason: None

Coach: Tom Crean, 223-162 overall (12th year) and 26-41 at Indiana (fourth year)

Series: Indiana leads 2-0

Last meeting: Indiana won 77-62 on Dec. 14, 1968, in Bloomington, Ind.

Indiana: The Hoosiers are coming off from a 75-59 over national runner-up Butler on Sunday in Bloomington. Sophomore sixth man Will Sheehey, a 6-6 wing, scored a team-high 21 points, and Zeller added 16. IU shot 8 of 13 from the three-point line (61.5 percent) and 29 of 36 at the line (80.6) … Oladipo had NC State in his final three colleges coming out of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic. He has improved his scoring 7.4 points per game to 12.3 this season … Zeller is the younger brother of North Carolina senior center Tyler Zeller and former Notre Dame post player Luke Zeller. Cody Zeller was ranked No. 15 coming out of high school … Junior shooting guard Maurice Creek is missing his second full season due to injuries. He tore his Achilles' tendon in his left leg, and has had three serious surgeries for various injuries during his Hoosiers' career.

NC State: Sophomore power forward C.J. Leslie has thrived in his role coming off the bench for the Wolfpack. Leslie leads NC State in scoring (16.7) and blocking shots (2.3), and is third in rebounds per game (5.7), while averaging 26.0 minutes a contest … Freshman small forward Tyler Harris has started the last three games, while Wood came off the bench, but Harris played just five minutes in the 82-67 win over Elon on Nov. 25. Wood started the second half … Freshman power forward Thomas De Thaey received his first extended action of the season against Elon. He had three points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench. He missed the first four games of the season while his amateur status was looked into … Brown is seventh in the nation in steals per game (3.3) and tied for 14th in assists (6.5) … NC State has gone 5-6 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and hasn't won since defeating Michigan in 2006. The Wolfpack are 4-1 at home in the Challenge, losing to Northwestern in 2009.