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The NC State season over at 15-17 overall and 4-14 (regular season) in the ACC, capped by a first-round loss in the conference tournament. Here is a look back at the disappointing campaign:

During head coach Everett Case’s first season at NC State, 1946-47, the Pack went 26-5 overall and 11-2 in the Southern Conference. That ended a stretch of four straight losing seasons suffered under Case’s predecessor, Leroy Jay.

Since Case’s inaugural season, the Pack has done a good job of avoiding losing seasons in back-to-back campaigns. In Case’s final two seasons, during which he was plagued by health issues, the Pack went 10-11 in 1962-63 and 8-11 a year later.

After Case stepped aside two games into the 1964-65 season, Press Maravich righted the ship by winning an ACC title in 1965 with a 21-5 overall record. Maravich lasted two years before heading to LSU with his famous son, "Pistol" Pete Maravich, and then Norm Sloan arrived in Raleigh.

Sloan had just two losing campaigns in 14 years at the helm, his first and fourth seasons. The latter came in 1970-71. After that, NCSU become one of the best programs in the country, winning two national titles and four ACC Tournament championships over the next 20 seasons. During that peered, the Wolfpack won at least 20 games 14 times and never had a losing season..

That ended in 1991-92 when the affects of NCAA- and school-imposed sanctions handcuffed Les Robinson and led to a miserable stretch of five straight losing seasons. Herb Sendek ended that streak in his first year in 1996-97.

Between Sendek’s 10 years, Sidney Lowe’s five seasons and the four initial campaigns under head coach Mark Gottfried, NC State had just three losing seasons in 19 years and none consecutively — until the final two years under Gottfried. NC State went 16-17 a year ago and 15-17 this season. This was just the third occasion in a 70-year time period that the Pack had a streak of consecutive sub-.500 years.

Over the past two seasons, NC State went 9-27 in ACC games. That is tied for the fourth-lowest winning percentage in a two-year span in NCSU history since the formation of the ACC in 1953-54 and the worst in 20 years.

The Wolfpacker's Ryan Tice came up with this chart to put Gottfried’s six-year tenure in perspective:

Gottfried’s overall record at NC State of 122-86 (.587) gave him the fifth-most wins among Wolfpack head coaches. Case (377), Sloan (266), Jim Valvano (209) and Sendek (191) rank ahead of him.

NC State freshman point guard Dennis Smith Jr. is a one-and-done in Raleigh, yet his name will scatter the records book next season. The following is where his season stood all time among NC State freshman:

• He finished with 580 total points, second only to Brandon Costner’s 605 points in 2006-07, but Costner also played in four more games.

• Smith’s 18.2 points per game is a new freshman standard at NCSU, surpassing Costner’s 16.8. Since Smith only played one season, his career average will go down as the eighth-best in school history.

• Smith made 191 field goals, just two off Costner’s record. Smith going 3 for 12 from the field in the finale against Clemson Tuesday afternoon preserved Costner holding onto the mark. Smith did shoot it more than Costner and any other Pack freshman, with 420 attempts (Costner shot 407 times).

• From three-point range, Smith finished 55 of 153, or 35.9 percent. That was the fifth-most threes taken by a NCSU rookie.

• From the free throw line, Smith made 143 of 200 tries, both numbers second to Costner’s 158-of-219 effort at the line during his redshirt freshman season.

• Only Chris Corchiani had more assists (235) for a freshman than Smith’s 197.

• Smith got two steals against Clemson in the ACC Tournament to finish with 62 and move past Corchiani’s 61 for most by a frosh.

• Smith’s 1,104 minutes played trail only Costner’s 1,239, another record that held for Costner because he played four more games during his rookie season.

Despite those impressive numbers and becoming NC State’s second ever Rookie of the Year (Hawkeye Whitney in 1977 was the first), Smith struggled down the stretch. According to ESPN, in the final 8 games (1-7 record), Smith averaged 14.9 points and 3.8 assists, down from his season averages of 18.2 and 6.2 assists.

The final defensive numbers are not pretty. Opponents averaged 79.6 points per game, made 44.0 percent of their shots, including 37.0 percent on three-pointers, and turned it over an average of just 11.6 times a contest.

The numbers were even more dismal in ACC play. League foes, counting the first-round loss in the ACC Tournament to Clemson, averaged 84.1 points, shot 48.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on threes, and turned it over just 10.7 times a game.

Returning to the overall defensive numbers for some historical perspective:

• The 79.6 points per game allowed is the highest given up since the 1991-92 team gave up 81.2 points an outing and the fourth-most allowed since in the school archives that date back to 1953-54.

Had NCSU’s 84.1 points per game it allowed in league action been the overall mark, that would have been the worst in school history.

• It is the worst shooting percentage allowed since the 2006-07 team let opponents shoot 44.1 percent.

• The 268 allowed three-pointers on the season trail only the 275 given up a year ago (in one more game) for the most allowed in a season by the Wofpack since the shot was introduced.

• The 37.0 percent accuracy on three-pointers is the sixth-worst mark allowed in school history. The 42.9 percent that ACC opponents shot from long range would have topped the 41.7 percent all opponents shot against NC State in 1992-93 for the worst ever since threes were permitted.

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