Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 80-69 win over Notre Dame inside Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. on Wednesday evening.

NC State seized control of this game thanks to back-to-back strong plays from freshman guard Shakeel Moore.

The first came when he pulled up from three with 4:30 left in the first half and nailed the jumper from the top of the key to give the Wolfpack a 32-24 advantage. On the next possession, Moore drove right down the lane, fooling the defense by faking a pass to redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron in the corner and then going up for a layup to put the Pack up double-digits with 3:41 remaining before halftime.

NC State never really looked back from that point.

It came on a beautiful feed from redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates to a cutting redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron on the other baseline, and Seabron used his quick bounce off the floor to get easily above the rim for the dunk.

There are a couple of areas you could go.

Freshman guard Cam Hayes led all scorers with 20 points, a new career-high for the rookie, and added four rebounds, three assists, two steals and only two turnovers. He made 7 of 11 shots from the field and 3 of 6 three-point attempts.

On just about any other night, Hayes is a surefire player of the game.

But we give the edge to redshirt freshman wing Seabron, who also had a career-high with 17 points by making.8 of 12 shots from the field, including 1 of 2 three-pointers. Seabron got the nod because he also set a new personal-best with 13 rebounds, marking his first collegiate double-double.

For good measure, Seabron was credited with three blocks, the first time he's had multiple rejections in a game.

In Sunday's three-point home win over Pittsburgh, NC State's promising trio of freshmen — Hayes, Seabron and Moore — struggled to score. They combined to shoot 2 of 13 from the field, including 1 of 9 on threes, and finished with 11 points.

Yet the veterans — fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk, senior guard Braxton Beverly, junior forward Jericole Hellems and Bates — all scored in double figures to make up for the production and survive the scare from the Panthers.

Wednesday's win at Notre Dame was somewhat the reverse.

Hellems still reached double figures with 13 points and added six rebounds, and the other older players — Bates, Beverly and Funderburk — all had solid outings. Bates posted six points, six boards and three blocks. Beverly and Funderburk each finished with eight points with Funderburk adding four rebounds, two blocks and two assists (nearly doubling his season-total of three assists).

Yet the trio of Hayes, Moore and Seabron finished with 45 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists. They combined to shoot 18 of 29 from the field, including 6 of 11 on threes. They also only had three turnovers.

Here are some interesting numbers from the five-game winning streak:

• In the 74-73 win at Pittsburgh on Feb. 17, NC State led for 36:02 compared to Pitt's 3:19, and the Panthers never led by more than two points.

• In the 80-62 win at Wake Forest on Feb. 20, NC State led for 32:05 and Wake Forest for 4:29, and the Deacons never led by more than three points (at 13-10 in first half.

• In the 68-61 win at Virginia on Feb. 24, NC State led for 35:08 and Virginia for 48 seconds, and the Cavaliers never led by more than two points (led only once, at 35-33 in the second half).

• In the 65-62 win vs. Pitt on Feb. 28, NC State led for 37:04 and Pittsburgh for 30 seconds, and the Panthers never led by more than two points (when it was 2-0 and 4-2).

• In the 80-69 win at Notre Dame on Wednesday evening, NC State led for 38:21 and Notre Dame for 19 seconds, and the Irish's only lead was 2-0.

It's starting to get real simple for NC State, barring an extra conference game being added between now and the end of the regular season after the cancelation of Saturday's game with Virginia Tech:

Related link: Potential replacement games for NC State

• By beating Notre Dame, the Wolfpack can finish no lower than the No. 10 seed.

• Unfortunately for NC State, Syracuse won two straight at home this week and it has no more ACC games scheduled. That means the Orange will finish ahead of the Wolfpack. If it had lost either one of their wins over UNC and Clemson, it would have fallen to the 10 seed.

Syracuse is locked into the 8/9 game, at this point.

• NC State can still move up to the 8/9 game, but the only scenario it does is if Duke loses at UNC on Saturday. The Heels won the first showdown between the two rivals in Durham.

• If the Wolfpack is the 10 seed, it would play Tuesday in Greensboro against whomever loses the Miami-Boston College game on Saturday. If that game were canceled, NC State would play the Hurricanes.

• If Duke loses at UNC, NC State would play Syracuse in an 8/9 game on Wednesday.

Again, this is all predicated upon there being no changes to this weekend's conference schedules.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-16:00: NC State 11, Notre Dame 4

16:00-11:30: Notre Dame 8, NC State 4

11:30-6:21: NC State 10, Notre Dame 9

6:21-3:05: NC State 9, Notre Dame 3

3:05-Halftime: Notre Dame 8, NC State 6

Second half

20:00-14:45: NC State 11, Notre Dame 7

14:45-11:51: NC State 7, Notre Dame 7

11:51-7:00: NC State 11, Notre Dame 7

7:00-3:45: NC State 5, Notre Dame 4

3:45-Final: Notre Dame 12, NC State 6

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU:

• Seabron: +11 (31 minutes played)

• Funderburk: +11 (30)

• Bates: +11 (27)

• Hellems: +10 (37)

• Hayes: +9 (27)

• Beverly: +3 (29)

• Freshman center Ebenezer Dowuona: +1 (0)

• Freshman forward Nick Farrar: +1 (0)

• Freshman forward Jaylon Gibson: 0 (0)

• Sophomore guard Chase Graham: 0 (0)

• Moore: -2 (17)

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Seabron — 19.2

Hayes — 16.8

Moore — 8.6

Bates — 7.9

Funderburk — 6.5

Beverly — 5.3

Hellems — 5.1

Dowuona — 0

Farrar — 0

Gibson — 0

Graham — 0

NC State improves to 13-9 overall and 9-8 in the ACC while Notre Dame is 9-14 and 6-11. The Wolfpack is now 6-5 away from home, including 5-5 in true road games, and 6-6 in night games (tipoff after 6 p.m.). NC State is 9-5 in weekday contests (6-2 on Wednesdays).

The Wolfpack has won four in a row vs. Notre Dame to even the all-time series with the Fighting Irish at 8-8.

The Pack has won five straight, marking the first time its done that in ACC games since the 2003-04 season. NCSU also assured itself of not having at least a .500 record in the conference every year under head coach Kevin Keatts.

Wednesday was also Keatts' 150th career win as a college basketball head coach (fourth season at NC State after three prior years at UNC Wilmington).

This game was televised on ACC Network. Throughout the year, we will keep track of the Pack's record on the different channels:

• ESPNU: 1-0

• ACC Network: 10-5

• ESPN: 1-1

• RSN: 2-2

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 2-0

• December: 4-1

• January: 1-5

• February: 5-3

• March: 1-0

• NC State won the points in the paint, 38-28.

• The Wolfpack had a 8-5 edge in fast break points.

• Both teams' reserves had 16 points.

• The Pack won the turnover margin 11-9, and converted that to a slight 10-9 edge in points off them.

• The Irish won on the boards, 42-38 overall and 16-7 on the offensive glass. Notre Dame turned that into a 16-9 advantage in second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had 10 blocks and four steals. Notre Dame had four blocks and added six steals.

• NC State's largest advantage was 19 points and it led for 38:21. Notre Dame's only lead was 2-0, and it was up for just 19 seconds.

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