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NC State

NC State basketball has a crucial résumé-building road swing this week

image_6483441 (3)by: Noah Fleischman01/22/24fleischman_noah
Kevin Keatts
Jan 6, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack huddles during the second half against Virginia Cavaliers at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-USA TODAY Sports

NC State basketball has not been one to quit on the court this season. It trailed by double figures when coach Kevin Keatts was tossed against Wake Forest on Tuesday night, but it remained focused to put a comeback win together. The Pack also fell behind against Virginia Tech by 14 late in the second half, but tried to surge back in the waning minutes Saturday afternoon. 

For the Wolfpack, that has been evident, and Keatts has learned his team is a group of fighters on the hardwood.

“This team’s got a lot of fight in them, our league’s got a lot of fight in us,” Keatts said Monday morning. “That’s kind of been a theme of our group, just to play to the end. … I think that’s just who we are. I like the makeup of this team because we’re going to play all the way until the end.”

That team personality will be crucial this week when NC State embarks on just its second back-to-back true road game span this season. It went 1-1 on its first two-game road swing with a 20-point loss at Ole Miss, but it rebounded to win 84-78 at Boston College in overtime. 

But this time around, a trek away from PNC Arena will be pivotal as the Wolfpack tries to build on its NCAA NET ranking of No. 79 entering the week.

The Pack is coming off a home loss. NC State dropped a contest to Virginia Tech at PNC Arena on Saturday, and it has a chance to bounce back from the defeat at Virginia on Wednesday night. 

NC State beat Virginia 76-60 on Jan. 6, and it will meet those same Cavaliers for the second time this month. The contest marks both programs’ first time playing the same team twice this season, but for the Wolfpack it is an opportunity to earn the team’s first NET Quad 1 win of the campaign. 

And shortly after the trip to Charlottesville, NC State will go to Syracuse to play a surging Orange squad — another Quad 1 opportunity. 

“This is a great opportunity this week,” Keatts said. “Two really good teams on their home floor. Two teams who are playing really good basketball when you look at both of them. … If you’re going to get credit for Quad 1 wins, these are two great opportunities.”

NC State has squandered all four of its Quad 1 chances to this point of the season. It lost to NET No. 4 Tennessee in San Antonio, dropped a contest to NET No. 5 BYU in Las Vegas, fell to North Carolina, the No. 7 squad, at home and then the off night at Ole Miss. 

The Wolfpack has done a good job at winning the games it should this season with a 13-1 mark against Quad 2-4 competition. But the Quad 1 games have been the Wolfpack’s Achilles’ to this point. 

That can change this week with a solid effort at Virginia, who has not lost a game at John Paul Jones Arena in its last 20 home contests, and at Syracuse. After this week, the Pack will have to wait four contests for its next Quad 1 chance — which also happens to be back-to-back road games away from PNC (at Wake Forest and at Clemson). 

Playing away from Raleigh has been a good thing for NC State to start ACC play. It has won all three of its conference road games, and the Pack is just one of two teams in the conference yet to suffer an away loss in league play (North Carolina is the other). 

But for now, Keatts is focused on winning games. The seventh-year coach hopes to keep the red and white undefeated outside of the City of Oaks in ACC play, and if the other team has a higher NET than NC State, he will take it.

“It’s tough because I think every road win is really good in this league,” Keatts said. “But because everyone has a number attached to them, these are a little bit better opportunities.”

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