Three things to know about Boston University at NC State

N.C. State only gets one crack at Boston College in ACC play this season but the Wolfpack (5-2) does get a game with the Eagles’ city rival, Boston University (4-3). Three things to know about the Wolfpack’s matchup with the Terriers:

1. Defense anyone?

Last time out, an 88-74 loss to Illinois on Tuesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, N.C. State forgot to play defense in the second half. The Illini shot 67.9 percent and racked up 56 points after trailing 33-32 at the half. N.C. State has to find a way to defend the pick-and-roll better and it can’t be so eager to go for steals and blocks.

2. Road worries for Terriers

Joe Jones’ crew has been good at home (4-0) but the Terriers haven’t been able to take their show on the road (0-3). They lost to Northeastern, Saint Peter’s and Connecticut. Senior guard Eric Fanning (16.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is Boston’s best player.

3. Maverick Rowan update

Sophomore wing Maverick Rowan has missed the past six games with a concussion. He did participate in some practice drills on Thursday and coach Mark Gottfried said he was hopeful Rowan could play against the Terriers.

“We’ll see, my hope is he’ll play,” Gottfried said. “It has been three weeks, I’m sure his conditioning has suffered a little bit, his timing and rhythm and all those things but I do think it’s important to get in there and get going again.”

Rowan had 17 points and nine rebounds in an 81-79 win over Georgia Southern in the opener but hasn’t played since.

Joe Giglio

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Three things to know about Boston University at NC State."