Wake Forest at NC State: How the teams match up
Wake Forest at NC State
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh
TV/Radio: WRAL, 101.5-WRAL
Projected starting lineups
Wake Forest (11-7, 2-4 ACC)
G Bryant Crawford 14.7 ppg, 5.9 apg
G Keyshawn Woods 13.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg
G Austin Arians 8.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg
F Dinos Mitoglou 10.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg
F John Collins 16.4 ppg, 8.8 rpg
NC State (13-6, 2-4 ACC)
G Dennis Smith Jr. 19.1 ppg, 6.2 apg
G Terry Henderson 15.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg
G Maverick Rowan 11.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F Abdul-Malik Abu 10.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg
F Omer Yurtseven 7.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Three things to know
▪ The premise of N.C. State this season was the combination of freshmen Dennis Smith Jr. and Omer Yurtseven would form a top-notch inside-out combination. Smith, who leads the team in scoring and the ACC in assists and steals, has held up his end of the bargain. Yurtseven showed his promise in Tuesday’s win over Pittsburgh with 12 points and 16 rebounds. The Wolfpack needs more games like that from the skilled 7-footer, who will have his hands full on Saturday with Wake Forest big man John Collins.
▪ Abdul-Malik Abu blinked on Tuesday and he had two fouls. The junior big man had three by the 8:33 mark in the first half. Yurtseven has also been prone to foul trouble this season.
The Demon Deacons are familiar with such issues. Collins fouled against Florida State with 9:06 left in the game. The Deacs were up 63-59 at the time. They lost 88-72. Sophomore guard Bryant Crawford has also had issues with foul trouble. His matchup with Smith will be one to watch. N.C. State was sunk when Smith picked up two early fouls at North Carolina on Jan. 8.
▪ Make Wake Forest think about its pathetic history on the road both in recent ACC play and specifically at PNC Arena. The Deacs are winless in ACC play under third-year coach Danny Manning (0-20) and have lost 25 straight. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Deacs are 4-58 in ACC road games. Their last win was at Virginia Tech on Jan. 22, 2014.
Wake hasn’t won in Raleigh since 2005 and has lost 11 straight at PNC.
Joe Giglio
This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Wake Forest at NC State: How the teams match up."