The NC State Wolfpack will look to extend their winning streak to four games as they host the Pittsburgh Panthers Sunday afternoon at PNC Arena. Tipoff is slated for 4 PM.
This will be the second time the Wolfpack and Panthers have met in the last two weeks with NC State escaping with the slim 74-73 victory on February 17. A late turnover by NC State with under seven seconds left gave Pitt the chance to win but a late stop pushed the Wolfpack to the one-point victory. Leading scorer Cole Hellems finished the contest with 17 points.
The Wolfpack (11-9 overall, 7-8 ACC) most recently won their third straight overall and fourth straight ACC road game for the first time since 1974. NC State defeated #15 UVA Wednesday 68-61 handing the Cavaliers their first home loss of the season and also in over a year.
Freshman Cam Hayes led the Wolfpack with 16 points followed by senior forward DJ Funderburk followed by 12 points from freshman Shakeel Moore. NC State led by as many as 10 and used a few key stops at the end and free throw shooting from Hayes to seal the deal for yet another road ACC win.
Pittsburgh (9-9 overall, 5-8 ACC) enters Sunday’s contest dropping thor last four contest after falling to FSU last Saturday 79-72. All four of those losses have come by single digits. The Panthers suffered a bigger loss this week as Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney announced that they will be entering the transfer portal and will not be finishing the season.
With those two subtractions, the Panthers will be over 40% of their scoring offense. Pitt will now rely heavily on Justin Champagnie who is leading the Panthers with 18.8 points and 11 rebounds per game.