The NC State Wolfpack have already made history this season, winning five straight games in the ACC Tournament to secure their first ACC Tournament championship in 37 years. But can the Wolfpack continue their run toward a national championship?
Part one of that question will be answered Thursday night as the 11-seed NC State Wolfpack face the sixth-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh, PA.
Playing on the road won’t bother the Wolfpack, who again won five road games last week in Washington, DC to capture the 2024 ACC Tournament Championship -knocking off the top three seeds in the ACC. During this most recent run, the Wolfpack have developed the theme “Why Not Us.”
Can they continue this storybook ending? Standing in their way is a 23-10 Texas Tech squad who finished fourth in the Big 12 regular season – a conference some call the best in college basketball. NC State will have to slow down Pop Isaacs, who leads the Red Raiders in scoring at 15.9 ppg while shooting over 35% from the floor. Joe Tossaint does the job distributing the ball to his teammates, averaging 4.3 assists per game while also chipping in with 12.1 points. As a team, Texas Tech finished 126th in the country at 75.6 ppg.
The Wolfpack got a complete team effort last week, getting key contributions from Michael O’Connell and Casey Morsell in the quick absence of DJ Horne in the first game of the week against Louisville. Horne returned and teamed up with DJ Burns to lead the Wolfpack to an incredible run. Horne has been the scoring spark for the Wolfpack all season – leading the way at 16.9 ppg followed by Burns at 12.4 ppg. NC State found success running the offense through Burns who can facilitate in the paint – passing out of double teams to find open shooters which is what the Wolfpack must do to stay on this hot streak.
Numbers aside….it’s March. Anything can happen, right?