Coming off back-to-back losses, Cal and NC State will each be keen to place tallies within the win column after they meet on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.
NC State (9-8, 2-4 ACC) is coming off the extra excruciating defeat. The Wolfpack led at Virginia Tech on Wednesday by 15 factors early within the second half and had been up by some extent with two seconds left. However NC State fouled Jaden Schutt after he rebounded his personal miss, and Schutt knocked down two free throws to seize the lead. An NC State turnover on the inbounds put the sport on ice.
Regardless of the Wolfpack dropping 4 of their final 5, coach Kevin Keatts is not panicking.
“You have a look at our workforce, they’re combating their asses off, and we’re proper there,” Keatts mentioned. “It is a unfastened ball right here. It is a missed shot there. It is a turnover right here. It is a free throw — we’re proper there.”
The Wolfpack allowed the Hokies to seemingly rating at-will from deep vary, as Virginia Tech made 11-of-22 3-pointers.
Cal (8-9, 1-5), which has misplaced 5 of its final six, shoots 33.4 % from 3-point land on common this season. 4 Golden Bears knock down a minimum of one deep shot per recreation.
Andrej Stojakovic had been one in every of Cal’s hottest shooters, as he was averaging 24 factors per recreation in January earlier than the Golden Bears fell to North Carolina on Wednesday. Stojakovic went chilly, scoring simply six factors on 3-of-13 capturing from the ground.
Getting Stojakovic’s capturing again on monitor shall be key for Cal.
“We have to determine it out,” coach Mark Madsen mentioned. “We have to knock down a few of these open threes.”
Stojakovic averages a team-leading 19.5 factors per recreation. Marcus Hill powers NC State with 13.2 ppg, whereas Jayden Taylor averages 12.5. Hill and Taylor mixed for 29 factors within the loss to Virginia Tech.
That is the primary time NC State and Cal have met within the common season. The Wolfpack and Golden Bears final confronted off within the 2006 NCAA Event.
–Discipline Stage Media