NC State Basketball Preview

The Tigers return home for a Sunday afternoon matchup with N.C. State.

This is what we had to say the last time these two teams squared off. Whereas Clemson leans on its defense, NC State relies on its offense to win games. NC State ranks in the top ten nationally with 78.8 points per game and have scored at least 78 points in 4 of their last 5 outings. The Pack are led in the frontcourt by C.J. Leslie (15.7 ppg) and Richard Howell (13.2 ppg), although Howell has gotten into foul trouble a lot this year and has fouled out 6 times.

After Thursday night's performance, a lot of negativity has been directed at Brad Brownell and company. Conventional wisdom says that things can't really get any worse after suffering a 37-point loss, but things could get even uglier if the Tigers don't bounce back today with a win. A quick look at the Tigers' remaining schedule isn't exactly promising. We will be the underdogs for all road games the rest of the way, and with homes games against NC State, Miami, UNC, and Boston College on deck, we will probably only be favored in one game the rest of the way. If we fall today, we could easily end up with a 5-13 mark in the ACC. Ouch.

But not all hope is lost. This NC State team hasn't played up to its talent level in many of its games this year. They're riding a four-game road losing streak into this contest, and our Tigers are coming in with a corresponding four-game home winning streak. If it wasn't for our piss-poor performance on Thursday night, I would feel pretty good about our chances in this one.

The game tips at 1 on the ACC Network (ABC in the Upstate).