Seeking its third straight win to start the season, the NC State men’s basketball team will take on UNC-Asheville Tuesday night at PNC Arena.

The Wolfpack currently sits at 2-0 after blowout wins over Mount St. Mary’s and Maryland Eastern Shore, and although both teams are relatively weak, the fashion in which NC State secured the wins was nonetheless impressive.

Asheville is certainly a step up from both of those teams and will be the Pack’s toughest game this year, though not by much. The Bulldogs rank 266th in Kenpom’s College Basketball Ratings, while Maryland Eastern Shore is at a lowly 337 and Mount St. Mary’s checks in at 329.

The Bulldogs did, however, earn an NIT bid last season after finishing first in the Big South regular season by going 21-13 and 13-5 in conference. They would go on to lose to Liberty in the conference tournament and Southern California in the NIT.

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts saw several key departures this offseason both by graduation and transfer, but it may be tough to find a team that lost more than the Bulldogs.

For starters, former head coach Nick McDevitt left after five seasons at the helm to take the same position at Middle Tennessee State.

Secondly, the team lost its leading scorer from last season, Macio Teague, after the dynamic guard transferred to Baylor for his final two years of eligibility after averaging an excellent 16.7 points per game during the 2017-2018 season. In fact, the team’s top seven leading scorers from last season have all left the program by way of either graduation or transfer.

The Bulldogs feature eight freshmen, one junior and a lone senior, Donovan Gillmore, who was one of three returning players to record a start last season with two appearances in the starting five. The others are guard Jalen Seegars, who started just six games last season, and forward Grant Townsend, who played in only five games, starting one.

The Wolfpack also returns just three players that saw action on last year’s team in redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn, junior guard Markell Johnson and sophomore guard Braxton Beverly, but it hasn’t lost a step.

Dorn has been as advertised and should continue to be the focal point of this year’s Wolfpack. He can truly do everything, whether it’s grabbing rebounds or draining 3-pointers, and has gotten off to a hot start, scoring 50 points through two games while recording 19 rebounds.

The Pack has cruised through its first two contests, and Tuesday should be no different. Though Asheville has been successful in recent years, a mass exodus of players and a head coach swap is quite the transition. Add in the fact that it’s the Bulldogs’ first Division I game this season after beating St. Andrews in its opener, it may not be a close matchup.

The game will tip off at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at PNC Arena and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.