NC State men’s basketball’s 2021-22 season ended on March 8 in an ACC Tournament loss courtesy of the Clemson Tigers. After a long 244-day offseason, the Wolfpack will return to the court against Austin Peay on Monday, Nov. 7.
Nonconference Matchups
The Wolfpack will play 12 nonconference games this season. The majority of these are against non-power five schools, and it’s assumed the Pack will win all of these games. However, the other four will come against higher-quality competition.
The first three of those opponents will take on the Pack at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. The competition features Butler, BYU, Dayton, USC, Tennessee, Wisconsin and reigning national champions Kansas, who NC State will open its competition against.
Each team plays three games. If the Wolfpack beats Kansas, it will play the winner of Dayton vs. Wisconsin. If NC State loses, it plays the loser of that game. If the Wolfpack finds a way to win this competition, it would be a big deal considering the quality of opponents.
The Pomeroy Basketball Rankings, or Kenpom, are a way of ranking college basketball teams created by Ken Pomeroy by combining advanced analytics and analysis. NC State ranks second-to-last among teams at the Battle 4 Atlantis at 81st overall; Butler is the only team that is lower at 130th.
Although this competition will be a difficult test for the Wolfpack, it’s pulled off the improbable before: back in 2017 in this exact same competition. NC State opened up play against then-No. 2 Arizona, when the Wolfpack beat the Wildcats 90-84 before losing to Tennessee in the next round.
The Wolfpack also play in the Legends of Basketball Showcase on Dec. 17 against Vanderbilt. The Commodores went 19-17 in the 2021-22 season and come in at 66th on the Kenpom rankings.
While this nonconference schedule for the Wolfpack will be a difficult one, it provides an opportunity to pick up some big resume-building wins and a solid nonconference strength of schedule — which has been the Pack’s downfall in years past come tourney time.
Rivalry Game Redemption (Hopefully)
This year the Wolfpack gets the hat trick of rivalry games, playing UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest and Duke two times each. These matchups did not treat the Pack well last season, as it lost twice to Carolina, twice to Wake and once to Duke.
To add insult to injury, it’s not like NC State kept any of these games within striking distance. The red-and-white got outscored 442-354 across these five games, losing by an average of 17.6 points. The Wolfpack will hope to find some luck against some of its oldest foes this season.
Other Tough Tests
If the Wolfpack wishes to make its first foray into the NCAA Tournament since 2018, it will need to pick up big resume-building wins. Here are some away games against opponents projected to finish ahead of the Pack in the ACC standings.
For reference, the Wolfpack are picked to finish 10th in the conference. NC State will travel to face Wake Forest, picked to finish ninth, on Jan. 28. On Valentine’s Day, the Wolfpack will travel to Syracuse and take on the Orange, who were picked to finish eighth. On Jan. 7, the Wolfpack will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, to take on Virginia Tech who were picked to finish seventh.
Early in the season the Wolfpack will go to Coral Gables to face Miami, who were picked to finish fourth. It will face Virginia on the road on Feb. 7, who are picked to finish third in the conference. NC State will go to Duke on Feb. 28 who are picked to finish second in the conference. On Jan. 21, the Wolfpack will travel to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels, who are picked to win the conference.
The conference schedule is looking to be a difficult one, as the Wolfpack plays a lot of challenging road games. Out of the 20 ACC games,13 are against teams selected to finish higher than the Pack, eight of them on the road. However, picking up wins in any of these road games, and taking care of business against lesser opponents, will give the Wolfpack a great chance of returning to March Madness.
