After topping Northern State 78-71 on Friday, the men’s basketball team will play host to St. Augustine’s, a CIAA team, at the RBC Center tonight at 7 p.m.

Even though N.C. State had a close battle with Division II Northern State, coach Sidney Lowe said he feels now that some of the first-game jitters have passed, his team can continue to progress as this is the last of the Wolfpack’s two exhibitions before the season-opener against Wofford on Friday.

“It was our first opportunity to play against someone else,” Lowe said. “We’ve been beating up on each other for so long. Now they can get a relief here now. Hopefully now we’ve got that out of the way we should be ready to go.”

Lowe said the point of emphasis going into tonight’s game is aggressive defense.

“That’s what we talk about,” Lowe said. “We talk about winning ballgames on the defensive end. And our guys, they know me. I don’t worry about the offensive end, as long as we’re not turning the ball over. I feel if we get good shots that hopefully we’re gonna knock those down. You can play defense every night, that’s what we’re preaching to our guys.”

Unfortunately for State, they turned the ball over 20 times in the exhibition opener. Lowe said as the season progresses, he feels his players are getting the hang of his new, up-tempo offense.

“I think they’ve taken to it pretty good,” Lowe said. “When you have success with something, you know you’re gonna like a little more, so I think we just need some success with it. Obviously the style is a little different, but I think they enjoy it. I think they enjoy the opportunity to push it up the floor and try get some easy looks.”

The Pack was without senior guard Engin Atsur in Friday’s exhibition and according to senior guard Bryan Nieman, his status for tonight is unknown and likely a game-time decision.

“I’m not sure if he’ll be ready to go,” Nieman said. “I think it’s pretty much a day-by-day decision.”

Junior forward Gavin Grant, who will likely see minutes at point guard again tonight, said he looks forward to playing more and allowing his younger teammates to mature.

“I thought even though the guys are young, they fought hard,” Grant said, referring to the Northern State victory. “I think these guys are going to mature as the year goes on. We know what it takes to win it.”