Temple, seeded ninth in the East Region, will face eight-seeded North Carolina State in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday, March 22. The game will tip-off at 1:40 pm and be televised live by TBS.
The Owls, who are one of eight teams (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Louisville, Marquette, Michigan State and Wisconsin) making their sixth straight appearance in the field, are making their 31st NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Cherry and White (23-9) are under the direction of seventh-year head coach Fran Dunphy, who is making his 15th NCAA Tournament trip (6 at Temple). The Owls, led by senior and A-10 Player of the Year Khalif Wyatt, enter the tournament winners of 10 out of their last 12 contests.
Wyatt, the A-10 Player of the Year, leads the A-10 in scoring with a 19.8 average while ranking seventh in the conference in assists (4.1 apg.). Wyatt also ranks ninth in the A-10 in steals (1.6 spg) and seventh in free-throw percentage (.832).
Wyatt is one of five players in their final season of eligibility on a veteran Owl team. Seniors Scootie Randall (11.8 ppg., 6.1 rpg.) and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (8.9ppg., 6.2 rpg., 3.5 apg., 1.8 spg.) are staples in the Cherry and White starting five while graduate students Jake O’Brien (9.3 ppg., .429 three-point percentage) and T.J. DiLeo (3.0 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) are the top reserves.
Sophomores Anthony Lee (10.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) and Will Cummings (6.1 ppg., 1.4 spg.) fill out the starting rotation.
The NC State Wolfpack (24-10) are coming off an 81-71 loss to #9 Miami in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Second-year head coach Mark Gotfried is the first coach in NC State history, and only the third coach in ACC history, to take each of his first two squads to the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack, who were 11-7 in the conference to tie for fourth, is led by junior forward C.J. Leslie with 14.9 ppg. Four other players average more than 12 points per game in an extremely balanced offense, including ACC First Team All-Conference selection senior Richard Howell at 12.7 ppg as well as a team-best 10.7 rebounds per game.
NC State holds a 6-1 edge in the all-time series with Temple. The Owls won the last time the teams went toe-to-toe back on Feb. 15, 2003 when they defeated the Wolfpack, 76-54 at The Liacouras Center.
The NCAA Tournament selection extends a season of accomplishments for the Wolfpack that includes the following:
• NC State has tied its highest win total for a single season in the past 30 years. The last Wolfpack squad to post more victories than the 2012-13 squad’s total of 24 was the 1983 National Championship squad, which posted a 26-10 mark.
• Mark Gottfried is the first coach in NC State history, and only the third coach in ACC history, to take each of his first two squads to the NCAA Tournament.
• The Wolfpack posted an 11-7 mark in ACC play, marking its highest number of league wins since 2003-04. Three of those seven losses came when starting point guard Lorenzo Brown was out with an injury.
• NC State’s 48 combined wins over the last two seasons are the most in back-to-back campaigns since 1981-82 and 1982-83 (48 wins).
• Mark Gottfried has now won more games in his first two seasons with the Pack (48) than any coach in school history with the exception of Everett Case(55) in 1947 and 1948.
• NC State checks in at No. 32 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), and No. 39 in strength of schedule. NC State is 22nd in the Basketball Power Index (BPI), and has the No. 20 schedule in that rating.
• The Wolfpack spent 14 weeks in the national top-25 polls this season, marking the longest stretch that the Pack had been ranked by the Associated Press since 2005-06.
• NC State is the only team in the nation to have five players each average over 12 points per game.
• NC State advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals in back-to-back years for the first time since 2004 and 2005.
• NC State defeated Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest for the first time since 1989.
• NC State downed both Duke and North Carolina at home for the first time since 2002-03 – Duke was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time of the victory.
• The Pack leads the ACC and ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage (.494). Gottfried’s squad led the nation in that category for several weeks this season and its current mark would rank sixth in school history as of today.
• Senior forward Richard Howell was a first-team All-ACC performer after leading the league in rebounding, and ranking fifth nationally. He was the first Pack player to be named to the league’s first-team since Julius Hodge in 2004.
• Howell became only the fifth player in school history to record both 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
• The current Wolfpack squad is only the ninth in ACC history to have four 1,000-point scorers on the same squad.
• A Pack player currently leads the ACC in rebounding (Richard Howell, 10.7), Offensive rebounding (Howell, 3.8), assists (Lorenzo Brown, 7.2), steals (Brown, 2.0), field goal percentage (T.J. Warren, .626), three-point field goal percentage (Scott Wood, .443), and three-point field goals made per game (Wood, 3.0).
• Scott Wood became NC State’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made with 332 and counting. Wood also set a new school mark in career starts, with 135 entering NCAA Tournament play.
• The Wolfpack posts a 34-22 overall in the NCAA Tournament and is one of only 17 teams that has won two national titles, as the Pack took the title in 1974 and in 1983.
Last season, NC State also received an at-large bid as a No. 11 seed, advancing to the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual national runner-up Kansas, 60-57, in the Midwest Regional in St. Louis.
Gottfried has made 18 postseason appearances as a coach and a player, including 15 trips to the NCAA Tournament. He helped lead UCLA to seven NCAA trips and an 11-6 mark in the tournament, and was an assistant coach when the Bruins captured the 1995 national championship.
For the third time in Gottfried’s tenure as a head coach, he has led to a program to multiple NCAA berths. In his previous head coaching stops, Gottfried led his alma mater Alabama to five consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2002-06), including a trip the Elite Eight in 2004. At Murray State, Gottfried guided the Racers to NCAA Tournament berths in 1997 and 1998.
As a player at Alabama, he helped lead the Crimson Tide to three straight Sweet 16 appearances from 1985-87, posting a 6-3 record.