North Carolina State and visiting Wake Forest hold vastly different short-term goals heading into Saturday afternoon’s Atlantic Coast Conference meeting in Raleigh, N.C.
The postseason status for both teams sits at opposite levels.
Wake Forest (19-7, 11-4) is tied for fourth place in the ACC and holds tie-breakers with SMU, which also is in fourth. The Demon Deacons also hold tie-breakers with the current sixth-, seventh- and eighth-place teams in terms of ACC tournament pecking order.
Of concern for Wake Forest is the status of guard Cameron Hildreth, who missed last Saturday’s game at SMU with a foot injury. Hildreth averages 14.7 points per contest this season.
“I’d be surprised if he didn’t play Saturday,” Wake coach Steve Forbes said.
North Carolina State (10-16, 3-12) is in the bottom three of the ACC standings and in danger of being left out of the conference tournament. The Wolfpack must win at least two of their final five regular-season games, and realistically more, just to be considered for the 15-team field.
North Carolina State is the defending ACC tournament champion.
“It’s hard to put added pressure on a team that is losing,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “It’s not a motivation for them knowing not all 18 teams make the league tournament. We have to stay in the moment and lock in.”
The Wolfpack are coming off a 97-73 loss at rival North Carolina on Wednesday. North Carolina State swingman Dontrez Styles was distressed about the performance.
“I’m glad they said this is the worst they’ve felt after a loss this year,” Keatts said. “I feel the same way. It’s a shared responsibility. We got five regular-season games (left), and we now have to take those one at a time.”
Jayden Taylor has led North Carolina State in scoring in the past two games and had 19 points on Wednesday. Freshman Paul McNeil had a season-best 14 points against North Carolina.
Styles had his only double-double of the season, when he produced 11 points and 10 rebounds as the Wolfpack lost to Wake Forest 77-59 on Jan. 4.
Wake Forest has won its past three road games but has won only six of 25 previous matchups at North Carolina State. The Demon Deacons enter with a week of rest between games.
Guard Hunter Sallis scored 20 points in the first meeting with the Wolfpack.
North Carolina State was swept on home-and-home matchups by Cal and North Carolina and hopes to avoid that fate against Wake Forest.
