Twenty wins, ACC seeds on the line for rising Stanford, sliding NC State
Stanford and North Carolina State both will be shooting for a 20th victory and momentum entering the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament when they go head-to-head in their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, NC.
The Cardinal (19-11, 8-9) and Wolfpack (19-11, 10-7) have been going in opposite directions of late. Stanford has moved up the ACC standings on the strength of three consecutive wins while NC State has lost three straight.
The Wolfpack have clinched a first-round bye in next week's ACC tournament. They will take the court Saturday in seventh place and can fall no lower than eighth.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal need a win and a combination of favorable results in games involving Florida State, Cal, SMU and Virginia Tech to move up from their current No. 10 position that draws into the opening round on Tuesday.
The game matches teams that have succeeded via different means this year.
NC State has ridden balanced scoring to the doorstep of a third 20-win campaign in the last four seasons, with Darrion Williams (14.4 points per game), Quadir Copeland (13.6), Ven-Allen Lubin (13.6) and Paul McNeil Jr. (13.5) leading the way.
Coach Will Wade hopes the Wolfpack don't wait until the ACC tournament to try to turn things around as they attempt to lock up an NCAA Tournament bid.
"We got to find a way to -- with our backs against the wall a little bit -- to find a way to get a win on Saturday," Wade proclaimed on his weekly radio show. "Stanford's playing tremendously. They just won at Notre Dame, where we lost, and they controlled the game."
Stanford's win at Notre Dame came Wednesday night, an 86-78 triumph that came on the heels of the Fighting Irish's 96-90 home overtime win over NC State four days earlier.
As usual, freshman Ebuka Okorie was the driving force in the win. The ACC's leading scorer went for 24 points -- slightly lower than his 22.8 average -- amid speculation that the New Hampshire native will be one-and-done at Stanford.
Stanford coach Kyle Smith admitted to reporters this week that "recruiting" Okorie to stay for a second season already has begun.
"He has all the leverage," Smith said. "My pitch has been: If you want to be in the place where you are leading a team and getting the most minutes to develop what you want to be as a pro ... I think Stanford's the best option. But now, if someone in the NBA says, ‘Hey, we're gonna take you at 12 and you're our starting point guard,' well, that's something to consider."