The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1476803
TRACKING THE PACK 12 ■ THE WOLFPACKER A trip to the Bahamas during November for the Bad Boys Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis highlights the NC State men's basketball nonconference schedule this season. NC State will open against defending national champion Kansas on ESPN for a noon tipoff on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The following day, on Thanksgiving, the Wolfpack will play either Wisconsin or Dayton. Also in the competi - tive field are Butler, BYU, Ten- nessee and USC. Each team will play three games. Those will be three of the four contests away from Raleigh for the Wolfpack. NC State will play Vanderbilt at the United Center in Chicago on Dec. 17. The Commodores went 19-17 a season ago and reached the third round of the NIT. NC State will start the season Nov. 7 against Austin Peay, the first of four consecutive home games at PNC Arena before the trip to the Bahamas. The annual Heritage Game at Reynolds Coliseum will be against Coppin State on Dec. 6. Game times aside from the Kansas contest have not yet been announced. The ACC slate will be revealed at a future date. To prepare for the Battle 4 Atlantis, NC State head coach Kevin Keatts took his team to the Bahamas in August for a pair of exhibition wins, including coming from be - hind to top the Puerto Rican National Team. In the two wins, La Salle transfer Jack Clark had a pair of double- doubles and averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds dur- ing the trip. Clark made 6 3-pointers in the win against Puerto Rico. Women's Basketball Unveils Nonconference Slate An Elite Eight rematch against Connecticut high- lights the NC State women's basketball nonconfer- ence schedule. The Pack will return to the same state, but different venue, of the double-overtime contest that Connecti- cut won to advance to the 2022 Final Four. That NCAA tournament game was played in Bridgeport, Conn., despite NC State being the No. 1 seed in the region. This year, the contest moves to the Huskies' home court in Storrs, but it will not feature Paige Bueckers. The Huskies star who made 10 of 15 shots and scored 27 points to help beat NC State is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered this offseason. While NC State will miss playing against Bueckers, it will face another star in women's basketball — Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who has drawn comparisons to NBA star Stephen Curry with her unlimited range. She aver - aged 27.0 points per game last season while leading the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Tournament title. The Pack will travel to Iowa City to face Iowa on Dec. 1 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Other notable nonconference games include a re- match with Georgia, which upset NC State in Raleigh last season, on Dec. 5 in Athens, Ga., and tilts with Vanderbilt and West Virginia on Nov. 24-25 in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. 2022-23 NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE Nov. 7 Quinnipiac Nov. 10 Elon Nov. 13 Mount St. Mary's Nov. 16 Charlotte Nov. 20 at Connecticut Nov. 24 vs. Vanderbilt^ Nov. 25 vs. West Virginia^ Dec. 1 at Iowa* Dec. 5 at Georgia Dec. 11 South Florida Dec. 15 Davidson ^ Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico * ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Iowa City Future Nonconference Football Series Scrapped The NC State football home-and-away with BYU has been canceled following the Cougars' pending move to the Big 12 Conference. BYU had been inde- pendent, which demanded the program find 12 non- conference opponents every year. When the Cougars join the Big 12 in 2023, they will need to trim those games down to three. NC State was scheduled to host BYU in 2024 and then return to Provo, Utah, in 2030. The loss of the series leaves the Pack trying to find a new Power Five opponent, per conference rules, in 2024. NC State is scheduled to host Louisiana Tech and Western Caro - lina and travel to South Florida that season. ACC teams are required to play at least one Power Five team or independent Notre Dame every season. ■ RED AND WHITE NOTEBOOK 2022-23 Nonconference Schedule Nov. 7 Austin Peay Nov. 11 Campbell Nov. 15 Florida International Nov. 19 Elon Nov. 23 vs. Kansas^ Nov. 24 vs. Dayton or Wisconsin^ Nov. 25 vs. TBD^ Nov. 30 William & Mary Dec. 6 Coppin State (Reynolds Coliseum) Dec. 13 Furman Dec. 17 vs. Vanderbilt* ^ Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise, Bahamas * at the United Center in Chicago Wolfpack Men's Hoops Releases Nonconference Schedule