NC State @ Boston College preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) NC State 73, Boston College 47

North Carolina State has won the first two legs of a three-game stretch on the road, giving their shaky NCAA Tournament resume a much-needed boost. With important home dates against No. 7 Duke and No. 8 Florida State on the horizon, the Wolfpack will try to sweep the run of road games Sunday evening with a visit to Boston College.

Junior guard Devon Daniels tied a season high with 23 points in N.C. State's 79-74 win at Syracuse on Tuesday to help pull his team into a fifth-place tie with the Orange in the ACC. "We were just trying to pressure them on defense and good things happen when you do that," Daniels told reporters while discussing a personal 7-0 run that gave his team the lead with under five minutes left. The Eagles have been exchanging wins and losses for a few weeks, suffering an 85-58 setback at Miami their last time out. The starting backcourt of senior Derryck Thornton and freshman Jay Heath combined to shoot 6-of-28 while committing seven turnovers in the loss for Boston College.

TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: ACC Network

ABOUT NC STATE (16-8, 7-6 ACC): Senior guard C.J. Bryce scored 19 points at Syracuse to boost his team-leading average to 14.0 - 18.7 over the last three games. Daniels is up to 12 points per contest - fourth on the team - after a five-game stretch in which he is averaging 15.6. Senior guard Markell Johnson is second to Bryce on the team's scoring list (13.0) and leads the ACC in assists (6.7) after handing out 20 over his last two contests.

ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE (12-13, 6-8): Playing on the road for the sixth time in their last nine games, the Eagles saw an early lead at Miami vanish amid a field goal drought of over seven minutes, during which the Hurricanes went on a 19-1 run. "We just stopped competing for about four of five minutes against a team with that type of firepower," coach Jim Christian told reporters. "I'm very disappointed in our team but I want to give them credit. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in ourselves." A bright spot was the play of freshman forward Kamari Williams, who scored a season-high 14 points while going 2-for-3 from 3-point range for the second straight time.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Thornton (12.7) and Heath (12.5) are the Eagles' top two scorers, while junior forward Steffon Mitchell leads the team in rebounds (8.6) and steals (2.3).

2. Wolfpack junior forward DJ Funderburk ranks second in the ACC in field-goal percentage (62.0) after making all three of his shot attempts against Syracuse.

3. N.C. State swept two meetings last season, including a 73-47 rout at Boston College.

PREDICTION: N.C. State 71, Boston College 66