Boston College @ NC State preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 7, 2018 ) Boston College 91, NC State 87

North Carolina State has been unable to secure wins against the elites of the ACC, but it has a relatively favorable stretch to close out the regular season as it seeks to boost its NCAA Tournament resume. The Wolfpack begin that stretch when they host Boston College on Wednesday night.

A 94-78 setback at top-ranked Duke on Saturday was N.C. State's fourth loss to a ranked league foe in a little over two weeks and one of its last opportunities for a quality win with the Eagles (twice), Wake Forest and Georgia Tech among the final five games. "We played this league and I think we played toe to toe with everybody in the league it's just when you're playing on the road in a hostile environment, you've got to cut down your mistakes and you've got to be able to rebound the basketball," coach Kevin Keatts told the media Saturday. "But I like my team. We've fought and competed against every team in this league now, and hopefully we'll clean up some of the things we need to do when we face a team similar to Duke again." Boston College is in search of its first three-game conference winning streak in nearly four years after back-to-back triumphs over Pittsburgh and Miami (Fla.) at home. Senior guard Jordan Chatman scored 17 points and junior forward Nik Popovic added 15 and a career high-tying 14 rebounds in the 64-57 win against the Hurricanes on Sunday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, RSN, ACC Network

ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE (13-11, 4-8 ACC): Star junior Ky Bowman was dealing with an illness Sunday that helped to limit him to six points - his lowest total since Dec. 30, 2017 - on 3-of-11 shooting. "It's just a team effort," Chatman told reporters after boosting his scoring average to 13.8, third on the team behind Bowman (19.5) and injured freshman Wynston Tabbs (13.9). "You shoot the shots that you get and just practice, and they go in when they go in." Bowman did grab eight rebounds for the third straight game and dished out a season-high eight assists against Miami.

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA STATE (18-8, 6-7): Senior guard Torin Dorn had a team-high 17 points at Duke and leads the Wolfpack in scoring (13.8) along with rebounds (6.7). Junior guard Markell Johnson recorded his first double-double of the season Saturday with 16 points and 10 assists and he ranks sixth in ACC action with 4.3 assists per game. C.J. Bryce, also a junior guard, hit his only two 3-point tries against the Blue Devils to improve to 7-for-12 from long range over a four-game span.

TIP-INS

1. Bowman finished with 24 points, six rebounds and four assists to help the Eagles to a 91-87 win over the Wolfpack in the most recent meeting in the second round of the 2018 ACC tournament.

2. N.C. State sophomore G Braxton Beverly is 14-for-26 from 3-point range in four games since he went 0-for-9 in a loss to Virginia Tech on Feb. 2.

3. Boston College hosts a rematch next month in the regular-season finale for both teams.

PREDICTION: N.C. State 75, Boston College 68