The #16 Hokies look to continue their winning ways when the NC State Wolfpack visit Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday night. With a win over NC State, Virginia Tech will keep their spot atop the ACC standings, and it would also give them a win over every single ACC school from the state of North Carolina this season. Those are serious bragging rights, and it's not something any of us imagined just a few short years ago.

NC State has been struggling lately, losing four of their last five games. Their only win in that span was an 88-74 victory at Wake Forest, who is currently just above last-place State in the ACC standings. The four losses in that five-game stretch were all home games for the Wolfpack, and they were all by double digits.

During this run of losses, NC State hasn't been good offensively or defensively. In their four latest ACC losses, the Wolfpack has scored in the 50s on three occasions and has not given up less than 71 points. Now they must venture on the road to face a red-hot Virginia Tech team that is undefeated at home.

NC State Starting Lineup
Pos	Player	Ht	Wt	Year	Pts	Rebs
G	Engin Atsur	6-4	200	Sr.	11.1	3.4
G	Courtney Fells	6-5	194	So.	11.7	4.1
F	Gavin Grant	6-7	212	Jr.	15.2	5.2
F	Brandon Costner	6-8	230	r-Fr.	16.7	7.8
F	Ben McCauley	6-9	235	So.	15.9	6.6

All five starters for NC State are averaging double figures, but that's almost by default. Each starter plays over 30 minutes per game, and four average 34.7 minutes or more. They are the most depth-shy team in the ACC.

NC State has played most of the season without point guard Engin Atsur, the only senior in the rotation. He is a very experienced ACC point guard who has been slowed by a pulled hamstring, and his absence has hurt NC State quite a bit. Atsur has played in just seven of NC State's 18 games. He is nowhere near 100%, but he did play against UVA last week at �50%� according to coach Sidney Lowe. He has 34 assists to just 10 turnovers this season.

Gavin Grant is perhaps NC State's best all-around player. The Wolfpack have such little depth that he has spent most of the season playing point guard, a position that isn't suited for him, as his 92 turnovers on the year show. Grant is a much better player on the wing. He's not much of an outside shooter, hitting just 28.1% of his three-pointers. He is a slasher who likes to get to the glass.

NC State's offense revolves around their young inside duo of 6-8 Brandon Costner and 6-9 Ben McCauley. Costner is a former McDonald's High School All-American who redshirted last year. He has developed into one of the top freshmen in the country this season, and he leads NC State in scoring and rebounding. He is also one of the top three-point threats on the team, hitting 35.2% of his jumpers from the outside.

When Engin Atsur was out with his injury, the NC State offense revolved around Ben McCauley. The Wolfpack likes to spread the floor and get McCauley isolated on the inside, where he has the option to either attack the basket or make a pass to one of the many cutting NC State players. He is an outstanding passer, not just for his size, but for any player. McCauley has 70 assists and 39 turnovers on the season.

NC State's wings don't bring much firepower to the table from the outside. Like Grant, Courtney Fells also shoots a low three-point percentage, just 28.6%. Atsur is the best outside shooter of the guards, hitting 39.4% of his outside shots. NC State will bring a pure three-point shooter off the bench in former Virginia Tech recruiting target Dennis Horner, who hits 45.9% of his three-pointers.

Horner is one of three regulars off the bench. Another is fellow freshman wing guard Trevor Ferguson, and senior wing Bryan Nieman. Nieman is a role player. He began his career at Winthrop and played at Gulf Coast Community College last season, where he averaged 9.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Virginia Tech should come out and play a very fast-paced game against NC State. The Hokies need to force the Pack to work hard on both ends of the court and make their depth issue come into play. Getting McCauley and Costner in foul trouble would be helpful as well, as NC State has no true inside players in their rotation off the bench. The Wolfpack is so lacking in depth that they've only had six players play more than nine games this season.

NC State vs. Virginia Tech (ACC Games Only)
Category	NC State		Virginia Tech
Category	Stat	ACC Rank	Stat	ACC Rank
FG %	44.6%	8	48.9%	2
FG % Defense	46.6%	7	42.7%	4
3-Pt. %	34.5%	5	39.2%	2
3-Pt. % Defense	37.9%	9	31.0%	3
FT %	75.0%	3	71.2%	7
Rebounding Margin	-9.5	12	-3.0	9
Turnover Margin	-1.83	10	+2.14	2
Assist/TO Ratio	0.86	8	1.15	1
Scoring Offense	66.3	11	75.9	3
Scoring Defense	75.3	7	73	6
Average		8.0		3.9

Virginia Tech has the edge in every single statistical category except for three throw shooting. NC State is the worst rebounding margin team in ACC play, and they rank next to the bottom in scoring offense. Their turnover margin appears to play right into Virginia Tech's hands as well.

NC State has played 15 home games this season. They haven't ventured outside of the RBC Center very often. They are 1-3 in road games, with their lone win coming at Wake Forest. They have losses at UVA, Cincinnati and West Virginia.

Virginia Tech has a lot of advantages in this game and should be able to push their ACC record to 7-1 at the halfway point of conference play.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm sensing a disturbance in the Hokie hoops force. The NC State Wolfpack game is not a trap game, nor is it not a look-ahead game, but it does have the look and feel of a lapse game, one where the VT effort level drops a bit, due to the preconception that playing NC State at home is the least challenging of Tech's nine remaining regular season basketball games.

State is several things: first and foremost is the fact that the Wolfpack might very well be the biggest team the Hokies play all year, as no State baller stands shorter than 6-4 in its top eight rotation, and only one of those top eight plays south of 202 lbs. To top that off, the top three scorers for State all climb above 6-8 in their verticality. It is therefore amazing to me to see NC State check in at 318th in the nation in offensive boards, and a downright incompetent -9 in rebounding margin per game over their last five games played.

That makes no sense whatsoever, at least not until you look at how former national title Wolfpack baller himself, Head Coach Sidney Lowe, doles out playing-time. If you want to see your kid play, and he's not in the Wolfpack top-eight rotation, you'd better go watch NC State practice, as no one averages more than one minute and change of court-time starting with the 4th guy off of the NC State bench. The 8-man rotation is a Pat Riley NBA mantra that Coach Lowe brought with him from the Pro ranks, but it does not translate well at the collegiate level.

So fatigue is an issue for the Wolfpack, as is youth, as is having dropped 9 of their last 10 ACC conference games. To make State all the thinner, the Wolfpack has gone through the following since last spring: graduation losses, an NBA defection, a MLB concentration, a deportation scare, and two major transfers.

Our Hokies enjoy a 172 spot scoring defense edge, a 192 spot edge from beyond the 3-point line, a 211 spot edge in steals. And yet I'm just not comfortable with this game on some subliminal level. But I do know it's time Lady Luck bounced Tech's way. Iron, glass, iron, iron, net, as VT's final shot saves the day.