NC State basketball schedule for 2022-23 season now complete with ACC release game times
Coming off his first losing season as a college head coach, Kevin Keatts enters his sixth season as N.C. State’s head coach aiming to get back where he was when he started with the Wolfpack — in the NCAA tournament.
Last season’s 11-21 record, though, was a long way from that goal as N.C. State went 4-16 in ACC play.
This season’s conference schedule was released on Tuesday, showing the journey the Wolfpack will navigate as it shoots for better results.
The Wolfpack’s 20-game ACC regular-season schedule includes four games in December, then, in January and February, two games each against two rivals that made last season’s Final Four, Duke and North Carolina.
Here’s a look at NC State’s schedule:
NC State’s can’t miss basketball game
The Wolfpack’s two games with rival UNC each season are always highly anticipated. The first game this season, on Jan. 21 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, will be fun to look forward to because of what happened last season at the venue.
The Tar Heels easily won, 100-80, but Terquavion Smith scored a career-best 34 points for the Wolfpack. That was one of two times the freshman guard scored 30 points or more last season while averaging 16.3 points per game.
With UNC set to be a top-five team when the season begins, returning starting guards Caleb Love and RJ Davis from last season’s national runner-up team, the 6-4 Smith will face a solid test. It will be fun to see how he responds in his return to Chapel Hill.
Toughest stretch for NC State
The ACC had just five teams make the NCAA tournament last season in what was considered a down regular season for the league. But once there, ACC teams had plenty of success.
N.C. State faces three of those teams during a 10-day stretch in January that could be a rough one for the Wolfpack.
Duke comes to PNC Arena to play N.C. State on Jan. 4. Three days later, the Wolfpack plays at reigning ACC champion Virginia Tech on Jan. 7. One week later, Miami comes to play N.C. State at PNC Arena. The Hurricanes made the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight last season before being eliminated by eventual NCAA champion Kansas.
Easiest stretch for NC State
Since the Wolfpack finished last in the ACC last season, the entire 20-game schedule will be full of tough battles. But one early-season, three-game set in Raleigh could be a springboard to later success.
On Nov. 30, N.C. State plays William & Mary at PNC Arena. That game is on the schedule because the Wolfpack aren’t playing in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But that could be a plus for the Wolfpack because, on Dec. 2, it opens ACC play at home with Pittsburgh.
That means, rather than entering its first league game off a game with another Power Five team, N.C. State begins league play after facing a team from a smaller conference at home.
After playing Pitt, N.C. State plays Coppin State four nights later in the program’s annual one-game return to its historic former home, Reynolds Coliseum.
NC State basketball’s non-conference test
With the Wolfpack as this year’s ACC team excluded from the ACC/Big Ten Challenge due to the conference having one more team than the Big Ten, the nonconference schedule lacks one highlight.
But N.C. State’s trip to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament will help make up for that.
The Wolfpack will play reigning NCAA champion Kansas on Nov. 24 at noon to open its tournament run. The next day, N.C. State plays either Dayton or Wisconsin. The third tournament game will be against either BYU, Southern California, Butler or Tennessee.
The last time the Wolfpack played in the event, in 2017 during Keatts’ first season, it knocked off Arizona to claim an impressive non-conference win that helped the Pack make the NCAA tournament that season.
| Date | Opponent | Time | TV |
| Nov. 7 | Austin Peay | 8 p.m. | ACCNX |
| Nov. 11 | Campbell | 7 p.m. | ACCNX |
| Nov. 15 | Florida Intl. | 9 p.m. | RSN |
| Nov. 19 | Elon | ACCNX | |
| Nov. 23 | Kansas# | noon | ESPN |
| Nov. 24 | Dayton or Wisconsin# | ||
| Nov. 25 | TBD# | ||
| Nov. 27 | William & Mary | 7 p.m. | ACCNX |
| Dec. 2 | Pittsburgh* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Dec. 6 | Coppin State^ | 7 p.m. | RSN |
| Dec. 10 | at Miami* | 2 p.m. | RSN |
| Dec. 13 | Furman | 6:30 p.m. | ACCN |
| Dec. 17 | Vanderbilt+ | 10:30 p.m. | |
| Dec. 22 | Louisville* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Dec. 30/31 | at Clemson* | ||
| Jan. 4 | Duke* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Jan. 7 | at Virginia Tech | 7:30 p.m. | RSN |
| Jan. 14 | Miami* | noon | RSN |
| Jan. 17 | at Georgia Tech* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Jan. 21 | at North Carolina* | 5 p.m. | ACCN |
| Jan. 24 | Notre Dame* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Jan. 28 | at Wake Forest* | 1 p.m. | ACCN |
| Feb. 1 | Florida State* | 9 p.m. | ACCN |
| Feb. 4 | Georgia Tech* | 1 p.m. | ACCN |
| Feb. 7 | at Virginia* | 9 p.m. | ACCN |
| Feb. 11 | at Boston College* | noon | RSN |
| Feb. 14 | at Syracuse* | 7 p.m. | ACCN |
| Feb. 19 | North Carolina* | 1 p.m. | ESPN |
| Feb. 22 | Wake Forest* | 9 p.m. | RSN |
| Feb. 25 | Clemson* | noon | RSN |
| Feb. 28 | at Duke* | 7 p.m. | ESPN/2 |
# — Battle 4 Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
^ — at Reynolds Coliseum
+ — Legends of Basketball Showcase, Chicago
* — ACC game
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 3:10 PM with the headline "NC State basketball schedule for 2022-23 season now complete with ACC release game times."