No. 1 Syracuse (24-0, 11-0 Atlantic Coast) faces North Carolina State (16-8, 6-5) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. To learn more about the Wolfpack, The Daily Orange spoke with Andrew Schuett, an N.C. State beat writer from Technician.

The Daily Orange: What does N.C. State need to do to pull off the upset and win this game?

Andrew Schuett: Well, T.J. Warren’s got to score 40. If State’s going to win this game they’ve got to have big production from guys like Anthony Barber, Desmond Lee and Ralston Turner. They’ve got to be huge in this game. Other guys like Jordan Vandenberg and Kyle Washington, too. State’s going to have to play their absolute best basketball. Even if they do, I can’t really see State leaving Syracuse with a win.

The D.O.: Warren leads the ACC in scoring and has five games with 30 points or more. What has he done to take his game to the next level?

A.S.: Last year he was probably closer to the fifth or sixth option on offense. C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown were running things. He’s really come into his own this year. He lost 20 pounds in the offseason and he’s gotten a lot more athletic. He’s not the kind of player to take you one-on-one in isolation, he’s more the kind of guy who can get to the rim and score in a variety of ways. He just kind of helps the team out in whatever way he can.

The D.O.: N.C. State has lost many players from last year’s team. How has it played so far compared to the expectations at the start of the season?

A.S.: I came into the season thinking that if N.C. State gets to the (National Invitation Tournament) (head coach Mark) Gottfried should win national coach of the year. They’re obviously not getting to the NCAA Tournament. I think what they’ve been able to do this year — losing guys like Rich Howell, and C.J., who was a great player, and guys like Rodney Purvis who transferred to (Connecticut) — with a really young team, I think Gottfried and the coaching staff have really done a good job of bringing the guys together. We’ve seen some things from this year’s team that we didn’t see last year. They were down at Maryland, down against Georgia Tech, struggling against Wake Forest and came back and pulled out quality ACC wins against some good teams. On the whole, State fans are happy with this team and just want to see them keep progressing.

The D.O.: N.C. State has beaten Maryland, Florida State and Miami, but lost to North Carolina Central, as well as Virginia and Duke by more than 30. Why do you think there’s so little consistency? Is it mostly due to inexperience, or are there other factors, too?

A.S.: The N.C. Central loss, State was a young team going up against a more experienced team that wasn’t scared at all of the limelight. They made their shots and played really good basketball. The Virginia loss, that was just State getting demolished by a head-and-shoulders better team. If you can play good defense against N.C. State, then you’ve got a chance. State on the offensive end can go stagnant. If they’re not making shots, they start turning the ball over. That’s what happened against Duke. They just turned the ball over (15) times in the first half. The blueprint to beat State is to be really, really solid defensively, and take what they give you offensively.

Published on February 14, 2014 at 12:18 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass