Outside shooting could be key to NC State’s tilt at Boston College

Tuesday night's Atlantic Coast Conference matchup between Boston College and visiting North Carolina State in Chestnut Hill, Mass., will be won at the 3-point line. At least that's how things look on paper.

NC State (10-5, 1-1) enters the game at leading the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage (37.9%). BC (7-7, 0-1), meanwhile, leads the conference in 3-point defense (27.7%).

Guards Quadir Copeland and Paul McNeil Jr. are tied for the team lead at 14.1 points per game for the Wolfpack, and McNeil is the team's top threat from behind the 3-point arc with 45 made 3s.

NC State shot 5 of 20 from 3-point territory -- including 1 of 9 in the first half -- during Saturday's 76-61 home loss to then-No. 21 Virginia.

"To my naked eye the looks were not great," NC State coach Will Wade said. "We tried to do too much too early. We let our frustrations on offense carry over to defense."

BC ranks last among ACC teams in scoring (69.4 points per game), and the team's shooting problems were evident in Saturday's 65-53 loss at Georgia Tech. The game was tied 48-48 with 6:13 to play, but the Eagles missed 14 of their final 17 field-goal attempts and Georgia Tech finished the game on a 17-5 run.

"It came down to toughness at that point, where we needed to get a stop and we needed to get rebounds," BC coach Earl Grant said. "We had some open 3s that we didn't make, but we also took a few that we shouldn't have taken. We needed to turn down a shot for a better shot -- that happened to us multiple times."

Guards Donald Hand Jr. (15.6) and Fred Payne (12.4) are Boston College's leading scorers.

NC State point guard Tre Holloman sustained a foot injury during the first half of the loss to Virginia. Holloman has started 11 of 15 games this season and is averaging 10.2 points per game.

"I'm not gonna say he'll play Tuesday -- I don't know," Wade said. "I don't think it will be anything too long term, but I'm not the team athletic trainer."