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Backing The Pack

https://www.backingthepack.com/ | 115 entries published

Cheering for anyone else is for quitters.

Latest Entries

NC State women’s hoops picks up two wins in Cancun

I’m still getting caught up on the things I missed while in Maui (there’s a football game today?!) and was encouraged to see that women’s hoops put together a couple of good performances offensively while in Cancun for Thanksgiving. These games were only available on FloSports so roughly six people saw them, but hey. NC […]

12 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Wrap Up: What Did the Wolfpack Learn?

Maui Invitational Results 1-2 NC State was favored by some to win the tournament, and they were favored in all three games. The Maui Invitational didn’t turn out exactly the way we had hoped, but the team ended up playing three games against quality competition. Based on the Thanksgiving Day KenPom snapshot, Texas (KP 39) […]

13 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Invitational, Day 3: Everyone had fun

During each television timeout, the Maui Invitational has goofy competitions on the court—make a free throw while sitting in a lawn chair! Dribble two enormous basketballs from one end of the court to the other! Stuff like that. The fellow emceeing this stuff will ask the contestants their name and who they’re rooting for. Typically […]

14 days ago | 1 read

Maui Finale: NC State Locks Up 6th Place, Losing to Texas 102-97

Game Summary: NC State came out of the gate aggressively, at the first timeout leading 8-3 and forcing 3 TO, but already had 4 fouls (2 Holloman, 1 Copeland and Williams) Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to bother Texas at all. Texas is not known as a 3PT shooting team, but when the Pack kept giving […]

14 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Game 3: NC State vs Texas for 5th Place

When: Wednesday November 26 – 9:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Texas Longhorns (SEC Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 80-78 / NC State 81-80 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Season So Far: NC State played Boise State with energy and intensity, and the result showed it. As Coach […]

15 days ago | 1 read

Maui Invitational, Day 2: Turns out everything’s fine

NC State’s effort on day two in Maui was ten times better, and the results were a reflection of that. This team has some clear problems defending the paint but a lot of how that works out for better or worse depends on the communication and effort, and today it was a lot better across […]

16 days ago | 2 reads

NC State – Back From the Dead, Beating Boise St 81-70.

Game Summary: NC State hit the floor with much more energy than yesterday and immediately took an 8-0 lead. The defense was energetic and forced 3TO early. Clearly Coach Wade’s message to the guards about rebounding was heard, at the 12:00 timeout the guards had all 6 and finished the half with 9 of 16. […]

16 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Game 2: NC State plays Boise St

When: Tuesday November 25 – 2:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Boise State Broncos (Mtn West Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 78-74 / NC State 78-76 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Player Notes: Opponent Overview: Leon Rice enters his 16th season as head coach of Boise State men’s […]

16 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Invitational, Day 1: Oops, I broke the basketball team

I can say with great confidence that Monday was my first chance to watch a college basketball game begin at 9:30 a.m., and as disorienting as that was, it was nothing compared to what happened over the next two hours. On the bright side, win or lose, it’s still Hawaii outside. The Lahaina Civic Center […]

17 days ago | 0 reads

Game thread: Seton Hall vs. NC State, Maui Invitational

When I floated the idea with my family that we might spend Thanksgiving in Hawaii with NC State basketball, I had no idea that we’d end up trading Kevin Keatts for a chance at being actually good at basketball. Here we are now, the circumstances turned 180 degrees for the trip of a lifetime. The […]

17 days ago | 0 reads

Highlights! We’re just watching the punt again, mostly

I was working on about three hours of sleep on my way to the airport early Saturday because I watched the football game until the end, and was it all worth it, to watch the ol’ pigskin clonk off a man’s head and careen backward 25 yards for a turnover? It was, yes. I would […]

18 days ago | 0 reads

Maui Game 1: NC State vs Seton Hall

When: Monday November 24 – 2:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Seton Hall Pirates (Big East Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 75-67 / NC State 77-69 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Player Notes: Team Statistical Comparison Opponent Overview: Shaheen Holloway was a four-year player at Seton Hall, starting […]

18 days ago | 0 reads

NC State women win 2025 cross country national championship

Well, they went and did it again. After a one-year hiatus, the women’s cross country team is back on top. The Wolfpack beat BYU (and everyone else, but mainly BYU) on Saturday morning to nab their fourth national championship in the last five years. Hannah Gapes and Grace Hartman finished fifth and sixth overall to […]

19 days ago | 0 reads

College football Saturday open thread

The week before rivalry week means that tomato cans are back on the menu for a lot of power-conference schools, sadly. Still there are a number of potentially entertaining matchups throughout the afternoon. Noon Missouri vs. OklahomaLouisville vs. SMU 3:30 USC vs. OregonArkansas vs. Texas After Dark Pitt vs. Georgia TechTennessee vs. FloridaBYU vs. Cincinnati

19 days ago | 2 reads

NC State bests mistake-prone FSU, 21-11

NC State and FSU had themselves an, um, interesting game on Friday night—not so much from good football, but moreso from weird football. Which is fine when it works out the way it did. NC State had a pretty tough time moving the ball, but the difference was that it avoided big mistakes, while Florida […]

19 days ago | 0 reads

Game thread: FSU vs. NC State

Fell down a bit of a rabbit hole when I noticed that an NC State win tonight would bring the Pack’s record against FSU in Carter-Finley to 11-11. The only ACC schools with winning home records against the Noles are Clemson and Georgia Tech, s0 .500 would be some pretty good work! (FSU is 8-1 […]

20 days ago | 1 read

Maui Invitational Preview

*** BREAKING NEWS *** It was announced Thursday that Terrance Arceneaux has been cleared to play in Maui. Off to Maui NC State arrives in Maui Friday night to have a little fun before getting down to work next week. Three games in three days, the Pack’s endurance and ability will be tested. Best case […]

20 days ago | 0 reads

NC State and FSU are ready to match inconsistencies

The Friday night matchup between NC State and Florida State has the look of a who-the-hell-knows sort of affair, what with both of these teams caroming between good and bad performances on the way to matching 5-5 records. FSU hasn’t won a road game since 2023, and Mike Norvell hasn’t beaten NC State. NC State […]

21 days ago | 0 reads

NC State holds off Coastal Carolina, 71-58

Playing without Tilda Trygger, NC State nonetheless got off to a nice start against Coastal Carolina, thanks in large part to Maddie Cox, who replaced Trygger in the starting lineup. Cox hit a couple of threes in the first quarter to help the Pack establish a double-digit lead that it would extend to 21 at […]

21 days ago | 0 reads

NC State is playing UVA in Brazil to begin 2026 season

NC State’s home-and-home with Virginia has become a home-and-Southern-Hemisphere, apparently. Pack Pride reported Tuesday night that the two schools are going to play a Week 0 game in Brazil next season, and if that’s not the most random sports development of the week, I don’t know what is. The game reportedly will count as a […]

22 days ago | 0 reads

Week 13 Football: What to Watch

What is this? Where am I? What year is this? Wait, do I still work here? Is that a squirrel?! Well, after missing seven straight weeks of doing this, let’s resurrect this thing and see if it still has legs. Hey, even if NC State isn’t having a season to remember, there’s still plenty of […]

23 days ago | 1 read