ESPN+ GAME 1 ($) | ESPN+ GAME 2 ($) | ESPN+ GAME 3 ($) | TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS –
The No. 10 NC State women’s basketball team (4-0) is set to play games on three days in a row as part of the 2023 Paradise Jam that starts Thursday. The Wolfpack will take on Kentucky at 3:15 p.m. EST on Thursday, Cincinnati at 3:15 p.m. EST on Friday and third-ranked Colorado at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday.All games will be played at the Sports and Fitness Center at the University of the Virgin Islands. The facility is a 3,000-seat center that is the largest indoor venue of its kind in the Eastern Caribbean. The Pack’s games will be streamed on ESPN+, and live radio coverage will also be available on WKNC 88.1 FM in Raleigh and on the Varsity Network App.
NOTING THE WOLFPACK (4-0)
- NC State is ranked 10th in the latest release of the AP Top 25, its first such standing since being ranked 10th in week nine of last season (Jan. 2, 2023).
- Since the 2018-19, NC State has gone a perfect 9-0 in its Thanksgiving holiday tournament games: 2-0 in the 2018 Cancun Challenge, 3-0 in the 2019 Hawaii Tournament, 2-0 in the 2021 Baha Mar Hoops event and 2-0 in the 2022 Cancun Challenge.
- In those nine wins, six were against fellow Power Five teams and one (2021 Baha Mar vs. No. 2 Maryland) was against an AP Top 5 squad.
- All four of the Pack’s players averaging double figures this season (Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers, Mimi Collins, Zoe Brooks) have scored in double figures in at least three of the four games played this season.
- NC State is one of eight schools to have five or more players averaging 5+ rebounds per game in the early season. Mimi Collins (7.5) and River Baldwin (6.3) lead the way in what is a true team effort that has seen a different team leader on the boards in each of the first four games.
SERIES HISTORY VS. KENTUCKY (NC State leads 4-2)
- Thursday marks the seventh all-time meeting between NC State and Kentucky. The teams met for the first time in the 1980 AIAW Region Tournament and most recently faced off in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
- Every meeting between the Wolfpack and the Wildcats has been part of a midseason or postseason tournament.
- NC State is on a two-game winning streak in the series, with that streak starting with a 66-62 win on Dec. 30 1995 in the Big Four Classic.
- The Wildcats have not defeated the Pack since Dec. 28, 1984, with that game taking place in Raleigh.
- The squads most recently met in the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The Wolfpack won that game, played in its home gym, by a 72-57 score to advance to what was its second-straight Sweet 16 at the time.
SERIES HISTORY VS. CINCINNATI
- This is the first all-time meeting between NC State and Cincinnati.
SERIES HISTORY VS. COLORADO (Colorado leads 1-0)
- Saturday marks just the second all-time meeting between NC State and Colorado. It will be the first matchup between the squads since Feb. 1, 1997.
- The only previous matchup between the Wolfpack and the Buffaloes took place in Boulder as part of the ACC/Big 12 Challenge. Colorado won that game by just five points, 67-62.
