GAME NOTES: The Miami-Florida Hurricanes return home following a tough road trip and again have their work cut out for them when the NC State Wolfpack come in Thursday night for an ACC tilt at BankUnited Center.

The Hurricanes nearly made it two wins in a row over highly-ranked opponents last Saturday but squandered a late lead in South Bend and lost to the No. 12 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, 75-70.

Miami, which was coming off a huge road victory over then fourth-ranked Duke, never trailed in the first half and led by as many as a dozen points after the break. Notre Dame pulled out of its slump, however, and led for the final 6 1/2 minutes.

It was the first time in 11 games this season Miami lost after leading at halftime, and it dropped the club to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Sheldon McClellan's 17 points and Ja'Quan Newton's 16 went for naught, while star Angel Rodriguez had just four points on 1-of-10 shooting. Ivan Cruz Uceda scored two points in his Hurricanes debut after sitting out the first half of the season with a suspension issued by the NCAA.

Miami has been efficient at both ends of the floor, shooting .451 overall, while holding foes to a mere .411 shooting. McClellen, a Texas transfer, is shooting an impressive .527 from the floor and leads the way with 15.4 ppg. Rodriguez, a Kansas State transfer, is a close second at 14.5 ppg, and leads the team in both assists (4.3 apg) and steals (2.1 spg). Manu Lecomte is another perimeter performer coming in just under double digits at 9.8 ppg. Center Tonye Jekiri (7.9 ppg) doesn't add much in the way of scoring, but he is the ACC's top rebounder (10.1 rpg).

NC State improved to 4-2 in conference play with a 72-63 win over Florida State last Saturday. The Wolfpack have alternated wins and losses over their last 11 games, but they were dominant at the start against FSU.

They connected on 56.3 percent from the field in the first half and took a healthy 42-30 cushion into the locker room at halftime. FSU actually pulled even with three minutes left, but Ralston Turner buried a 3-pointer out of a timeout and the Wolfpack held on from there.

Turner was one of six NC State players who scored at least seven points, as he finished with 15 before fouling out. Trevor Lacey led the Wolfpack with 17 points and five assists.

Lacey, a transfer from Alabama, has had a stellar first season with NC State, as he owns the team's best scoring average at 17.1 ppg. Lacey has been an all- around player, owning a 4.6 rpg mark with 59 assists, which is second on the team. Turner comes in at second on the squad with 13.7 ppg, and Anthony Barber closes out a trio of double-figure scorers for NC State at 11.0 ppg. As a unit, the Wolfpack are netting 72.7 ppg this season on 46.1 percent shooting, and are allowing opponents to net only 64.1 ppg against them. Lennard Freeman is NC State's leading rebounder at 6.2 boards per outing.

Miami has won just seven of the 18 all-time meetings against NC State, but the Hurricanes seem to be hitting their stride. NC State should keep it close, but its roller-roaster of a season points to another one in the loss column.