GAME NOTES: The ACC season will officially begin on Saturday, as the Wake Forest Demon Deacons take on the NC State Wolfpack at PNC Arena.

NC State leads the all-time series with Wake Forest, 138-101. The teams have split the season series in five of the past seven campaigns. In 2013-14, the home side came out victorious in both clashes.

The Demon Deacons are sitting at the .500 mark eight games into the inaugural season of the Danny Manning era at the school. Wake Forest suffered an 84-69 setback to Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday, marking its second loss in a row. Wake Forest trailed the Golden Gophers by just one point at halftime, but a 16-3 run by Minnesota to start the second period quickly turned the competitive matchup into a rout. The Demon Deacons are 1-1 in true road tests this season, after defeating Tulane (71-49) on Nov. 17 and losing at Arkansas (83-53) on Nov. 19.

In the loss to the Golden Gophers, Miles Overton came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points, converting 7-of-8 free-throw attempts to pace the Demon Deacons in scoring. Freshman guard Mitchell Wilbekin drained three shots from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points, while junior point guard Cody Miller- McIntyre went 4-of-9 from the floor to net 10 points as well. Wake Forest does not have a player ranked in the top-25 in scoring in the ACC, as Miller- McIntyre leads the way with 11.1 ppg on 39.6 percent efficiency from the floor. Junior forward Devin Thomas is contributing 10.8 ppg and ranks second in the conference on the glass with 10.3 rpg. Thanks in large part to the effort of Thomas, the Demon Deacons are ranked 13th nationally in rebounding margin (+11.3).

The Wolfpack will be trying to bounce back from the 66-61 loss they endured in West Lafayette to the Purdue Boilermakers in their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game. The defeat was the first of the season for NC State, which had gone 6-0 at home with decisions over notable mid-major schools such as Hofstra (76-64), Richmond (84-72) and Boise State (60-54) before its unsuccessful trip to Indiana. NC State trailed the Boilermakers by just two points at intermission, but it sank only 2-of-8 shots at the charity stripe over the final 20 minutes. Coach Mark Gottfried's squad is outscoring the opposition by an average of 16.3 points and ranks sixth in the ACC in both scoring offense (76.7 ppg) and scoring defense (59.3 ppg).

The key to the Wolfpack's early season success has been junior guard Trevor Lacey, who sat out last year after transferring from Alabama. The 6-foot-3 floor general is posting 17 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per outing. Senior guard Ralston Turner, a former LSU Tiger, adds 11.7 ppg, while sophomore Anthony 'Cat' Barber nets 11.6 ppg. Sophomore forward Kyle Washington could provide some valuable inside scoring for NC State going forward, as he was a bright spot at Purdue with a career-high 17 points and season-high nine boards.

Washington and Lennard Freeman will have their hands full trying to keep Thomas boxed out for 40 minutes. However, NC State's backcourt is much more experienced and athletic. The Wolfpack are more capable of lighting up the scoreboard than Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons will need to keep the pace as slow as possible to minimize NC State's chances of running away with a lopsided victory.