North Carolina State has lost four of its last five games. The Wolfpack lost leading scorer Devon Daniels just ahead of that stretch of play, and it’s no secret that is playing a major role in this recent skid.

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel is not concerned about the record of his opponent when his team hosts NC State for a 4:30 tipoff at the Petersen Events Center later this afternoon. He’s seen enough on film from the Wolfpack that he believes they are a good team, even if they only bring in an 8-9 record to today's game.

“For me this year, I don’t look at team’s records. I really and truly don’t,” Capel told reporters on Monday during the weekly ACC coaches conference call.

Capel said with the unbalanced schedules and irregularities of the 2020-21 season that has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic it’s tough to judge a team on record alone.

“So NC State is a good team and they’ve struggled a little bit trying to gain their identity without Daniels,” he said of The Wolfpack. "They’re coming off a tough loss after playing a team that was desperate. So we know we’re going to get a desperate team that’s talented, that’s older, that’s played together and that’s had success against us.”

The series has been weighted far towards NC State through the years. The Wolfpack own a 19-2 overall record against Pitt in the series that dates back to 1948. Since joining the ACC, Pitt has only claimed one win over NC State, back in 2014, and Jeff Capel is 0-5 in his career against the ‘Pack.

Even without Daniels, NC State does plenty of things that can cause problems for Pitt. The Wolfpack force 16.1 turnovers per game, which leads the ACC. Pitt is coming off an 18-turnover game in the 71-65 loss to Georgia Tech on Sunday, and that obviously caused some concern for Capel when scouting his opponent.

“I would imagine their game plan will be a lot of pressure,” he said.

North Carolina State also employs a taller lineup with 6’10” senior DJ Funderburk (11.9 ppg) and 6’11” sophomore Manny Bates (9.7). Pitt has struggled containing bigger scoring threats down low of late, and that’s another thing that Capel is bracing for this evening.

"In the half court they’re going to put us in a lot of ball screens and so our ball screen defense has to be good and then they’re going to pound the ball inside I’d imagine," Capel said of what he expects to see from NC State today. "I mean that's an area where we’ve struggled defending big guys here over the last five games or so."

Like NC State, Pitt’s season has also been reeling of late. The Panthers come into this one with a 9-7 overall record, and the team has lost five of its last six contests. Pitt supports a 5-6 record in ACC play, and is battling for position ahead of next month’s conference tournament.