Johnson leads Pittsburgh against No. 21 NC State after 22-point outing

Pittsburgh Panthers (9-9, 1-4 ACC) at NC State Wolfpack (12-4, 4-1 ACC)

Raleigh, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Pittsburgh visits No. 21 NC State after Mikayla Johnson scored 22 points in Pittsburgh's 72-59 win against the SMU Mustangs.

The Wolfpack have gone 9-0 at home. NC State is eighth in the ACC scoring 74.5 points while shooting 44.0% from the field.

The Panthers are 1-4 in conference matchups. Pittsburgh is 1-0 in one-possession games.

NC State makes 44.0% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.8 percentage points higher than Pittsburgh has allowed to its opponents (39.2%). Pittsburgh averages 63.2 points per game, 1.4 more than the 61.8 NC State gives up.

The Wolfpack and Panthers match up Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Aziaha James is shooting 32.7% from beyond the arc with 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Wolfpack, while averaging 16.7 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Khadija Faye is averaging 17.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.5 blocks for the Panthers.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wolfpack: 8-2, averaging 73.7 points, 38.4 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 6.1 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 42.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.0 points per game.

Panthers: 4-6, averaging 63.3 points, 31.4 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 8.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 39.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press