1977–78 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

1977–78 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
1977–78 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
NIT, Runner-Up
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	21–10 (7–5 ACC)
Head coach	Norm Sloan (12th season);
Home arena	Reynolds Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 16 North Carolina	9	–	3	.750	23	–	8	.742
No. 7 Duke †	8	–	4	.667	27	–	7	.794
NC State	7	–	5	.583	21	–	10	.677
Virginia	6	–	6	.500	20	–	8	.714
Wake Forest	6	–	6	.500	19	–	10	.655
Maryland	3	–	9	.250	15	–	13	.536
Clemson	3	–	9	.250	15	–	12	.556

† 1978 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1977–78 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team represented North Carolina State University as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference during the 1977–78 men's college basketball season. Led by head coach Norm Sloan, in his 12th season at NC State, the Wolfpack played their home games at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Roster

1979–80 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Clyde Austin	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	So	Richmond, Virginia
F	33	Art Jones	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Hampton, Virginia
G	34	Kenny Matthews	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Washington, D.C.
C	42	Craig Watts	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	221 lb (100 kg)	Fr	South Easton, Massachusetts
F	43	Hawkeye Whitney	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	213 lb (97 kg)	So	Washington, D.C.
G	45	Donnie Perkins	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	189 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Bethel, North Carolina

Head coach

Norm Sloan (NC State)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 26, 1977*		Appalachian State	W 97–79	1–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Nov 28, 1977*		Georgia Southern	W 98–89	2–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 2, 1977*		vs. No. 18 Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 79–77	3–0	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 3, 1977*		vs. No. 2 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	L 82–87	3–1	Greensboro Coliseum (15,564) Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 7, 1977*		at Davidson	W 104–94	4–1	Johnston Gym Davidson, North Carolina
Dec 10, 1977*		at Penn State	W 79–60	5–1	Rec Hall University Park, Pennsylvania
Dec 17, 1977*		East Carolina	W 106–80	6–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 28, 1977*		Saint Joseph's	W 70–61	7–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Dec 29, 1977*		Duquesne	W 105–80	8–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 4, 1978*		Biscayne	W 76–42	9–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 7, 1978		Duke	W 74–50	10–1 (1–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 11, 1978		Maryland	W 88–82	11–1 (2–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 14, 1978		No. 15 Virginia	L 68–74	11–2 (2–1)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 18, 1978		at No. 5 North Carolina Rivalry	L 64–69	11–3 (2–2)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 21, 1978*		Iona	W 99–72	12–3	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 25, 1978		at Maryland	W 80–73	13–3 (3–2)	Cole Field House College Park, Maryland
Jan 28, 1978		No. 18 Virginia	L 73–81 ^OT	13–4 (3–3)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Jan 31, 1978		Clemson	W 73–69	14–4 (4–3)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 3, 1978*		vs. Virginia Tech North-South Doubleheader	W 83–68	15–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb 4, 1978*		vs. Furman North-South Doubleheader	L 67–68	15–5	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb 11, 1978		No. 14 Wake Forest	W 88–77	16–5 (5–3)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 15, 1978		No. 20 Duke	L 64–76	16–6 (5–4)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, North Carolina
Feb 18, 1978		at Clemson	W 72–65	17–6 (6–4)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 21, 1978*		at No. 9 Notre Dame	L 59–70	17–7	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 23, 1978		No. 8 North Carolina	W 72–67	18–7 (7–4)	Reynolds Coliseum (12,400) Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 25, 1978		at Wake Forest	L 81–87	18–8 (7–5)	Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
ACC tournament
Mar 1, 1978*	(3)	vs. (6) Maryland Quarterfinals	L 108–109 ^3OT	18–9	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
NIT
Mar 10, 1978*		South Carolina First round	W 82–70	19–9	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 14, 1978*		No. 18 Detroit Quarterfinals	W 84–77	20–9	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 19, 1978*		vs. Georgetown Semifinals	W 86–85 ^OT	21–9	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 21, 1978*		vs. No. 17 Texas Finals	L 93–101	21–10	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[2]^[3]

Rankings

References

^ sports-reference.com 1977-78 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary
^ "NC State Basketball All-Time Results" (PDF). NC State Athletic Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
^ "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". gopack.com. Retrieved April 7, 2025.

[1] sports-reference.com 1977-78 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary

[2] "NC State Basketball All-Time Results" (PDF). NC State Athletic Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2023.

[3] "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". gopack.com. Retrieved April 7, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
Venues	Thompson Gym (1925–1949) Reynolds Coliseum (1949–1999) Lenovo Center (1999–present)
Rivalries	East Carolina North Carolina Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Dixie Classic / Big Four Tobacco Road 1961 gambling scandal 2018 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics