NC State will play neutral-site games against Purdue, Richmond

NC State is set for a pair of one-day events, per Jon Rothstein: as part of a quadruple-header in Brooklyn on Dec. 12, NC State will play Purdue; as part of another quardruple-header, this one in Charlotte five days later, the Pack will play Richmond.

Both of those teams were solid this past season. Purdue finished at No. 25 in the Pomeroy Ratings and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, where the Boilermakers were upset in the first round by North Texas. Richmond, like NC State, went 1-1 in the NIT. The Spiders finished six spots ahead of State in the Pomeroy Ratings.

In addition to those games, the Wolfpack has a yet unannounced Big Ten/ACC Challenge game, plus a return trip from St. Louis for the quickly-thrown-together agreement from last December, and there are also rumors kicking around about a possible early-season multi-team event.

So the non-conference slate is shaping up to be pretty challenging for an NC State team that is a bit of a question mark heading into the year. The Pack may miss the NCAAs again, but at least non-conference strength of schedule won’t be the reason.