Handling expectations, Lorenzo Brown's health, which forwards will play off the bench, 'skinny' Rich Howell and shot at UNC — notes from N.C. State basketball's media day:

A belated Three Points from the Miami win, thanks to a lost morning at the Miami airport.

1) Keeping your eye on the ball

After N.C. State's 78-73 win over Miami gave the Wolfpack a 4-1 ACC record, and share of first place, first-year Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried stayed true to his talking points.

N.C. State has a "long way to go" has been Gottfried's refrain since he took the job in April and a 4-1 ACC start hasn't changed his mindset.

Updated 5:23 p.m.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Scott Wood put his name in the ACC record book on Sunday and lifted N.C. State into a first-place tie in the ACC standings in the process.

After the Wolfpack's 78-73 win over Miami, a group of about two dozen State fans, mostly his family members, waited behind the team bench to congratulate him.

As the group cheered as he ran off the court, Wood tried to bury his chin in his shoulder to shrug off the attention and as if to say "Ah, that was nothing."

N.C. State will go "back to normal" for Thursday's game against Boston College, Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried said. That means a return to the starting lineup for sophomore forward C.J. Leslie.

Gottfried benched Leslie for disciplinary reasons, stemming from a practice incident last week, in Saturday's 76-40 win at Wake Forest.

DURHAM — N.C. State's last three ACC losses have been doomed by poor first halves. It couldn't have gotten much worse than the first 20 minutes in Saturday's 76-52 loss at Duke.

Duke scored 53 points and shot 64.5 percent (20-31) while State finished the first half with 16 fouls, 12 turnovers and 11 field goals.

Notes from Sidney Lowe's press conference on Thursday:

• The Wolfpack went 1-for-2 in the late recruiting period, landing forward DeShawn Painter but losing out on point guard John Wall.

Painter, a 6-9 power forward, orginally signed with Florida but was released from his LOI and chose the Wolfpack in May. Lowe called Painter's decision a "great break."

N.C. State's basketball recruiting class got bigger on Wednesday in both quality and quantity.

Forward DeShawn Painter, a top-75 prospect, committed to play for the Wolfpack in the 2009-10 season, increasing its incoming freshmen class to six.