Three Points from N.C. State's 87-76 win over Wake Forest on Saturday:

1) Brown back on track

State guard Lorenzo Brown had 15 points with eight assists in a season-high 38 minutes on Saturday. He even gave a half-smile as he left the locker room after putting an end to his mini-slump.

"It was a little better," Brown said.

Brown, who is his own biggest critic, was pleased with his turnovers, only two — a low in ACC play for him. He was more aggressive against the Deacs with 11 shots (making six) after only taking five against Boston College on Wednesday, despite an obvious mismatch with Jordan Daniels.

1) Challenge accepted

C.J. Williams spent his first three seasons at N.C. State as a beacon of hard work and hustle on teams otherwise lacking in both categories. As a senior he has emerged as both a leader and reliable scorer, to complement his yeoman effort.

So if anyone was going to be receptive to being called out by the coach, it was Williams, who was challenged by Mark Gottfried to step up his defense after giving up big scoring efforts to Terrell Stoglin and Glen Rice in State's first two ACC games.

"Being a senior, you have to be able to take that," Williams said. "Coach is definitely on me a little more than everybody but I accept that challenge."

WINSTON-SALEM — A slow start and lax defense cost N.C. State in its last ACC game. Neither was a problem for the Wolfpack in a 76-40 blowout of Wake Forest on Saturday.

With 20 points and six assists from Lorenzo Brown, N.C. State won its first ACC road game of the season and rebounded from Wednesday's loss to Georgia Tech.

Wake Forest made just two 3-pointers, in 20 attempts, and neither of its top scorers, Travis McKie or C.J. Harris, could get untracked. McKie was ejected with 11:37 left in the game with only two points, 16 below his season average.

WINSTON-SALEM — A slow start and lax defense cost N.C. State in its last ACC game. Neither was a problem for the Wolfpack in the first half against Wake Forest on Saturday.

State leads Wake 33-17 at the half with eight points each from Scott Wood, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Williams and an improved defensive energy.

Georgia Tech scored 82 points in Wednesday's upset in Raleigh and shot 60 percent from 3-point range. Wake's 1 of 12 from 3 and its top two perimeter scorers, Travis McKie and C.J. Harris have two field goals and six points between them.

In each of its first two ACC games, N.C. State has allowed an opposing shooting guard to score at least 20 points.

That's a trend Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried wants to end for Saturday's trip to Wake Forest but the Demon Deacons have two of the best wing scorers in the ACC in Travis McKie (18.0 points per game) and C.J. Harris (17.7). The two rank second and third, respectively, in the league in scoring.

"We have to be better than we've been on the perimeter, or those guys will have big nights," Gottfried said Friday.

 Freshman forward Travis McKie has been a bright spot for Wake Forest this season but he struggled in his ACC debut. McKie, who averages 13.6 points per game, scored eight points with four rebounds in 25 minutes.

He was held scoreless in the first half and really didn't put up any numbers until the Wolfpack had stretched out the lead to double-digits.