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.

Three Points from Wednesday's 56-51 win at Boston College:

1) Body language counts

When Richard Howell, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie slumped their shoulders, dropped their heads and sloughed off to the locker room at halftime, they were greeted with a warning from N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried.

"I told them that is not acceptable and we won't do that — and we have not done that any night this year," Gottfried said. "We were allowing things to bother us. Mentally, we were out of synch."

Three Points from State's 61-60 loss to the Cavaliers on Saturday.

1) Effort vs. execution

Effort was a problem for N.C. State before coach Mark Gottfried was hired. "Was" as in past tense and Saturday's 61-60 loss to Virginia is the latest proof of how far a State team, made up of essentially the same players as a year ago, has come on the effort front.

Any of Rich Howell's nine offensive rebounds, or the three jump-ball tie-ups on Virginia's end of the floor he caused, qualify as proof, but there's also the matter of State's defensive effort as a team in the second half.

Three Points from N.C. State's 74-55 road loss to UNC on Thursday:

There's no shame in losing to the best team in the country on their home floor but there is in the way N.C. State lost to UNC on Thursday.

The Wolfpack (15-6, 4-2 ACC) kept making the same mistakes — at least while the game was still close in the first half — over and over and over. And they were the same mistakes from last year's losses to the same UNC team.

N.C. State's only highlight from Thursday's 74-55 loss at UNC.

H/T: Run the Floor

John Henson doesn't get as much attention, or respect, as UNC teammate Harrison Barnes but N.C. State's players understand how good the junior forward is.

In two games against the Wolfpack last season, Henson blocked 13 shots and grabbed 31 rebounds. He had 16 points in UNC's 84-64 win in Chapel Hill and eight in the Tar Heels' 75-63 win in Raleigh, a game he absolutely controlled. (Tracy Smith and Ryan Harrow basically enrolled in the witness protection program after getting dominated by Henson last season.)

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.

N.C. State is the only ACC team with five players who average at least 10 points a game.

The Wolfpack's balance helped them in Sunday's 79-74 win over Maryland, which was essentially a one-man show in Terrell Stoglin (25 points).

C.J. Leslie led State with 20 points against the Terps, Scott Wood added 19, Lorenzo Brown had 11 and Richard Howell finished with 10.

N.C. State has two goals for the start of the ACC season, that are seemingly at conflict with each other.

The Pack wants to win 11 ACC games but it also wants to take the conference season, "one game at a time."

Eleven wins is the number first-year coach Mark Gottfried has set as the goal for his team to make the NCAA tournament.