NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team arrives in Arizona for Final Four

By WRAL Staff

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Raleigh, N.C. — The NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team is heading to the Final Four.

The team left at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday from the Dail Basketball Center and arrived at their hotel in Phoenix around 7:45 p.m.

Fans cheered Wednesday as the players got on the team bus to leave and at the hotel when they arrived. Some supporters showed up to Dail Basketball Center hours beforehand in hopes of getting a good spot.

NC State (26-14) is scheduled to play Purdue (33-4) at 6:09 p.m. Saturday. The game airs on TBS.

The team arrived on Wednesday evening in Phoenix, Arizona.

At the Free Expression Tunnel on the NC State campus, artist Sean Kernick painted a mural of DJ Burns wearing red sunglasses.

The mural shows Burns wearing an Adidas jersey.

The excitement has reached a fever pitch in Raleigh as Wolfpack fans are celebrating their first men's Final Four appearance in decades. On Tuesday night, hundreds of people lined up to meet Burns and DJ Horne at Applebee's near Triangle Town Center. Fans got autographs and pictures with the two DJs.

Lamar Horne, DJ Horne's father, said the NIL deals have taught his son the value of making valuable financial decisions.

"NIL, I love it," Lamar Horne said. "It's here to stay.

"It's making college basketball [and] college athletics, as a whole, very interesting."

Saturday will mark NC State's first Final Four appearance since 1983, when the team won the national championship.

The Wolfpack also won the national title in 1974.

NC State men's Final Four history

• 1950 (Eight-team tournament): Lost to CCNY in semifinals, beat Baylor in third-place game
• 1974 (25-team tournament): Beat UCLA in semifinals, beat Marquette in final
• 1983 (52-team tournament): Beat Georgia in semifinals, beat Houston in final
• 2024 (68-team tournament): NC State will play Purdue on Saturday in semifinals

NC State women's basketball team arrives in Cleveland for Final Four

On Tuesday, the NC State Wolfpack women's basketball team arrived in Cleveland for the Final Four.

NC State (31-6) plays South Carolina (36-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. The game airs on ESPN.

Friday marks the Wolfpack's first Final Four appearance in 11 seasons under head coach Wes Moore.

The Wolfpack women last made the Final Four in 1998.

For the second straight season, South Carolina enters the final weekend unbeaten.

7 p.m. Thursday: 'Wolfpack Pride: Why Not Us?'

At 7 p.m. Thursday, WRAL Sports is airing a 30-minute special called "Wolfpack Pride: Why Not Us?"

The special will chronicle the journeys of both NC State's men's and women's basketball teams to their Final Four appearances.

It will air on WRAL-TV and on the WRAL News+.

Join WRAL to turn the gardens red, celebrate NC State in the Final Four

This Friday, come and visit the WRAL Azalea Gardens and wear red to support the NC State men's and women’s basketball success. The gardens are in full bloom, and there will be some special surprises in store for those who show their Wolfpack pride.

Stop by this Friday with your Pack family and join us as we "turn it red" for the Pack in the WRAL Azalea Gardens.

The event goes from noon to 6:30 p.m. Friday.