MILWAUKEE — Ahead of Marquette’s first trip back to the Sweet 16 since 2013, dozens of fans gathered at the Al McGuire Center Thursday to properly send off the team as they left for Dallas. is officially Sweet 16 bound. | The two-seeded Golden Eagles (27-9) will play 11-seed NC State (24-14) Friday night at the
American Airlines Center. The Wolfpack have caught
fire in the month of March after closing out the regular season with four-straight losses. Heading into the ACC Tournament, NC State was on the outside looking in at this year’s field of 68, but the Wolfpack beat North Carolina in the conference championship to earn an automatic bid in this year’s NCAA Tournament. “You definitely can’t look at them as an 11 seed,” sophomore forward Ben Gold said Wednesday. “They’ve got this far. They won the ACC Conference. You have to respect them. They’re on a roll right now. They’re going to be able to go on runs. They’re going to score the ball, but it’s just making sure that we can respond to it and basically take their punches.” Chase Ross, proud teammate. 😂 is holding media availability before heading to the airport at 2:40pm. We’ll have live coverage from the Al McGuire Center coming up at 4 & 5 on . | NC State is riding into Friday’s game on a seven-game winning streak, which includes an upset victory over sixth-seeded
Texas Tech in the first round. The Wolfpack advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 79-73 overtime victory over Oakland, which was led by DJ Burns who finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds. “When you get to this stage, I feel like there’s really no Cinderella,” sophomore guard Chase Ross stated. “They’re all good teams. You don’t just make it here off good luck, so I feel like they’re a good team. We just have to match up with them.” While excitement builds on campus for Marquette's first Sweet 16 berth in 11 years, it aligns with the team's expectations set in the off-season. “We definitely started the year with higher expectations than maybe the year before externally, but our internal expectations are always to play to a championship level," head coach Shaka Smart said. "That’s not always easy, particularly in these pressure packed environments, but when our guys really double down on their relationships with each other and they help each other, it gives us our best chance.” Marquette versus NC State tips off Friday night at 6:09 p.m. CT. //