NC State University
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40 free NC State University trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
NC State began as a small land-grant college on the edge of Raleigh and grew into a major research university. Along the way it collected a granite tower with an odd history, a pair of wolf mascots, and two of the most dramatic national championships college basketball has seen. This quiz covers the university from every angle: how the school got its start and its name, the landmarks and traditions students know by heart, Wolfpack basketball and football and the players who went on to the pros, and the research, inventions and well-known graduates that carried the school's name far beyond North Carolina. It is written for students, alumni and Wolfpack fans, for anyone hosting an NC State trivia night or tailgate, and for curious players who enjoy a good college story. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will finish knowing more about the Pack than when you started.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did NC State's wolf mascots, Mr. and Ms. Wuf, do at halftime of a 1981 home basketball game?
Got married
Mr. and Ms. Wuf got married on court, and the visiting team's mascot, Wake Forest's Demon Deacon, fittingly presided over the ceremony.
Q 02NC State's Memorial Belltower stood for more than 80 years without which feature, finally installed in 2021?
Real bells
Real bells were in the original plan, but money ran short and an electronic carillon was fitted in 1947; the full set of 55 bells gave its first recital in May 2021.
Q 03Which championship ritual did NC State coach Everett Case bring from Indiana high school basketball in 1947?
Cutting down the nets
Cutting down the nets was an Indiana high school custom; Case's team did it after winning the 1947 Southern Conference title, and he is credited with introducing the practice.
Q 04Which top-ranked team, led by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, did NC State stun in the 1983 NCAA championship game?
Houston
Houston saw Olajuwon leave the game several times for oxygen in Albuquerque's mile-high air, slowed the pace to protect its lead, and lost 54–52.
Q 05Which NC State engineering graduate became the first woman to fly around the Moon, aboard NASA's Artemis II?
Christina Koch
Christina Koch earned three degrees in Raleigh, and after her 2026 flight the university renamed an engineering building Koch Hall in her honour.
Q 06Which 5-foot-7 former NC State guard won the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest?
Spud Webb
Spud Webb is the shortest player ever to enter the contest, and 20 years later 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson won it with a dunk in which he leaped over Webb himself.
Q 07Which star of The Hangover films studied communications at NC State before breaking through as a comedian?
Zach Galifianakis
Zach Galifianakis went to Wilkes Community College first, and he later won an MTV Movie Award for playing Alan in the first film.
Q 08How are most books retrieved at NC State's Hunt Library, the high-tech Centennial Campus building opened in 2013?
A robot system
A robot system called the bookBot does the job: four 50-foot machines pull volumes from more than 18,000 bins while visitors watch through a glass wall.
Q 09Which NC State basketball coach announced a cancer research foundation in a famous speech at the first ESPY Awards?
Jim Valvano
Jim Valvano was terminally ill when he accepted the first Arthur Ashe Courage Award in 1993, and he died less than two months later, aged 47.
Q 10Which school's run of seven straight national titles did NC State end in the 1974 NCAA semi-finals?
UCLA
UCLA and coach John Wooden led by seven points in the second overtime before NC State rallied to win 80–77, then beat Marquette for the title.
Q 11Which future Super Bowl-winning quarterback played three seasons at NC State before transferring to Wisconsin in 2011?
Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson also played baseball for the Wolfpack and graduated in three years with a communication degree before his final college season with the Badgers.
Q 12What do NC State students call University Plaza, the open square in front of D. H. Hill Library?
The Brickyard
The Brickyard is named for its paving and has been likened to St. Mark's Square in Venice; white brick mosaics are set into the red.
Q 13Which NC State women's basketball coach led the United States to Olympic gold in 1988 while fighting breast cancer?
Kay Yow
Q 21Which country singer from nearby Garner enrolled at NC State after winning American Idol as a teenager?
Scotty McCreery
Scotty McCreery was a 16-year-old grocery bagger when he auditioned; he later studied communications in Raleigh and is an avid Wolfpack fan.
Q 22In 2024 NC State's men's and women's basketball teams both reached which NCAA tournament stage in the same season?
The Final Four
The Final Four had never before included both Wolfpack teams in one season; the women clinched their place just hours before the men on the same day.
Q 23Which famous aviator told future NC State graduate Katharine Stinson to study engineering rather than train as a pilot?
Amelia Earhart
Kay Yow won more than 700 games in her career, and the Wolfpack Women's home court was named after her in 2007.
Q 14NC State's 115-foot Memorial Belltower was built to honour alumni who died in which conflict?
World War I
World War I killed 33 alumni, yet the plaque lists 34 names: a man wrongly reported dead was altered into a made-up name to stand for unknown soldiers.
Q 15Which usually indoor sport drew 56,961 fans to NC State's Carter–Finley Stadium for an outdoor game in February 2023?
Ice hockey
Ice hockey took over the football field when the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 4–1 in an NHL Stadium Series game.
Q 16Which NC State great, nicknamed Skywalker, did Michael Jordan pick to introduce him at the Basketball Hall of Fame?
David Thompson
David Thompson led the Wolfpack to its first national title in 1974, and his 73 points in one 1978 NBA game still fell just short of winning him the scoring crown.
Q 17Which NC State defensive end did the Texans draft first overall in 2006, passing over the heavily favoured Reggie Bush?
Mario Williams
Mario Williams was a surprise choice, since draft analysts had expected Bush to go first, and he signed a six-year, $54 million contract.
Q 18NC State anchors one corner of the Research Triangle; which two universities anchor the other corners?
Duke and UNC–Chapel Hill
Duke and UNC–Chapel Hill complete the trio, and the name dates from the 1950s, when Research Triangle Park was created between the three home cities.
Q 19Which Super Bowl-winning NFL head coach was a three-year starting linebacker at NC State in the late 1970s?
Bill Cowher
Bill Cowher coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for 15 seasons, and his Super Bowl XL winners were the first sixth seed to lift the trophy.
Q 20Which YouTube comedy duo were roommates at NC State in the 1990s while both studied engineering?
Rhett & Link
Rhett & Link studied civil and industrial engineering respectively, then created the daily YouTube show Good Mythical Morning in 2012.
Amelia Earhart met Stinson, then a 15-year-old working at Raleigh's airport, and Stinson went on to become the FAA's first female engineer.
Q 24Which now-standard basketball play is NC State credited with popularising in the 1970s through Monte Towe's passes?
The alley-oop
The alley-oop suited a team-mate with a 44-inch vertical leap; because dunking was then banned in college, he simply dropped the lob through the hoop.
Q 25NC State is home to the only college in the United States devoted entirely to which field?
Textiles
Textiles have been taught on Centennial Campus since 1991, and the football rivalry with Clemson, another textile powerhouse, has been known as the Textile Bowl since 1981.
Q 26Which NC State player caught a team-mate's air ball and dunked it in the dying seconds to win the 1983 NCAA title?
Lorenzo Charles
Lorenzo Charles pounced when the centre guarding him hesitated, afraid of a goaltending call on the 30-foot heave, and the 54–52 win sent his coach running onto the court.
Q 27Which on-campus arena housed NC State men's basketball until 1999 and is still home to the Wolfpack Women?
Reynolds Coliseum
Reynolds Coliseum got its steel during wartime because it was also meant to serve as an armory, and it was long the largest arena in the Southeast.
Q 28In 1953 NC State became the first academic institution to operate which kind of machine on its campus?
A nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor went critical on campus that September, and a journalist dubbed it the First Temple of the Atom because the public could come and see it.
Q 29NC State opened in 1889 as North Carolina A&M; what did the A and the M stand for?
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts reflected the land-grant mission; the school became a State College during the First World War and gained University in its name only in the 1960s, after years of protest.
Q 30Which NC State quarterback started a then-record 51 straight college games before starring for the Chargers in the NFL?
Philip Rivers
Philip Rivers was picked fourth overall in 2004 by the New York Giants, who traded him to San Diego during the draft.