John Cooper describes his first game at the Miami University men’s basketball helm as “a heavy, heavy task.”

The RedHawks will be on the road tonight to face North Carolina State at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., with the Wolfpack projected by some publications as a Final Four team this season. They are ranked sixth by the Associated Press.

“We’re going to have to play really, really smart basketball,” Cooper said. “We’ve got to play a doggone tight game. They have the potential to play well in the halfcourt and in the fullcourt, which makes them so hard to deal with.”

N.C. State has four returning starters that averaged in double digits last season: 6-foot-5 junior point guard Lorenzo Brown (12.7), 6-9 junior forward C.J. Leslie (14.7), 6-6 senior forward Scott Wood (12.4) and 6-8 junior forward Richard Howell (10.8).

The Wolfpack, 24-13 and a Sweet 16 squad last year, have a freshman class with three McDonald’s All-Americans. Cooper said Leslie and Brown are potential first-round NBA draft picks.

“I think they deserve their ranking,” RedHawks junior forward Jon Harris said. “They have pieces at every position. At the same time, I know we have pieces here too. We have to out-tough them, compete our butts off for the whole 40 minutes.”

Harris said Miami’s players are getting more comfortable with Cooper’s up-tempo style of play and aren’t intimidated by the prospect of facing N.C. State.

“Based on past schedules, we’ve been through the big schools, so we know what we’ve got to do,” Harris said. “This is the one system I would want to go up against a team like that with. Coach Cooper preaches throwing the first punch, and that’s what we want to do.”

Cooper said he’s still contemplating a starting lineup. He noted that redshirt junior center Drew McGhee may not be 100 percent because of a foot injury.

“I don’t feel like we’re tight,” Cooper said. “There’s going to be some execution breakdowns because there’s a lot of new stuff, and we haven’t been doing a lot of this for a long time. As I told them, I want mistakes of activity, not inactivity.”

Cooper was the head coach at Tennessee State the last three seasons. His first game with the Tigers resulted in an 85-69 loss to Siena on Nov. 13, 2009.

Miami and N.C. State have never met on the hardwood. The RedHawks have won four of their last five season openers.