A look inside the preparation that led to NC State's dominant win over Florida State

NC State wrapped up its ACC quarterfinal win over Duke shortly after 7 p.m. Friday night. A couple of the coaches stuck around to scout Florida State and Syracuse, while the rest of the staff went back to the hotel. 

Around 10:15 p.m., head coach Wes Moore called a team meeting to implement the scouting report that led to NC State’s dominant 69-43 win over Florida State. The Pack adjourned its meeting around 10:45. 

“Was it worth it?” Moore asked graduate forward Mimi Collins and freshman guard Zoe Brooks. 

“Yes,” they quickly answered together. 

The next morning, NC State went through its final preparations for the Seminoles. They outlined a court on the floor and went through each of FSU’s offensive sets. NC State also watched another set of film from the first time the Pack defeated its ACC opponent. 

Collins said this team embraced preparation for the semifinal the same way it has all season. The Wolfpack bought into the necessary preparation for this win. 

“I think this team really takes pride in film and understanding the scout and just being able to prepare for everything,” Collins said. 

NC State held Florida State 37 points below its season average. Star sophomore guard Ta’Niya Latson is the ACC’s fourth-leading scorer at 21.4 points per game. She scored 16 points on 6 of 18 shooting. Three FSU guards average more than 12 points per game. Latson was the only player to score in double figures Saturday.

“I thought yesterday we played really good defense in the fourth quarter,” Moore said. “Today, I thought we played really good defense from the tip all the way to the end.”

Statistically, the Pack’s first two ACC Tournament opponents could not be more different. Duke boasts the No. 1 scoring defense in the league. Florida State ranks last in that category. The Blue Devils score 68.6 points per game. FSU ranks second in the ACC at 79.8 points per contest. 

Despite those differences, Brooks said the two ACC schools share a few similarities. They both have tough, skilled scoring guards. The freshman finished the game with 7 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. For the second-consecutive game, she recorded 0 turnovers. 

“I think we really locked in on what we needed to do and got the job done,” Brooks said. 

NC State now faces another quick turnaround with a championship on the line. The Wolfpack will play Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament final at 1 p.m.. 

In previous years, if a championship game started at noon, Moore would have the team at the arena by 7 a.m.. He recognized earlier this year that this year’s Pack does not respond to those early starts, and the team earned his trust by playing with energy and urgency when it had a little more time to rest. 

“It means he’s changing,” junior guard Saniya Rivers said after the win. “It means he trusts us.”

Even with the late night film session, Rivers said the team still had 9-10 hours to sleep and recover from its 3-point win over Duke. NC State will dive into its Notre Dame preparation today, but the team will still have time to recover after another fast-paced game against the Seminoles. 

The Wolfpack picked up arguably its most impressive road win of the season against the Irish Feb. 15. Notre Dame shot 26.9 percent from the field that day and scored 40 points below its scoring average at that time in the year. 

Since that day, which was the Irish’s lowest-scoring outing of the season, the Wolfpack’s championship Sunday opponent is undefeated in 7 matchups, taking down top-seeded Virginia Tech Saturday. 

“I haven’t been in this position since my freshman year at South Carolina, so to be back here just feels amazing,” Rivers said. “I didn’t get to play actually in my freshman championship game, so I’m excited to play my first championship game for an ACC Title. And we’re confident, we’re excited, we’re ready to get it done.”