NC State and Wes Moore know how to win an ACC title in Greensboro

NC State lost five games this season, all against ACC opponents. Each of those league rivals— Virginia Tech, Miami and Duke — are projected to make the NCAA Tournament by ESPN.com.

Talented teams pack the conference this year, and NC State will kick off postseason play with a double bye in Greensboro. 

NC State will play either Duke, Georgia Tech or Pittsburgh in its first ACC Tournament game Friday at 5 p.m., and the program will not know its opponent until fewer than 24 hours before tip-off. Then, the Wolfpack hopes to win three games in three days. 

Head coach Wes Moore gave a shout out to Greensboro Monday for being a great host for the event every year and also pointed out the balance throughout the ACC this season. He is interested to see who heats up at the right time and claims the title. 

“If I’m a basketball fan, I would love this tournament because I think there’s going to be what some people would call upsets but, to me, nothing would surprise me because you can go all up and down the standings, and you can make an argument for a whole lot of teams on how they could get hot and get on a roll,” Moore said. 

Moore believes his team has already accomplished enough to host NCAA Tournament games. NC State won 25 regular-season games, finished as the No. 2 team in a stacked conference and defeated seven top-25 squads this year. 

“To me, that’s a pretty good résumé, so I would hope that would be enough,” Moore said. “But at the same time, we’re going over there hoping to stick around a while and try to make a run.” 

Monday is an off day for the Pack after defeating Wake Forest on Sunday. NC State starts its ACC tourney preparation Tuesday. Moore and the rest of the program head into this week of practice with several championship banners hanging above them in the rafters of Reynolds Coliseum.

The Wolfpack won three consecutive championships from 2020-2022, including twice as the No. 2 seed, stringing together 10 consecutive wins in the postseason tournament in the past four seasons before falling in the quarterfinals last year, 66-60 to Notre Dame. Junior guard Aziaha James and senior guard Madison Hayes were both a part of that final ACC title team in 2022.

Last year’s quarterfinal exit against the Fighting Irish was an anomaly in the program’s recent history. NC State had never won the tournament on a seed line any lower than No. 3, and Moore knows the double-bye is a critical step towards hosting the trophy on Sunday. 

With that said, the four days away from competition with its potential opponent in limbo can offer an advantage to the lower-seeded opponent. Whether the Pack plays the Blue Devils, Yellow Jackets or Panthers on Friday, that team will already have at least one win under its belt in Greensboro Coliseum. 

“I’m not going to lie, you prefer the double bye for sure, no matter what, but I do think the other team maybe has an advantage, especially in the first half of the game,” Moore said. 

At least three of NC State’s scholarship freshmen will likely play significant roles in this week’s tournament run. Moore acknowledged that the intensity and urgency might ratchet up in Greensboro, but the program’s focus remains on the preparation for that moment. 

Before officially joining the Wolfpack over the summer, Zoe Brooks took recruiting photos standing behind the three recent ACC Championship trophies. The point guard, alongside fellow freshmen Mallory Collier, Laci Steele and Maddie Cox, has a chance to make her first mark on the postseason. 

NC State’s starting five, plus Brooks, plays the majority of the Pack’s minutes. Steele is the only other player averaging over 10 minutes per game at 12.8 per contest. Moore knows the team will need its bench to contribute if it hopes to finish the ACC Tournament marathon with a championship. 

“Your goal is to play three games in three days, so you’re going to need some other people to step up and give us some quality minutes when they get the opportunity,” Moore said. 

Going into the postseason, ESPN.com’s bracketology projects the Wolfpack as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Moore is not really concerned about that right now.

He said every team starts a new season with a blank slate when it kicks off tournament play. Even the Pack’s freshmen have experience playing in championship games at the prep and AAU levels, so Moore is confident the Pack knows what it takes to win a league title. 

“We know, as a program, how to get it done in Greensboro. … It’s a lot of new people, a lot of new pieces so to speak, but at least we know the formula and know how we want to approach it and can go over there with some confidence,” Moore said.