NC State 'found a way to win,' despite recording 2 assists against Davidson

It wasn’t anything flashy, but the simple pass from sophomore guard Zoe Brooks to senior guard Aziaha James for an open 3-pointer, which she hit with ease, less than two minutes into NC State’s clash with Davidson ended up being a rare feat. 

The Pack, which squeaked past the Wildcats 59-57 on Wednesday night inside Reynolds Coliseum, had just two assists in its seventh win of the season. 

Why? NC State coach Wes Moore decided to ride the hot hand, which ended up being the duo of senior guard Saniya Rivers and James. The two veterans combined to score 46 points on 19-of-38 shooting against Davidson, while the rest of the Wolfpack roster logged 13 points on 2-of-25 shooting. 

“Offensively, we need to move the ball better, but I’ll take some of the blame for it,” Moore said postgame. “It got to a point where I just felt like we had an advantage with Saniya and that matchup, and we just went to it.”

It was what Moore, the Pack’s 28th-year coach, felt was necessary to walk out with a victory against a three-win squad. James scored 17 of NC State’s first 22 points, while Rivers logged 12 of the Wolfpack’s final 19 points to seal the game. 

While the lack of assists and getting other players involved worked against Davidson, NC State is well aware that it won’t in ACC play, which begins Sunday at Louisville.

“I’m such a selfless player, I was a little frustrated in the first half since we had one assist,” Rivers said. “That’s not fun for me. I like when Reynolds is hype and we’re getting out in transition, drive and kicks, that’s my type of playing style. We weren’t doing that, but [Aziaha] was hot.” 

“It worked tonight, but for us to get back to a Final Four, get a championship, we’re going to have to play together.”

NC State’s lack of assists were a byproduct of some players standing still, while others didn’t set picks or read the defensive well enough off of them, Moore said. He wasn’t pleased with the Wolfpack’s effort on cutting to the basket off the ball, either. 

All of that culminated in, what Moore called, “easy” to defend. 

Louisville, who is a perennial threat in the ACC, will not allow NC State the ability to cover up its mistakes by letting Rivers and James play 1-on-1 basketball this weekend. The Cardinals are 5-4 with all of its defeats coming at the hands of top-20 competition. 

So, it’s safe to say that Louisville is battle-tested. 

“We got to get better. And we’ve gotta get better in a hurry,” Moore said. “Louisville is one of the best programs in the conference. It’s a tough place to play. … I know we’re going to be walking into a big challenge.”

The Wolfpack, which is looking for more from its nine other healthy scholarship players, has a few days to go back to the drawing board. NC State’s center position logged just 2 points against Davidson as Moore tried four different players in the post — sophomores Mallory Collier and Maddie Cox, and freshmen Lorena Awou and Tilda Trygger. 

Moore also worked with guards Laci Steele and Devyn Quigly, both of which are averaging less than 12 minutes a game, to find a spark. But neither player took a shot against Davidson. 

As NC State heads back to the drawing board, playing time is up for grabs for the Wolfpack’s entire roster that is able to suit up. Moore called the team’s depth “game-by-game.”

“I’ve always said the teacher doesn’t give you a grade, you make the grade. I don’t give you playing time, you earn playing time,” Moore said. “They may not agree with it, but we’ll show them the film and hopefully they see that.”

“When you do get a chance to get on the court, you better be good because we’re not rotating a whole lot in those situations. But there’s going to be nights where [Rivers and James] don’t play as well, and you’ve got to be ready. I’m open to playing everybody on our team. We’ve got 11 players. … How long you stay in there is up to you. 

Moore was the first to own the 1-on-1 basketball that NC State leaned on to beat Davidson, and he wasn’t pleased by it. But, at the end of the day, that’s what was required for the Wolfpack to avoid an upset loss at home. 

“I don’t like playing the way we had to play tonight, but there’s only thing I hate worse and that’s losing,” Moore said. “We found a way to win.”