NC State freshman Zoe Brooks drops triple-double in first-career start

NC State freshman guard Zoe Brooks was not aware she would be in line for her first-career start against Liberty until a couple hours before tipoff at Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. 

Brooks saw starting point guard Saniya Rivers, who is dealing with a back injury, in a full sweat suit during the Wolfpack’s pregame warmups after the junior went through shootaround a few hours before. That is when Brooks realized it was going to happen. 

By the end of her first start with the Wolfpack, about two hours and a rain delay later, Brooks etched her name into the NC State record book with just the second triple-double in program history. It was the first since Tynesha Lewis’ 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against North Carolina in 2001. 

The Plainfield, N.J., native logged an eye-popping stat line of 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to pace the third-ranked Pack to an 80-67 win over the Flames. 

Not a bad introduction for the former No. 9 recruit in the country. 

“She did a great job of running the team, and for the most part, taking care of the ball,” NC State coach Wes Moore said of Brooks. “And then she goes in there and gets 11 rebounds, she leads us in rebounds. … Just a great all-around game.”

Brooks was not aware she was in reach of the rare feat until after the game when fellow freshman guard Laci Steele mentioned it to her. While it is a historic performance, Brooks played it off a little bit postgame. 

The 5-foot-10 floor general had done it multiple times before in high school and AAU, but she understood what it meant to do it at the collegiate level.

“In college, obviously a triple-double is a lot bigger than middle school or high school,” Brooks said. “So, it was very exciting.”

While Brooks accomplished double figures in three categories, which had not been done at NC State in her lifetime, she did not have a particularly hot shooting night. Brooks was just 2-for-11 from the field, including an 0-for-2 mark from beyond the arc. She was also 10-for-15 from the free throw line. 

But as her shot was not falling in the first half — 0-for-5 — Brooks received advice from Rivers just before the second half, who appeared to be one of the freshman’s biggest cheerleaders on the bench.

“She was just reminding me to push the ball, be aggressive, and to keep on getting my teammates involved,” Brooks recalled Rivers telling her. “She’s one of the older kids that I look up to, especially as a point guard. She was just making sure I was good.”

That little pep talk seemed to work as Brooks scored 12 points with six assists and five rebounds in the second half to help the Pack pull away from the Flames in crunchtime. 

Brooks was pivotal in the Wolfpack’s 13-3 run at the end of the third quarter as she dished a pair of dimes to Mimi Collins — an open 3-pointer — and Steele, who hit a open layup. That run allowed the Pack to pull ahead by double figures, and it never looked back. 

It is not a coincidence that those assists led to her shot falling — two made field goals and eight made free throws — in the final 20 minutes. 

“When I pass the ball to my teammates, seeing them make the shot helps me,” Brooks said. “A lot.”

Brooks became the first Wolfpack player to record 10 assists since Raina Perez did it at UConn last season. 

For senior guard Madison Hayes, watching Brooks take over the game as NC State’s lead guard was impressive to watch.

“As a freshman, she’s doing a really good job,” Hayes said. “She’s going to make mistakes, but she picked herself up, she picked up the team. … She did a really good job. Obviously a triple-double was deserved for her.”

While Brooks was the team’s lone true point guard with Rivers out, she was tasked with a majority of the ball handling. It changed her role from the first nine games, but Brooks seemed to have no issue with just a pair of turnovers in 36 minutes on the court.

And as she was key on the offensive end for the Pack, Brooks had three steals and a pair of blocks in her statement game on the hardwood. 

As Moore thought of Brooks’ standout performance, he was astonished by her effort, even though he might have wanted to milk the clock with a double-digit lead. 

“She’s fun to watch,” Moore said of Brooks. “Sometimes when you have a lead, you would like for her to downshift a little bit. But other times, it’s great to have her attacking and pushing the ball. Yeah, pretty impressive.”