Wes Moore looks for NC State to 'buy in' during regular season home stretch
No. 6 NC State women’s basketball played the ACC’s No. 1 and No. 6 defenses over the past couple of games and lost both contests, dropping consecutive games for the first time since last March. With two games to play, the Pack still has a chance to solidify itself las the No. 2 seed in the ACC.
Head coach Wes Moore pointed out in the postgame press conference that road wins are hard to secure in the ACC. A total of 8 conference teams have 12 or more wins on their respective home courts.
The Wolfpack is 7-4 on the road this season following these recent losses. With 2 games remaining, both at home, NC State sits in a four-way tie for third place in the conference. No. 17 Syracuse looms as the program’s next opponent, sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Wolfpack for the No. 2 spot.
If the program wins its next two games against the Orange and Wake Forest, it secures the second seed. Moore is obviously aware of those scenarios, but he is focused on the team’s past few performances.
“We’re still in a position to control our own destiny,” Moore said. “But I’m also concerned about how we’re playing, so it’s a combination. You hate to talk too much about the things around it. The important thing is, when you step between those lines, you’re ready to play, you’re mentally prepared, you’re ready to compete and we talked about that moving forward”
The Wolfpack head coach said the team is running out of time. With two games remaining in the regular season, NC State is competing with the rest of the nation’s top-10 teams for a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and a chance to host the opening rounds.
For the Pack to get back to the elite level of play that helped the team reach Associated Press rankings as high as No. 3 this year, the group needs to improve its preparation for certain games.
“All I know to do is keep showing them the film and the mistakes and the things we can do better and then trying to prepare them for the next opponent, and hopefully they buy in,” Moore said. “You’ve got to take advantage of all the resources you have at this level to prepare for a game, and there’s times we’re not doing that.”
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Three-consecutive ACC squads shot 45 percent or better against the Pack after the team held opponents to fewer than 50 points during back-to-back road games. Moore made it clear in the post game press conference that the Wolfpack is not playing defense at the same level and needs to “look in the mirror.”
NC State is a tight-knit team that has touted its chemistry throughout the season, and Moore believes the squad remains together despite the recent losses. He complimented the Wolfpack’s effort down the stretch of the Duke game.
The Pack cut the deficit to 8 at one point after the Blue Devils led by as many as 22. NC State won the final quarter by 4 points, and freshman guard Zoe Brooks scored 8 of her 10 points in the fourth period. Now, the team needs to start putting complete games together again.
“I am proud of my team for battling back in the second half and competing a little better,” Moore said. “But in this league, 20 minutes doesn’t get it. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to play when they toss it up and put 40 minutes together.”
Moore believes NC State is a “pretty good” team. The Wolfpack will likely remain a top-15 team in the AP Poll and a high seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket projects.
To get back to the Pack’s winning ways, the team needs to continue embracing the process.
“You’ve got to buy into the scout, the film and all those other things,” Moore said. “You can’t just come out here and play pickup in this league. If you do, you’re going to get ran over.”
