Women's hoops notebook: Pack looks to return to winning ways
Two weeks ago, NC State’s women’s basketball team was on the verge of adding to what had already become a history-making season.
A team that was picked in the preseason to finish in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference had won six of seven ACC games (the one loss being a two-point overtime defeat at home to Louisville on Jan. 17) and was 16-6 overall and 7-2 in the conference for fourth place.
Highlighting that string of W’s was NC State’s first victory over Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1996 and an impressive 78-49 trouncing of North Carolina that marked the second largest margin of victory over the Tar Heels in the 101-game history of the series. The win also marked third-year Wolfpack coach Wes Moore’s first victory over UNC.
The two victories over “the Blues” was the first time since the 2006-07 season the Pack had defeated both of its neighborhood rivals in the same season. But Moore, while understandably pleased with his team’s efforts through its first 22 games, was almost prophetic in his comments three days after the huge win over the Tar Heels.
“I was very pleased with how we handled this,” he told a throng of NC State supporters at a special radio show. “But at the same time, these are conference opponents. Someone suggested after the Duke game that we go out and celebrate, and I said no. I want to get this program to the point where we’re expected to win, so we’re not getting too giddy about it.
“We still have a lot of work to do. This conference is like a wave: the games just keep coming. You think you’ll be able to get your head above water and breathe eventually, but then another great team comes along. There’s no time to enjoy — you have to keep the pedal to the metal and keep pushing. You can’t afford to take a night off.”
Two nights later, one of those “great teams,” two-time defending ACC champ and No. 3 Notre Dame, showed why it’s the overwhelming favorite to make it three titles in a row. NC State’s first-ever trip to South Bend, on Feb. 4, produced its largest margin of defeat to date, an 82-46 trouncing in which the Irish shot 53 percent from the floor while outscoring NC State 44-21 the final 20 minutes.
Three days later, Wake Forest — who NCSU defeated 64-47 on Jan. 3 in Raleigh — used a late-game rally and a 15-8 edge in second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds to hand the Pack a 63-58 setback in Winston-Salem, N.C., marking the first back-to-back losses suffered by the Wolfpack this season.
“It’s a grind this time of year,” Moore said the Wake defeat. “It’s easy to lose focus and feel a little tired. I hope we’re not at that point. This was a tough loss, no doubt, because we’re trying to build a resume for the NCAA (Tournament). This is disappointing, but we have five games left, so we have to regroup and find a way to get it done.”
Early-Season Injuries Altered Pack Rotation Plans
NC State’s coaching staff had hoped to use the team’s 13-game non-conference slate to build both depth and a consistent rotation, blending the team’s four returning starters — senior post Carlee Schuhmacher, junior forward Jenn Mathurin and junior guards Dominique Wilson and Miah Spencer — with their other six returning veterans and six-member freshmen class.
In particular, Moore hoped to bring freshman point guard Kaila Ealy along quickly enough to allow Spencer to stay at her main role at shooting guard. Ealy averaged 12 minutes through the first four games of the season, all wins, but the promising rookie was lost for the year with a knee injury suffered against Liberty.
“It’s made a big difference, unfortunately,” Moore admitted shortly after Ealy’s injury. “We were hoping to keep Miah on the wing and have her play point on a limited basis. (Freshman Camille) Anderson wasn’t recruited as a point guard, and it’s been hard on Miah. We need her to score, and that’s been harder for her at point.”
Spencer has also spent the last 18 games playing with an injured left thumb, suffered in the Liberty contest, that’s required her to handle the ball and shoot with a wrap on her left hand. Despite that, she’s averaging 13.4 points a game, second only to Wilson’s 15.9 average, and has amassed 118 assists with just 73 turnovers.
Boards And Bobbles Remain Wolfpack’s Achilles’ Heel
In looking at NC State’s eight losses to date, two glaring numbers stand out, and both are in areas Moore repeatedly points to in noting where his team still needs major improvement.
In four of those eight setbacks, the Pack lost the battle of the boards, and NC State is negative-8 in rebounds combined for all those losses. That’s led to winning opponents outscoring the Wolfpack 92-80 in second-chance points.
NC State has also committed 30 more turnovers than opponents in those eight losses, including a season-high 30 in a 79-72 loss to Florida in the championship game of the Gator Holiday Classic in Gainesville on Dec. 21, and 24 in the 36-point trouncing by Notre Dame. Those turnovers have led to 181 points while the Pack has scored just 116 off turnovers in those eight games.
Before the two losses to the Irish and Deacons last week, Moore had publicly praised his squad for seemingly shoring up those weaknesses in its first nine conference games. “They just keep fixing things,” he said, when asked the main difference in the Wolfpack’s play in its streak. “Back in December (after a conference-opening 73-44 loss at Miami), I wasn’t sure we’d win another conference game. But we’re taking better care of the ball, we seem to be doing a better job on the boards, and we’re more focused.”
Now, Moore and his staff must hope to rekindle that same focus and effort in a final three-week stretch that has NC State playing three of its final five regular-season games at home, including Thursday’s meeting with Boston College (4-19, 1-9 ACC) and Sunday’s 11th annual Hoops 4 Hope Kay Yow Cancer Fund benefit game against Syracuse (18-6, 8-3 ACC).
Sunday’s game will be the first rendition of the charity game not played at Reynolds Coliseum. With the ongoing renovations to the Wolfpack’s regular home court, this year’s Hoops 4 Hope contest will be NC State’s 14th “home” game at Needham Broughton High School’s Holliday Gym. The game, which will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 at 2 p.m., is already a sellout.
Guard Duo Joins 1,000-Point Club
NC State’s 63-52 ACC win over Virginia on Jan. 27 not only marked the Pack’s sixth conference win in eight games but also resulted in milestones for two of its players.
Both Spencer and Wilson crossed the 1,000-points plateau in career scoring that night. Wilson netted a game-high 24 in the win, while Spencer added 18 to become the 30th and 31st NC State players to collect at least 1,000 career points.
Wilson, who scored the first 218 points of her career as a freshman at Arkansas in 2013-14, achieved another singular honor on Feb. 1 when she became the first NC State player in three years to be named the ACC Player of the Week. The Powder Springs, Ga., native was honored for the week of Jan. 25-31 after she scored 45 total points in the wins over Virginia and UNC while averaging 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals in the two games. She is the first Wolfpack player to earn the weekly award since Markeisha Gatling in December 2013.