What they’re saying about N.C. State women’s basketball’s chances against South Carolina
The field at this year’s Final Four for women’s college basketball includes the sport’s historic behemoth in UConn, an undefeated South Carolina team, an Iowa team led by the game’s all-time leading scorer in Caitlin Clark, and an N.C. State squad that was picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Which one of these doesn’t look like the others? N.C. State coach Wes Moore isn’t afraid to admit that it’s his team, a unit that has embraced the underdog role all year long.
“We feel kind of like the party crashers. I don’t know that we got an invitation to this thing, but we’re here,” Moore said. “So, it’s exciting. We’ve gone through a juggernaut of really great teams to get here, and I couldn’t be prouder. We know we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us. But, hey, we’re excited to have that opportunity.”
While UConn is in the Final Four for the 23rd time, it is not the current Goliath of the sport. That title belongs to Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, which has lost zero games this season and has a grand total of three defeats in the past three years.
In fact, the last team to deal South Carolina a loss on its home court in Columbia, was a Moore-coached Wolfpack team on Dec. 3, 2020
“Still?” Moore asked when that fact was told to him.
And when asked about his chances of upsetting South Carolina again, the 66-year-old coach said: “I saw the odds of us winning a national championship are below 1%. But, hey, I’m that ‘Dumb and Dumber’ guy – ‘So, you say there’s a chance?’”
Indeed, Moore knows his internet memes. Or he’s just a fan of 1990s comedies.
“One game at a time, one game,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to play really well. We’re going to have to have some things go our way. I don’t have any doubt the Lord’s been looking out over me these last couple of weeks. We’ve shot the ball well and we’ve got to do that. If you don’t shoot the ball well this time of year, you’re probably going home.”
A few expert analysts for ESPN would agree with Moore’s assessment. To beat this South Carolina team – something no other team has done – a whole lot is going to have to go right for the Wolfpack.
For Rebecca Lobo, the Basketball Hall of Fame member who won a national championship with UConn in 1995 and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, defense is at the top of the list of things N.C. State will need to excel at to pull off a historic upset.
“Because of South Carolina’s depth and potency, you either have to make them miss shots, or hope they miss shots,” Lobo said. “If they can force South Carolina to miss and do a decent job on the boards, which they should be able to because they’ve got the size inside, then I think it’s going to be a really, really good game.”
According to HerHoopStats, N.C. State ranks seventh nationally in defensive rating this season with a mark of 78.1. The Wolfpack are also fifth in points per scoring attempt with 0.87, and opponents average a field goal percentage of just 35.9% against N.C. State, which is 10th in the country.
Defense is something that Moore’s team has excelled at, especially lately.
Texas shot just 39.7% from the floor against the Wolfpack in their Elite Eight clash in Portland, Oregon, which was the Longhorns’ third-worst shooting mark of the season. In the Sweet 16, Stanford made only 20% of its 3-pointers against the Wolfpack, the Cardinal’s second-lowest mark of the season.
While defense will be crucial, ESPN’s Carolyn Peck – who won a national title with Purdue in 1999 over Duke – believes that controlling the pace of the game will be equally important.
“They’re very patient offensively,” Peck said of the Wolfpack. “And the key, I think, for N.C. State, is to make this a low scoring game. Make it a half-court game. You’ve got to get the shots that you want, because South Carolina rebounds the ball so well.”
In its NCAA Tournament wins over Texas, Stanford and Tennessee, N.C. State has scored 76 to 79 points, and won all those games by an average of nine points.
For another ESPN analyst, Andraya Carter – who played her college ball at Tennessee – the key to a victory for N.C. State is simple: Aziaha James.
“Three-point shooting will be huge, and that’s obviously something Aziaha has done amazingly. She has been lights out,” Carter said. “Three-point shooting, getting out in transition… Being the aggressors and balancing that with poise and control. This is an N.C. State team that has the pieces to do something like that.”
It would be an understatement to say that James has been awesome in March. Since the start of the ACC Tournament, she’s averaging 21.1 points per game. And since the start of the NCAA Tournament, she’s shooting 57.1% from 3-point land.
So, the recipe for N.C. State to hand South Carolina its first loss of the season has been laid out: a sharp dose of defense, an emphasis on pace, and a large helping of heroics from James.
Easy enough, right?
This is an N.C. State team that has been underestimated all season long. They were unranked to start the season when they beat then-No. 2 UConn in Reynolds Coliseum by double digits, and they have just as many wins over AP-ranked opponents as South Carolina: nine.
“I think the team, we took on the underdog. Like Coach Moore said, it’s good to be a party crasher and upset teams,” James said. “I feel it gives us more confidence, you know, that people looked down on us and we can change something.”
