Experienced NC State women’s basketball team starts tough stretch with top-4 matchup
Kayla Jones was off to a fast start for N.C. State.
The Wolfpack hosted No. 16 Duke on Sunday. Jones, one of four seniors in the starting five, was leading the way. The player head coach Wes Moore refers to as the glue of the team was sticking it to the Blue Devils.
Jones scored the first point of the game, a foul shot at the 9:29 mark, and moments later hit a layup to give the Pack a 6-0 lead. She had half of N.C. State’s points, but quickly picked up two fouls.
Moore had to go to his bench sooner than expected. No problem. In for Jones came Jada Boyd, the reigning ACC Co-Sixth Player of the Year, a junior who had played in 64 games prior to Sunday.
That’s the kind of luxury Moore has with the 2021-22 squad, perhaps the most experienced team in the ACC. Moore starts three graduate players — Jones, Raina Perez, Kai Crutchfield — a true senior, Elissa Cunane and one junior, Jakia Brown-Turner. That’s a combined 564 career games within the starting five.
“Hard to stop because they have weapons at so many of their spots,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said after State’s 84-60 win. “All of their spots. Experienced team. Obviously some of them played four years together.”
Moore depends on that experienced bunch to win big games (four wins over top 25 teams) and will need them for the gauntlet down the stretch. The Pack has five ranked teams remaining on the schedule, including rematches with UNC and Duke. They host No. 3 Louisville on Thursday and will more than likely reschedule the postponed game for Jan. 9 at Notre Dame. Moore added that Virginia Tech, coming to Reynolds after Louisville, should be ranked.
They’ll get three of those games at home, with Wolfpack Nation cheering them on. It gets tougher with visits to Chapel Hill and Durham, plus a trip to Blacksburg and South Bend. Moore can draw up the X’s and O’s to prepare his team for the home stretch, but when the going gets tough, he can relax (a little) knowing there’s not a lot they haven’t seen before on the court.
“You’re going on the road, it’s going to be completely different,” Moore said. “Their (opponent) confidence level is going to be a lot higher. We have to realize we have to pick it right back up.”
EXTENSION OF MOORE
With the exception of Perez, the rest of the starters were starters for the last two ACC title teams. Boyd joined the starting five a year ago in the NCAA Tournament after Jones went down with an injury in the opening round.
Moore added Rutgers transfer Diamond Johnson to the rotation. All she does is average 12 points off the bench. Johnson started 15 games for the Scarlet Knights before coming to Raleigh.
In the first half against Duke on a Blue Devils’ possession, Moore shouted instructions to Crutchfield, who simply responded with a thumbs up.
There were a couple of sequences when Moore and Jones talked back and forth as Jones walked up the court during live action. The conversations were short, the execution afterwards nearly flawless.
Moore told the media after the win over Duke that it feels like he has “five assistant coaches out there.” They know what he wants and how he wants it done. But there is a flip side.
“Some of them have been here five years,” Moore said. “They are probably thinking, leave me alone, let me play.”
Since N.C. State led the Blue Devils by 10 after the first quarter and showed no signs of slowing up, Moore was able to let them play a little more than usual.
“They made it a little bit easier on me,” Moore said. “I went into the game saying I was going to try and leave them alone a little bit. When they jump out in the first quarter and then widen it in the second quarter, it makes it a little bit easier on the coach’s blood pressure.”
Perez, the point guard, is the natural extension of Moore on the floor. Cunane said the entire group has a telepathic chemistry. They all know who likes the ball in which spots, where to be on the floor based on the defense, how to communicate without saying a word.
“Just having that core group of veterans who really know what they are doing,” Cunane said. “That lets the younger people watch and follow us.”
Cunane was able to rest most of the fourth quarter and watch the younger players get minutes. Every player on the roster got into the game and all but one scored. That allowed Moore to do some coaching at the end after his veterans did most of the damage through three quarters of play.
“I’m trying to make sure we have other people ready to step in,” Moore said. “Who have at least been through it some and have the confidence to step in and do that.”
BIG GAME UP NEXT
Louisville (15-1, 5-0) took care of business on the road Sunday, knocking off Boston College by 10.
In the preseason, it was pretty much a given that the league title would come down to the Pack and Cardinals.
Last year N.C. State went into Louisville and knocked off the Cards when they were ranked No. 1. The Wolfpack beat them again in Greensboro for the ACC tournament title. This week Louisville rolls into Raleigh on a 15-game winning streak. Before last season, the Cardinals won six straight against the Pack.
Because his group knows what’s next, will Moore have to press a few more buttons this week?
“It’s the ACC,” Moore said. “This stretch, we have a whole lot of ranked teams on our schedule. It’s just life in the ACC. You better be able to bounce back and play hard every night, that’s what I keep preaching. Sometimes when you’re a veteran team you feel like you’re invincible. Hopefully we can keep that hunger.”
Moore added the good news is the team hasn’t peaked yet. Cunane agreed.
“Yes, we take pride in our win,” Cunane said. “But we have to flip that and come back even better.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2022 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Experienced NC State women’s basketball team starts tough stretch with top-4 matchup."
