The way NC State plays in big games at Reynolds, it feeds the mojo as much as feeds off it
Wes Moore was screaming furiously at Zoe Brooks, waving his arms trying to get her attention, pointing her toward where she was supposed to be. Brooks had her back to her coach, basking in the jubilation of the band, the students, cheering back at everyone who cheered at her.
At that point, it didn’t matter who collected the final inbounds pass of the game, to dribble out the clock on N.C. State’s biggest win of the season, but it wasn’t going to be Brooks. She had more than earned the right to exult, scoring a career-high 33 as the Wolfpack outlasted top-ranked Notre Dame in double overtime Sunday, 104-95, sparking yet another frenzied Reynolds Coliseum celebration.
The Wolfpack missed its chance to close things out in regulation, giving up a contested Sonia Citron 3-pointer at the buzzer, but blew things open in the second extra period to turn an impossibly closely contested game — neither team led by more than a possession for more than 20 minutes of the second half and overtimes, and N.C. State made its first 20 free throws to keep the Irish at bay — into a raucous communal sing-along.
Last week’s loss in Chapel Hill? Forgotten. N.C. State’s championship pedigree? Reinforced. Notre Dame’s undefeated ACC record? Blemished. Notre Dame’s high-powered backcourt of Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo? Outshined, by Brooks and Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers. ESPN’s decision to bring College GameDay to Raleigh? Vindicated.
“Everybody called us party-crashers last year. I guess we’re party-crashers again,” Rivers said. “We’re here to stay, we’re here to fight, and we’re here to cut down some nets this season.”
We always talk about the power of Reynolds, and its ability to make the impossible possible and the unlikely routine over the years — and for good reason — but with this program, and this group of players, it really has become more about them than the building.
The way the Wolfpack plays in big games like this, these players feed the legend as much as they feed off it.
They’re the ones who got N.C. State back to the Final Four last April. They’re the ones who lean into this environment to play entirely without fear. They’re the ones who looked Notre Dame in the eye for so long that the Irish finally blinked, for the first time in the ACC this season. They’re the ones who beat a No. 1 team here for the first time since 1978 — Wayland (Texas) Baptist, before you ask.
Last year, the Irish got the best of the Wolfpack in the ACC championship game. They may very well meet again in Greensboro. For the moment, the Wolfpack can claim the upper hand, even one game back in the ACC standings.
A year after N.C. State’s win over Connecticut established its elite credentials at the beginning of a season that would take the Wolfpack all the way to the Final Four, this win served to reinforce N.C. State’s status as a contender in what’s shaping up as a potentially historic year for women’s basketball in the Triangle.
All three teams were among the 16 teams included in the NCAA’s early bracket reveal, all three are in line to be first-weekend NCAA hosts and all three boast marquee wins — North Carolina over N.C. State and Duke and Kentucky, Duke over Kansas State and Oklahoma — that suggest they can go toe-to-toe with anybody on the right night.
Even as N.C. State ended its Final Four drought, it’s been a while for the Tar Heels (2007) and the Blue Devils (2006), and neither of the latter has won an ACC title since 2013. The Wolfpack has been carrying the weight for a while; this may be the season the other two start picking up their share.
For the moment, N.C. State’s on a different level, as it demonstrated even before outlasting the Irish. There were students lined up outside overnight, and more in the morning when Moore and the players handed out doughnuts. Reynolds was a madhouse even before GameDay went on the air.
“You know, this morning we went out and gave out doughnuts, and they told me there have been people camped out since 10:30 last night,” Moore said. “And you know the atmosphere, especially when we started putting it away there, that was probably the loudest noise I’ve ever experienced.”
But the building is just a building, as freighted with meaning and memory as it is. These players excel at bringing Reynolds to life, making it the springboard to their continuing and historic success. Notre Dame, undefeated in the ACC and sitting atop the rankings, found that out the hard way Sunday.
Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at www.newsobserver.com/newsletters to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post.
Luke DeCock’s Latest: Never miss a column on the Canes, ACC or other Triangle sports
This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM with the headline "The way NC State plays in big games at Reynolds, it feeds the mojo as much as feeds off it."
