Fresh off a huge double-overtime win against top-ranked Notre Dame on Sunday, and with two regular-season games remaining, Inside Pack Sports beat writer Rob McLamb shares some thoughts on NC State women's basketball.

What a glorious Sunday afternoon it was for North Carolina State University. Notice that I wrote, “University” and not “women’s basketball.”

“The love you take is equal to the love you make.” That is another quote. It comes from The Beatles.

NC State receives love and energy from Reynolds Coliseum because it invested love and energy into it when the renovation occurred almost 10 years ago (Where does the time go?). That is not exclusive to women’s basketball. It includes any Wolfpack outfit that competes inside the Old Barn.

To be elite requires many things, sometimes a person’s (or team’s) paradise has to be where their feet currently are, but let’s be honest. It is a lot easier for a demanding coach to entice kids to come to a school that has nice things while also permeating the impression that it deeply cares about what you do and helping you reach the best level there is to attain. 

This is not the first time I have mused about what Reynolds Coliseum gives to NC State, and it probably will not be the last. Once you see an event like the one recently when the Wolfpack played against Duke, you think the pinnacle is near. Then No. 1 Notre Dame rolls into town and you are given a game for the ages. That is when you realize that Reynolds is the gift just that keeps giving.

I often get annoyed when women’s basketball success becomes a referendum on NC State men’s basketball, but I take solace in knowing that the crowing from fans, and now an envious nation, over the majestic Reynolds also will not stop anytime soon. It is an equalizer in that sense. 

NC State has a landmark that will exist for the rest of our lives. William Neal Reynolds Coliseum is one of the best arenas for women’s college basketball in the nation, and it belongs to the Wolfpack.

ROLE PLAY

Wes Moore has figured out his early season conundrum about how to handle the five (starting center) position. It is now the role of Tilda Trygger. 

Trygger is a freshman playing in a new position. She finished with 19 points and nine rebounds against the top-ranked team in the nation. Consequently, she is the ACC’s Freshman of the Week. 

She made two three-pointers against Notre Dame, which means she can pick and pop, and Saniya Rivers seems to make a point to drive and dish to the Swede as much as possible. 

There is going to come a game where Lorena Awou, Mallory Collier, or Maddie Cox is needed down low. Zamareya Jones, Devyn Quigley, or Laci Steele may have to provide more than minutes but also vital functions within their court time. 

But it appears the roles are settling in, and Moore has an idea of who does what and what he needs from each player. NC State has found its identity. 

PURPLE HAYES

As far as it goes for Madison Hayes, the role has been long established. 

Whether at the three (small forward) last season or an undersized four (power forward) this season, her job has been to connect the strength of NC State (its guards) with its frontcourt. She is a guard who is asked not to just be a guard. 

Loitering in the corner in 2022-23 and attacking the rim from the weak side after shots were taken in 2023-24 has morphed into what she is now. Hayes is a dual-threat scorer who still finds time to do the dirty work that NC State needs, and her time on the court is essential for the Wolfpack. 

It is tough on Hayes to have to get bruised up in the interior while defending, and she even had to visit NC State’s version of the injury tent inside Reynolds after a Notre Dame player fell on her ankle. It can be tough inside the three-point arc. 

Hayes returned and her stat line reflected her importance to NC State, and she did not just do it on the offensive side of the ball.

Maddy Westbeld is a 6-3 power forward who was a five-star recruit out of high school. She has been a First Team All-ACC (when she was also named ACC Rookie of the Year) and has been named Second Team All-ACC twice. No NC State fan will forget how vital she was in last season’s ACC Tournament Final. Westbeld is in her fifth season of college basketball. 

After playing all 40 minutes in NC State’s win at Georgia Tech on Thursday, it was the (generously listed) 6-foot tall Hayes who was the primary defender on Westbeld,

Here are the stat lines from Sunday’s battle:

Hayes: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists in 43 minutes

Westbeld: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals in 41 minutes

Hayes took her bruises, but she was a major reason that one of Notre Dame’s best weapons was ineffective. 

The best part for NC State is that it is starting to figure out that Hayes at the 4 is also a mismatch it can exploit. There were several instances where she received a kickout pass and blew to the basket as if she was shot out of a cannon while leaving the bigger Irish defender standing there as if she was rooted to the ground.

Hayes generally does not pass out of dribble drives, but her drives to the basket are a stylistic variance to what opponents get from Brooks, James, Rivers, or Jones. It is an addition that makes NC State’s offense more difficult to defend in March.

FOUL SUCCESS 

NC State made five of 13 free throws at North Carolina. The Pack lost. 

NC State made 24 of 26 free throw attempts versus Notre Dame. The Pack won. 

In a world of dizzying dissecting of games supplemented by an oversaturation of analytics, some of the simplest of stats continue to be the truest indicators of success. If you draw fouls and make free throws, basketball becomes a lot simpler. 

IRISH LUCK

As to whether NC State should have fouled at the end of regulation against Notre Dame? Of course, they could have and probably should have. 

The foul has to occur immediately after the player has received the ball. It did not. Moore said he told his kids to foul, when to foul, and how to foul. That is coaching. Giving blanket orders to foul lends itself to a kid fouling as the opponent shoots an unlikely-to-be-made three-pointer. Giving instructions then is not providing an option, just the context on how to do it. 

Coaches make mistakes. Players make mistakes. Refs make mistakes. That is life. Imperfection connects us all.

If a coach makes a mistake, he or she does not need to be ‘bailed out’ but could use being ‘lifted.’  That goes for players as well. 

NC State should have fouled at the end of regulation but did not. Whoever individually made the mistake is inconsequential. Once it was made, it became a ‘Wolfpack mistake’; as such, it was left for NCSU to lift itself and each other.

It was not a crime but an opportunity, and the Pack seized it. Overcoming mistakes is a skill set that must be harnessed if championships are the aspiration. NC State overcame a poor play, decision, or whatever it was to beat a top-ranked team. There are plenty of ways to win the foul game, and what you do after you foul, or don’t, can be important also. 

MOORE TO DO

NC State has two regular-season games left. In the NBA there is an expression when lesser teams are next on the schedule. “Don’t play with your food.”

The Wolfpack needs to tend to its business. Wake Forest and SMU need to be handled so that there is no conjecture with NCAA seeding.

Could Notre Dame slip between now and the beginning of the ACC Tournament? It is possible but doubtful. 

Should Notre Dame not lose again in the regular season, the value of NC State’s win against the Irish will then be how it applies to future games against top competition. The Wolfpack proved it can beat one of the best, and if there is an ACC Tournament title, a Final Four appearance, or heaven knows, a national championship in the coming weeks, the confidence to do well enough to succeed in those moments may have begun on Sunday.

NC State is a top-10 team. It is almost March.