Wes Moore: "I'm Really Proud Of Them"
NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media to discuss his team's regular season, the ACC Tournament, and much more.
NOTE: Click the clip above to listen to the interview.
Coach, if you can, can you provide maybe an opening statement about how your team's excited to compete in Greensboro this week?
Yeah, I'm really proud, first of all, of our team. It's not easy. This is an unbelievable league now with 18 schools. 18 really talented teams with great players, great coaches. And so to be able to get to this point is pretty special. So I'm really proud of them. We started out, I think, four and three and have won 20 of our last 22. So, again, I'm just really proud of what they've been able to do as we head into the tournament. I feel like we have a lot of momentum. But it's a whole new season now. You erase the records and start all over. And so we got to go out and prove ourselves again.
You've mentioned the 4-3 and the games since. What's impressed you the most about your team over these last 22 games and how you guys have been able to, you know, win most of them?
Yeah, I think, yeah, we just come a long way. Obviously, we weren't sure about our interior game with the loss of River Baldwin when or Mimi Collins and we were counting on freshmen or new, young players. That was part of it. I thought also, I think we've come a long way as far as sharing the basketball. Yesterday we had, I think, 28 buckets and off of 21 assists, still had too many turnovers. But again, I think they're doing a better job of sharing the ball, moving the ball. They're unselfish kids. And so it's showing up a little more in their play. I still think we can grow defensively. I think we got a lot of people that can create their own shot or set up shots for their teammates. But defensively, I think we still have some growing to do and we're going to keep trying to grow. We've got obviously the tournament this week and then, three weeks essentially before the NCAA tournament. And we need to take advantage of that time to try to clean some things up or maybe tweak things and some different looks or whatever it takes to improve our defense.
Yeah, Wes, one of the things I noticed Sunday was Saniya Rivers really had a great opportunity for a triple-double. And she did the hard part first with the rebounds and assists, but she never really forced her shot after that. And she really just seemed to take what SMU was giving. Her play seems to be getting more and more selfless as her career has progressed. Could you speak to that? And how common is that for a kid when you have a chance to do something that special to sort of forsake that for the benefit of the team?
Yeah, in fact, it was funny. We had a little exchange there at one point late in the game. I tried to run something for her with a pick on the ball or whatever. And she ended up just throwing the ball back up top or whatever. So we ran it for Aziaha hit a three. And so when there was a timeout after that, I said, hey, I was trying to get you a shot. And she goes, yeah, I know. I just,just I didn't. She said, I don't have to score. She said, I'm not worrying about scoring. And I said, well, I am. So I do want her to keep looking to score. But man, she was impressive doing those other things. I told her after the game, just seeing her go after some of those rebounds up by the rim was amazing. And then defensively, she can make plays. I think she's done a better job of late of really trying to lock down on somebody instead of maybe always going for the steal or whatever. And then the assists, she sees the floor so well. And with her height, she can see over the defense really easily. And so, yeah, she's not worried about it. But I know when we need it, she'll be there.
Wes, this team has obviously been in big positions before, y'all are no strangers. How do you kind of balance that experience and feeling like, okay, we have done this before with not getting ahead of yourselves and not taking games for granted?
I was really worried about that early in the season. With all the veterans that we have that have been through this, I was worried they might start thinking, oh, let's just get this over with and move on to the postseason. And you can't do that. I mean, again, we started out four and three, we had work to do. And plus, you want to get better. If you're just kind of going through the motions, you're not going to get better. So, but I think kind of like last year, I mean, I think we're enjoying ourselves when they, when you're playing well, you enjoy it more. And so I think we're going through that a little bit like we did a year ago and have some momentum. But yeah, I'm pretty good at keeping us down to earth and one game at a time. I've probably been tougher on them this last week than I have been all season because the finish line is right there. And, we had obviously the big win over Notre Dame. And then they had, then they, Florida State did a great job of winning up there. And so all of a sudden, we got a regular season, you know, title to play for and all that. So now, like I said, we'll race the board and the conference tournament is a special time. And again, everybody starts equal. And hopefully you go there with some momentum. But then when you get there, you have to find a way to win, survive in advance. And so that's where we are now. We'll worry about the conference tournament. We're fortunate our spring breaks the next week after the conference tournament. So we can give our kids, you know, a few days off, maybe to exhale a little bit and then come back, focus on us until we find out, the NCAA pairings and things like that. But yeah, right now it's pretty easy, I think, to focus on the ACC tournament because it's a fun time and it's an important time.
Okay, if time permits, I have to ask my first one in regards to Aziaha James, sir. And in high school, AAU a lot of kids can score. What was it about her that stood out that you said this was a kid I want to offer this as a kid I need to get into the program?
Yeah, Aziaha was a great scorer. She was also a winner. I mean, I think they won state about every year she was there. They have a really good program up there at Princess Anne High School in the Virginia Beach area. And, I just felt like she's somebody that could take over a game. And that's what she does. I mean, when you need her to and you need her to get buckets. And she's unselfish also. I mean, she'll when the time's right, she's going to give that ball up. And so, again, Aziaha is always gonna be special to me because her first year or two, she didn't play a ton really our first two years. And a lot of kids would have given up and gone somewhere else. But she just was loyal. She kept working. And so you can't help but feel special feelings towards her for what she's done and over her career here and what all she's done for NC State in this program.
And then I guess finally, for me, sir, Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech, you get the winner. Your thoughts on the two teams?
As far as I'm concerned, that's two NCAA teams. And that's the tough part about getting the double bye, you don't get a, you don't get an easy one in that first game. And both of them are great, great teams have done an unbelievable job, very talented. And you have to be ready to play. And I always think that team maybe has an advantage in the first half, because they've already played a tournament game, they've kind of gotten the jitters out of the way, they've gotten used to the, you know, perception and all that in the arena. And so, you know, it's a challenge. So, at least we know it's one of those two teams, we can focus on preparation for them. But yeah, it's a, you know, it's a tough, tough road ahead. And, and it hits you right in the face in that first game, it's going to be somebody really, really good.