NCAAs: Moore, Leslie, and Nelson Talk Elon Win
NC State head coach Wes Moore, Kiara Leslie, and Chelsea Nelson met with the media after the NCAA Tournament win over Elon.
NC State Head Coach Wes Moore
On idea of making the Sweet Sixteen...
It would be great. We lost four seniors last year that were great leaders, great players, four of our top five scorers. I think everyone felt like this would be kind of a rebuilding year, if you want to call it that. Then we started out 1-3 in the ACC, and I’m just really proud of these young ladies, what they’ve been able to do, what they’ve been able to accomplish.
Again, we’re not always aesthetically looking good out there on offense, but we’re defending, we’re rebounding and hitting enough shots to be successful. We need to focus.
I think Kiara (Leslie) summed it up perfectly. There’s got to be another game. I know that’s boring and all, but we’ve just got to go play basketball. We’ve been pretty successful here at home. The crowd was good today. I hope they all bring back ten of their best friends and we sell this place out Sunday and make it a great atmosphere.
We know we’re going to have our hands full. I’ve got a lot of respect for Maryland. Brenda Frese does an amazing job. They’ve won a national championship, so we’ll have a big challenge before us, but it’s great to have that opportunity.
On Erika Cassell...
I’ve always had a lot of confidence in Erika. She knocked a few shots down today, which was great to see. I definitely think she’s capable of doing that. I think the other thing Erika can do is she can match up with the four or the five. She’s strong enough to go inside and guard somebody, and then she can move well enough to guard somebody out at the three-point line. She’s a great rebounder. When she goes and gets it, she grabs it with two and chins that thing pretty well.
(She’s) definitely giving us a lift. I think DD (Rogers) can as well. Those two, both, we’re just kind of seeing who’s got it that day and also it has something to do with the matchups we face on the other teams as to who’s going to play the most prominent role that particular game.
It’s good to see her step out there and knock some shots down because that makes us a whole lot tougher to guard, especially a pick on the ball. If you’ve got her spotted up, those posts like to interchange on the pick and roll when they’re showing big, and that usually leaves the four player open. For her to knock those shots down, hopefully that’s something we can take advantage of in the future.
On Kiara Leslie matching up against her former team in Maryland...
Depends on what we do with it. No doubt it’s special, but you still have to go get it done or it's going to be disappointing, but I am proud of this group. They have come a long way. They graduated four seniors, starters, last year - four of our top five scorers from last year.
Expectations weren’t real high if you go back and look at the ACC preseason forecast. I’m proud of these kids and how hard they’ve worked to get here. It’s a special reward, and now you have to go out and do something with it.
On Kiara Leslie’s transfer from Maryland to NC State...
I can’t sit here and tell you how she will respond. Let me say this: Maryland was great to work with through the whole process. They paid for her summer school so she (Kiara Leslie) could graduate.
She graduated in 3 years which is why she (Kiara Leslies) has 2 years eligibility left, because she redshirted with an injury. They were great every step of the way working with us.
It is kind of ironic, obviously with us playing them. Sometimes the committee has a weird sense of humor and they do stuff like this. It’s really crazy. I hope she can handle it that way. I hope she just thinks here’s my scout, here’s my matchup, here’s what I have to do.
I’m sure she’s friends with a lot of those girls but hopefully she can block that up and just play basketball without getting caught up in the emotion of it.
Guard Kiara Leslie
On playing against Maryland (her former team) on Sunday...
It’s just another game, and we have to come ready to play. I feel like I have an advantage because I know some of their tendencies, some of their plays, so I’m just excited for Sunday.
On playing Maryland the year after transferring from there to NC State...
Not the next year. I knew it was possible with the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, but I didn’t know we’d be matching up in the NCAA Tournament.
Forward Chelsea Nelson
On Elon making it difficult in the first half...
I just think we were off a little bit. We were taking pretty good shots that weren’t just falling for us. We were trying to get as much transition play as we could. When we were in transition, we’d go on a four-out, and we started playing better together and things started falling for us, leading to second-chance shots.