NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media following the loss to TCU.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
Opening statement...
Yeah, first of all, again, TCU's really good, and we knew that coming in, and so tip your hat to them. They did a great job. We just, we got a long way to go. Saniya, Aziah James, Madison aren't coming back through the doors there, and we've got to do a better job.
Offensively, we're still doing too much one-on-one, not reversing the ball, not getting movement, and that's on me. I've got to do a better job of trying to make sure we require that. I thought we did some good things to get back in it after digging a hole early, and then we let them make a run at the end of the half and a run to start the second half, and could never get back out of that.
So, we've got to make sure, we come out in third quarter and play better than we did today. But we struggled to shoot the ball at some positions, and, that makes it hard when some of our veterans don't have their best days or whatever. So, but again, it comes back. I think we've got to offensively, we've got to, get a little more ball movement and try to get body movement instead of just going one-on-one and watching. So, it's going to be an important thing for us to clean up.
Players talk a lot about energy.
Yeah.
Why do you think there was a lack of energy?
I don't know. Again, what I said to them after the game, we don't have a lot of energy, enthusiasm. I don't know if people are worrying too much about, their own game and what's happening instead of worrying about, our team. But, we're the only ones that can fix it, is us and the players.
We can't sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. Obviously, we haven't lost here at home in a long, long time. But it's a new team and no seniors. So, we've got to have everybody step up a little bit.
Is the lack of energy kind of the biggest part of it for the slow start you had?
No, it's been that way in practice. It's been that way in shoot-around. Everything we do. So, we don't have a whole lot of energy people on the team, I guess. It's mostly they're a little bit more solemn or sometimes laid back. And neither one of those are good. We've got to have some energy.
On the poor shooting...
Yeah, I think a lot of it was we're taking some tough shots. But, again, that falls back on me. I've got to make sure we're getting ball movement and we're getting movement in general from our players instead of, like I said, the ball sticking and person going one-on-one. So, that's part of it.
But, you know, I do think we, at times, had some decent looks and just didn't knock them down. I thought Tilda, obviously, had a really good game. I thought Destiny Lunan came in off the bench, played well, as did Maddie Cox. So, we need to look at all that. I think Devyn had a pretty good game as well. So, it's got to get everybody clicking at the same time, though, when you're playing this level of competition. But you're right, it's tough when your veteran players, are having an off night.
On the team playing a tougher schedule...
Yeah, it's a tough call. I mean, we're not going to lower our standards. We're going to keep our expectations high and play a good schedule. Is it tough for a young team? Yeah, probably so. But, to be honest with you, a week ago we could have won that game.
And, I, again, blame myself for that, maybe not being clear enough on some things. But, I'm still waking up four or five in the morning thinking about what I could have done in that game. I know I need to move on and worry about the next one. But we've got to fix it ourselves. Again, we don't, there's nothing, we're not going to change personnel, whatever, as far as who's on the bench, who's on the team. We got who we got, so we got to get better.
On Maddie Cox’s defensive impact...
Yeah. I mean, I think Maddie played well when she went in, you know, and, again, Suarez, she killed us last year when she was at Cal, and now she got us again here at TCU. And, her and Khamil were on, I mean, Khamil and Maddie were on her most of the time. And, but we had to help them some, too, and we didn't do a good job of that.
So, but, yeah, Maddie, I thought, played extremely well. And she's a veteran, been in the program a couple of years, knows what's going on. I think that's invaluable as well, because right now we've got so many young players. There's times I call for something, and two of them don't know what the heck we're doing. So, again, that's on me. But, yeah, Maddie's presence is solid.
On Zoe Brook’s leadership...
I mean, again, it's, I know it's hard on her. Last year she had Saniya and Aziaha taking heat off of her. And now this year she's going to be kind of the marked person. And so that's a little bit tougher. And just not having, that experience around her.
When you have three kids that were in the program, two of them four years, one of them three years, they kind of insulated her, you know, and protected her. And now we don't have that experience around her. So it puts a little more pressure on her.
Can a loss like this ignite your team and give them more energy?
Boy, I don't know. I hope, you know. Good question. It would me. But, heck, we got beat last Sunday, too. So, how many is it going to take? But, yeah, our players talk all the time about being dogs. Well, what kind of dog are we? Are we a Chihuahua or are we a Doberman? What are we? Pit Bull. I don't know.
But now is when you got to come out fighting. And that's why I told them, when you're having an off-shooting day, I've told them this before, that's where your competitiveness has to take over.
When you're having an off-night shooting the ball, you got to find other ways, whether it's defending, rebounding, whatever. And, sometimes we tend to hang our heads when things aren't going well, when that's really when you need to turn up the fight. So, I hope. All right. Thank y'all.
