NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media to discuss NC State's 91-54 win over SMU.
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Opening statement...
Okay, yeah, proud of the way we bounced back. Obviously, we didn't have one of our best nights Thursday and proud of the way they came out ready to play. It's playing at six o'clock on a Sunday seems a little unusual, but they showed up.
Proud of the way we took care of the ball in the second half. Ten assists, five turnovers, really proud of the job on the boards. Out rebounding them, what was it, I think 51 to 26, so that's a great job on boards. And I always think rebound is about the most important part of the game. And then to get everybody involved, a lot of people were able to get out there and score some points and get some confidence, hopefully. So again, good day for our team, yeah.
We do like having Zam back out there today?
Yeah, yeah, we definitely missed her Thursday. But yeah, that's part of it. You're gonna have, during the flow of the season, you're gonna have people that, we've got a lot of people sick. We've had some just small injuries, things like that.
But other people have to step up and there's a lot more to it than that. We did miss her.I mean, obviously, she can shoot the three. She's great at distributing the ball and quick on D.
So we definitely missed her. But at the same time, we, I think, gave up 23 points in the fourth quarter. Thursday night, and that's not a formula for success. So we gotta, no matter who's in or out, we gotta do a better job.
So fluid in the ACC, I think Clemson lost today. You told your team about, look, hey, we had one loss. But I guess last year you lost to California, you were able to rebound.
Last year we just lost two in 18, so we're-
But I think California was, to be fair, was early and then you- It was, you're right.
It was. I mean, I say games on the road, every game's a challenge. You better be ready and play well. But especially when you go on the road, it's tough.
And again, we've been fortunate in the past to really take care of business at home.And then to be competent enough, tough enough to win on the road most of the time.
So again, yeah, we're, again, I keep saying again, don't I? We're doing, I think we're getting better. I think that's important for a young team. We gotta get better every day. They asked me last, I guess, January one game against Stanford, what's your New Year resolution? And mine was for us to get better every day. And if you do that in March, you'll be pretty good, hopefully.
You got five players scored in double figures, and you were able to sort of have a comfort level in this game. How meaningful was that to not have to get, you know, sort of, you could play open, I guess.
Yeah, and I told them after the coaches for SMU, of course, I grew up in Dallas, very familiar with SMU. And I told them, first years can be a challenge. I mean, I've been there. And just told them, she'd done a heck of a job. Obviously, she took Arizona to the Final Four, so she'll build it. And, but yeah, I'm proud that we came out, and that's what you wanna do, is you let a team hang around, then anything can happen.
And so I thought we came up, made a good statement. They went to a zone there in the second quarter, probably late in the second quarter. And I was disappointed.I thought we stood around, settled for threes too much. But the good thing is we saw it before the half, so we were able to talk about it at halftime.
And I thought second half, we did a great job of getting the ball inside, in the paint, against the zone, or in the high post. And that made a big difference. So again, we're still as a team, I think, meshing some.
We've got new players that are having to fit in, and returning players in new roles. And so I think we're still growing as a team. So, but I think that was a good sign in the second half, when we attacked the zone a little better.
You shot threes better too, the kids, you think just down in Clemson, maybe that was just an anomaly, that's just a one off? Or do you, I mean, in terms of the three point shooting.
Yeah, I think we're a better three point shooting team than we have shown. I've been probably disappointed in that more than a lot of things, because I do see them in practice, and they shoot with confidence. They're hitting threes with some range on it.
But we hadn't been doing it in the games. And that's gonna be important for us, because good teams and good coaches are going to take away, they're gonna double the posts. They're gonna play zone. They're gonna do things to try to slow down your interior game. And you're scoring off the bounce. So we need to step up, hit them, and I think we're capable of it. And hopefully, we start doing it a little more consistently.
Wake Forest, there'd probably be as many state fans there, to be honest. And I mean, sometimes when you go to these big arenas, you have to kind of generate your own enthusiasm, because it's so big and there aren't as many. How do you, I guess, convey that to your kids so that they-
Yeah, I told them, again, we've been fortunate. I guess I said it on radio, actually. We have, we've had a lot of great fan base go to those games at Wake Forest and really give us almost a home court feel. And I think that helps us. We've been pretty good in this building. I think it was a sellout again. They said 43rd sellout since we've been in here.
And it's been a great home court advantage. So our fans make a big difference. I appreciate them showing up 6 o'clock on a Sunday night. Like I said, that's kind of an unusual time. So it was good to see them there, and I think we'll see them Thursday. And then obviously, Sunday, we got a big game here, too. So hopefully, we'll pack it out.
You only had two fast break points against Clemson. You had 18 tonight. Was that a point of emphasis?
Definitely. Definitely. At halftime, we didn't have any. In fact, I'll be able to tell you here, because I wasn't real happy about that at halftime. At halftime, fast break points, where is it? We were being outscored 7 to 5 fast break points. And so that was definitely a point of conversation at halftime.
And in the second half, just to make sure this is the end of the game, we outscored them 14 to 9. So we did kind of flip that a little bit. Actually, 18 to 11 ended up being the final. So definitely much better. But I agree. I think we ought to be a team that can run, but you got to want to do it.
Whichever post doesn't get the rebound has got to take off for the rim. And the wings, once they see we've got it, have got to run the sideline. And we don't do it well enough or often enough. But yeah, definitely it was something we talked about at halftime. And they did a better job.
