NC State head coach Wes Moore met with Wolfpack Sports Network to discuss the 82-62 win at Virginia Tech.
First of all, congratulations You were down 7 late in the first quarter and then all of a sudden up 17 at halftime Looked like you kind of flipped the switch there. What in your mind changed during that key stretch?
Well, I thought offensively, I thought early we were settling. We were taking some tough shots, fadeaways, threes, with deep threes with people out on us. And so I thought you did a great job of turning that around, being more aggressive, getting downhill off the bounce and stuff. And then they just did an unbelievable job on the scout.
We have so much respect for this team that we just played, and Winzel and Baker, they were the main focus on the scout, trying to slow them down and take threes away from them. We didn't quite keep Freelon off the boards like we wanted, but again, I just, I thought we executed really well. Zoe. What a game Zoe had. It. She came over to me late in the game. Yeah, I don't say I don't play defense. I said, no, you've blown it now, because now you prove that you can play. We'll expect this every night.
So again, but it was a great team effort. I thought everybody that went in there did a nice job, and and like I said, on the road here is it's been tough. We've had some tough games up here. So excited to get the W.
Yeah, coach,your bench, I thought Quigley came in and knocked down a three early and got in there and mixed it up and got some rebounds. She had been struggling from the field. Talk about your bench, and along with a Maddie Cox. Getting the offensive foul, but came in and did well.
Yeah, and Destiny, “Ky’She,” Maddie Cox just is so solid. She knows the scout, she talks, she, recognizes things. And so it's just good,to have her out there on the court like a coach on the court. Some thought Kashi in the first half gave us a big lift when she went in there, and then Devyn, think about Devyn too. She, she can't get to the rim some. She can rebound, and she went and got, four boards. I had three boards, I guess, for us there, which were big, because again, we did get out rebounded today. That is probably one area I would say we're a little disappointed in but again, they've got some great rebounders and we were able to overcome it.
Yeah, speaking of great rebounding, we don't always talk about Khamil Pierre postgame because it seems like every game she's getting a double-double, her 16th of the year, but the 25 points and 12 rebounds. That's great. But especially, you were able to establish her early when Virginia Tech was was on early, kind of keeping you in the game. Just what can you say about her play today?
Yeah, I mean Khamil is a special talent. She can score the ball, she can rebound, she can defend. We were concerned coming in because we had her guarding Baker, and what's tough is you want Khamil going to the offensive boards, and then now you're expecting her to get back and contest the three on Baker, a great three-point shooter. But she did a pretty good job and I think showed much improvement from earlier in the year when we faced a similar situation. So, yeah, I think I think our bench came in, even though they maybe didn't score a lot. I thought our bench was very solid, and we didn't really miss a beat defensively, and that's what we had to have.
You said the bus ride back is gonna be a good one after a 20-point win. It’s Super Bowl Sunday — what do you think?
I still think the Cowboys can win it. I, yeah, you know, again, growing up Dallas, I'm diehard, so I don't, I don't back off of it. But no, I don't know. It's a good question. I kind of hate that the Rams got beat. Matthew Stafford is from Dallas, and I'd like to seen them play in it. I hate it for Denver. You lose your quarterback right before the Super Bowl. But I don't know, it'll be it'll be interesting to watch. And like I said, the bus ride home, dog in the fight, I told the team, hey, party bus, okay. It makes that, we're at Virginia, we were able to get a W, and then today up here at Virginia Tech. These are the two longest bus rides. So I appreciate our players making it a lot more bearable.
Well, a 20-point win. We started our broadcast by saying, hey, Super Bowl is not the only big game today. This is a big win for your team. Yes, and you really can't do much better. It's just any win on the road, but a 20-point win to start this, what we talked about in pre-coach, really tough stretch. It takes these kind of efforts on the road, doesn't it?
It does, and we needed this one. We needed to get the first one at a time. Now we go to Notre Dame. Both of us have a bye on Thursday, so both of us will have a little extra time to rest and prepare and all that. So that's going to be another big game up at, South Bend. That's always a tough place as well.
But like I said, I'm really proud of our team. They, we've come a long way. And again, I know we all have high expectations. Y'all, we have finished in the top ten six out of the last seven years. We, we all feel the pain, okay. But this team is coming together and playing better and and a little more focused. So I, I like where we're at.
Well, this win today goes a long way towards keeping your place in in the top four and a double bye, and congratulations on the win, Coach. Yeah, we'll let you go celebrate on the party bus and enjoy a nice cold Coca-Cola.
Yeah. These teams that are bunched together here, Virginia Tech included, and all those, these games are so critical because you only play them once. And you don't want to have the tiebreaker going away from you too much. So, but thanks, guys, again. Awesome. I said I'm proud of our team, and and hopefully we keep growing.
