NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media to discuss the 82-69 win over Syracuse.
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full press conference!
Opening statement...
Real proud of our kids, the way we came out to start the game. Obviously, we had a tough game Thursday night on the road, a physical game. And they were off; they had a bye. I was concerned about our energy and stamina holding up, but our kids did a great job. In the second half, we got a little loose with the ball, turned it over a little too much, and gave up some offensive rebounds.
So Coach Nikki said it was because I was too positive at halftime. And I told her, well, good, we're safe then, because that's like a total eclipse. It only happens about every ten years or so, so it won't happen again, I guess. But now again, great effort and still a lot of things we can clean up and learn from, but glad we're learning from a win. So it's gonna be good to be able to give them a day off and catch our breath.
Speaking of learning from a win, and obviously, Syracuse had cut the lead down to single digits. In previous games, this team has struggled to respond, but you rebuilt the lead. How important do you think it was for the team's confidence to do that today?
Yeah, I'd rather not have gone through it. But if you have to go through it, I'm glad we pulled out on the other side. But yeah, I mean, this team, as I said, we're still learning, and we're running out of time, though. But this was a big game, obviously. They were technically ahead of us in the standings and for the double by and all that.
This doesn't guarantee you anything. You still have two games left and have to go out and earn those. And as we saw today in the conference, anything can happen, anybody can beat anybody.
And so we're gonna have to make sure we stay focused here. But there's a lot on the line, and you're coming off a couple of tough road losses. We had three straight road games, plus a bye in there early.
So we haven't played at home in 17 days. And so I'm glad we're finally able to get back in here. And as I said, hopefully we get a little momentum going. But appreciate our fans, again, as always, they're a great home court advantage for us.
Wes, you had 18 and 16 assists today; you had 13 in the last two games combined. How much of a point of emphasis was moving the ball and playing as an entire team rather than just one?
Yeah, I mean, that's what I told him at halftime. Again, I shouldn't have, I guess, but we had five assists Thursday night. We had nine at halftime. As I said, I'm a little disappointed that we ended up with that many turnovers. But we did share the ball much better, penetrate, kick, swung it, and made the extra pass.
And definitely, it was something we've been trying to emphasize and get back to doing because we have had moments where we've done it. So we just gotta be more consistent with it.
But yeah, it's a good start. And again, I think we've got unselfish kids. They don't mind sharing it. It's just sometimes you get a little bit too wired up and have blinders on and get out of control. And we just gotta make sure we see the whole floor and make that extra pass.
Coach, speaking of focus in the last five minutes of the game with all the stoppages going on, what do you tell your players in those timeouts just to keep them locked in?
Yeah, again, we had lapses. I told our staff when we got downstairs after the game, when we clipped this, I just wanted to do slippage. Times when we lost focus, times when we just relaxed. You just can't do it. I mean, it's these games, most of them are gonna come down to the wire, and you can't afford to give away a bucket or a possession.
And so you just try to get their focus there and maybe whatever you're trying to accomplish. We had this side bounce with only two seconds left to get it across half court and things like that. You just try to make sure everybody knows what we're doing.
And it's tougher than you think, okay? You would think you're in a huddle, you show it on a board. Okay, we're gonna go out there, and it's gonna be easy, right? Not always. So again, we're still a work in progress in that area. But yeah, just try to make sure you cover as many bases as you can.
The team had some problems rebounding on Thursday, and tonight you come out and win the rebounding battle.
There again, the first half was unbelievable, y'all. I mean, again, when I look at this time of year, I'm looking at stats from just conference games. All right, they're number one in offensive rebounding, okay? At halftime, they had gone and got, I don't count dead balls, they had gone and got one offensive rebound at halftime.
Unfortunately, they went and got ten in the second half, which is where I should have stretched it a little more. Their coach does a great job of demanding rebounding. And I knew at halftime, she was probably making the paint peel off the wall down there when she saw one offensive rebound. And sure enough, they came out and made it tough.
And we just, we gotta rip it. We gotta get all five players involved on defensive boards. But at the same time, at some point, you gotta rip the ball, grit your teeth, and have an attitude about it, instead of sometimes being a little too soft.
On Izoje coming in...
Yeah, I mean, she's probably older than me. She played in Japan for a couple of years, I think. I mean, she ain't no freshman, age-wise, she's not a freshman. But she is, I guess, classification. She is unbelievable. And yes, she leads the conference in blocked shots. She's one of the top rebounders.
I mean, today, hard to stop her. You gotta try to keep the ball out of her hands as best you can. That's why we switched and put Khamil on her, to try to deny her the ball. Because once she gets it, there ain't no stopping us now, okay? I mean, she's tough, a great player. And again, a big challenge. Just gotta keep working and try to figure out a way. But yeah, she's tough.
Khamil's had three 20-point games in the last four. What's it like to see her rise to the challenge and step up?
Yeah, again, we felt like they were playing zone a lot. But we still felt like we wanted to get the ball inside. And I thought she did a great job of, they all did, trying to find gaps and that sort of thing. We wanted our guards to get downhill and force the zone to shift. And then that's when we were able to get dishes and drop passes off to them.
But yeah, I mean, Khamil's an unbelievably talented player. I mean, whether it's scoring block around the rim, whatever, or whether it's on the boards. And as I said, we ended up putting her on 44. Tried to slow her down a little bit, but I agree. She's, as far as I'm concerned, she's definitely the freshman of the year. Talking about, how do you say it? Izoje?
Izoje?
Izoje? Yeah, don't quote that. Yeah, too late.
Zam Jones, at the three-minute mark, I think there was a shot clock violation. And it looked like, and I'm looking, she looked like she said, give me the ball. And then the next two possessions, she took it, got layups, kind of helped you kill it.
I don't know.
I didn't see it. But she was assertive one way or the other. She was assertive at the end. Is that kind of the level of focus, the level of intensity you want?
Well, I'll be honest with you, I'm talking more about defensively and things like that,t and handling the ball, taking care of the ball. Yeah, I mean, Z's a competitor. And we did, as I said, we felt like we wanted her and Zoe trying to get in the gaps of the zone.
We felt like that was the best way for us to attack it. And I thought her and Zoe did a pretty good job of doing that, getting deep in there, and either get their own shot or, as I said, drop off a pass to the post. But yeah, I mean, again, she wants the ball, no doubt about that. She's not gonna shy away from it, and you like having players like that, definitely.
