NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media to discuss the 65-56 win against Wake Forest.
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full press conference!
Opening statement...
Again, it was not the prettiest thing in the world. I think some people have been waiting to hear it. It's an ugly baby, but it's our baby, okay? So go ahead, I'll throw that out there. I don't think I've used it all year. But, they're tough to play against.
The stuff they run offensively, the movement, and the back picks, and back doors, and curls, and fades. I mean, it's tough to guard. I thought we did a much better job this time than we did before. I know the last time we played them, they scored 33 points in the first quarter.
So tonight, a much better job. I thought rebounding was a big key to this game. Offensive boards, we went and got 15, and they went and got 2. And we outscored them 22-2 second chance points. So, obviously, even though it wasn't always pretty, we did what we had to do to get it done.
Proud of this team. It's been a little up and down, choppy, but to have a chance to someday close it out and be one of the top four and get a double bye in the ACC is not easy. So, again, proud of them for that.
Coach, your last home game of the season, I was just kind of wondering, like you said, the season's been a little choppy, a little up and down. What's it like being able to coach here, where you know just about every game you're going to have 5,500 fans?
As I said, it's great. I said it out there, playing in this small gym, and yet to finish, I think we're third in ACC in attendance. It's pretty impressive. And, again, we sell out about every game.
Our fans, obviously, are unbelievably loyal and make it a great atmosphere for our players. And, last year, obviously, we went 18-0 here. This year, we dropped a few, but still, for the most part, as I said, it's a big home court advantage.
I think going into this season, since they renovated the arena, we were 135 and 15 at home. So, pretty good rate. I think that's about 90%. So, pretty impressive. And the fans have a lot to do with that.
Zoe's role was always going to be bigger this year, but how have you kind of seen her adapt and evolve as a player?
Yeah, I think she's come a long way throughout the season. I think the first of the year, she was frustrated as we all were. I think she had a bigger role, but didn't have the veteran experience around her to help her out much. She's still just a junior.
I mean, it's not like she's been here four years. So, when you went into the season early, she'd only been here two years. And I think now, as we progress, I think she's played much better. I think she's enjoyed it a lot more. I think our whole team's enjoying it more than we did early in the year.
Obviously, we dropped a few, and we're spoiled. I mean, here we are, what, 13 and 4? Is that 13? No, it must be 12 and 5, maybe, in the conference. 12 and 5 in the conference. A lot of people would give anything to be 12 and 5 in this league, and so even though it's not quite as good, it's still a great accomplishment, and I'm proud of her for that, and obviously Zoe's been a big part of it and her leadership.
Wes, Wake Forest, the optics may not be great, but they really are fundamentally sound. They do a lot of the cuts, and I was at the value of playing a team like that. Can that make y'all better down in, because, I mean, they, like, with the assist, 18, I think, is that a 22? I mean, they're just really efficient.
Yeah. Recently, against Boston College, they had 24 assists on 28 buckets, so it's very hard to guard, and basically, they're playing a donut offense with nothing in the middle, and then they do slide in there and post you up, and we had a hard time with that. They're going to pick on the smallest, and the best matchup out there, and I thought the first half, we let them do that, and they took advantage of us.
I thought the second half, we did a much better job getting in front of them, making them have to try lobs, which they got a couple, but they also turned it over several times. They threw a few out-of-bounds on the baseline. They threw a few that the weak side help was there, so, again, a much better job in the second half.
Well, you know what? In the second half, they scored 24 points. Okay? I mean, again, a team that normally, offensively, they click. I mean, they lost in triple overtime to Virginia, but it was 100 and something to whatever. I mean, it's a team that can put up points, so that's what I was worried about the whole game, is at some point, if they get hot and get rolling, they can score in bunches, but we were able to be pretty consistent, and, again, I take 56 points.
I do think we, we had trouble against the zone some, and so we got to look at that, but, first half, I didn't think we hit shots particularly, but second half was a little better, it seemed like, so again, but what it's worth right now, every game is big, and you just got to prepare one at a time, and that's what I told them in there. We've got one more game to go.
We got to take care of business on the road, and then we just might as well erase the slate. We start over. We go to the conference tournament, and everybody's equal. You've got to win, hopefully. If we can maintain our position, you've got to win three games, and then we leave there, we'll wipe it again, and get ready for the NCAAs and start a new one, but again, yeah, hopefully we can draw something from it. We need to take better care of the ball. I can draw that from it.
Well, I mean, Wake Forest is a team, obviously, and as you mentioned, the scores of the games were close. They're not far away in terms of having a winning record overall, and then in your case, you mentioned the 12-5. If you win this game at Pitt, you'd have the same record in the ACC you had two years ago when you went to the Final Four. So does this speak...
So you're saying there's a chance.
Well, I'm saying that's what it is.
I'm glad you pointed that out. I'm trying to, a few times, draw some analogies that, that year we went to Final Four, we lost two games late in February. I'm thinking February 22nd and 25th, and the sky was falling. I'm going to lunch, and people are coming up. Are you going to be able to fix this mess? And things like that.
And so, it's, we lost a couple of road games against really good teams. And now we've got to get back on track, and these two wins at home help. But yeah, I mean, it's a new season, and look what our men did a couple of years ago. Get hot at the right time.
I'm sorry, do you think people are giving the ACC credit as far as how good they are?
The ACC?
Yes, sir.
We lost some games early, and I think they're still holding it against us, and I get it. I look at it, we beat Tennessee on a neutral court, we lost at Oklahoma in overtime, so that was our two SEC games.
The SEC's great conference, but I still think we need to probably be getting a little more recognition, and we saw what happened in football. Who saw that coming?
So, again, I think there are four great power conferences, and there are great teams in all four of them, and I don't think you should sell any of them short.
It's been a really long time since the ACC tournament has been outside of North Carolina. Is there anything specific that you're maybe looking to do in terms of, like, perhaps some of your routines that might change going into next week?
Not a whole lot. Obviously, we're flying instead of busing, and, you know, we're going down probably a little bit hair earlier than we normally would, but, it doesn't change a lot, and, we had a stretch there where we won three straight ACC tournaments, so I think we have an idea of how the routine and how we want to handle things, and so we'll just keep doing what we've done, and hopefully that's good enough.
It's going to be tough. I mean, I always say, if we do hold on to the four spot, okay, you're going to play a team the very first game that finished fifth, and that's already played a tournament game and kind of got the jitters and the newness, and they played a game on that court. We'll get a probably 30-40 minute period on that court, and that's it. That other team's played a game on it.
Now, again, I do think if your goal is to win the tournament, having a bye, a double bye is a big deal, but that first game you come out and play, you're going to have to try to figure that out in a hurry.
Wes, I wanted to ask you a non-game question. I'm doing a story. It's the 30th year that Debbie Antonelli and Beth Mowins have been calling games together.
Really? Dang, they're that old?
So I wanted to ask, Debbie being a state grad and all, and being around here.
Yeah, we're proud of Debbie. She's one of the premier announcers, and I'm telling you, she worked harder than anybody I know. She's doing all these games. She's doing speaking engagements. She has a fundraiser that's really big.
So she got irons in a lot of fires. I don't know how she does it, and she'll swing by here and come to a practice or shoot around, and she just, she's hardworking and obviously does a great job announcing and analyzing.
She does her homework. She knows going into a game what she wants to talk about and cover. So that's great for both of them. That's a heck of an accomplishment for them to spend 30 years together. Post-couples came.
I don't know if you've paid attention at all to some of the mid-majors and stuff, but one of your former assistants, Lindsay Edmonds at Rice, had 20 games in a row.
Yeah.
What do you think of her as a coach?
I'm really proud of Lindsey. She was great when I got the job here. She was one of the people, obviously. I brought Nikki with me from Chattanooga, but I hired Gene Hill, who's now the head coach at Georgia State, and I hired Lindsay.
And man, they were what helped us get this thing rolling. Lindsay's a great recruiter, great coach. I don't know how she does it. She's got three little girls. Obviously, her husband Ulrich is a big help, but still, Wonder Woman, how do you do that? But yeah, Rice, great academic institution. They've had some good women's teams, but it's not easy. And she's been able to do something really special this year, and proud and happy for her.
