NC State head coach Wes Moore met with the media today to discuss the Wolfpack earning a No. 7 seed and facing No. 10 seed Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament.
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Coach, if you just want to start out by talking about first reactions to the seeding and NCAA tournament.
Yeah, I felt like we would be a seven seed in spite of what Charlie Green felt like. But at the same time, we got a tough draw. And obviously, Tennessee's super talented, super athletic. And it'd be a big challenge for us, obviously, facing the press, facing their length and athleticism. It'll be, great matchup and a big challenge.
Hey, Wes, I don't know how much you've been able to watch Tennessee so quickly. Obviously, just finding out, but they struggled down the stretch. Just your thoughts on what you saw from them, maybe from the first time around to their recent play.
Yeah, I'll be honest. I hadn't watched them a lot during the year. And obviously, we didn't find out till last night. So, I've clipped the game. And then obviously, we've got our clips from last time we played them. And then I've got two assistants that are clipping games. So we're still in the process of putting it together.
But, I think we both have been through, some bumpy times, a little bit up and down. But again, you can just buy the eye test. They're very super athletic. And like I said, they play a little different. You're going to see a press the whole game. And, they still do quite a bit of substituting, wholesale substituting, things like that.
But, they spread you out. A lot of five-out stuff offensively spread you out and get downhill with the athletes they have and quickness they have. And, you got to do a heck of a job defensively. And we're going to have to, play really, really hard and with a lot of urgency against their length and athleticism.
And just to follow up with your team specifically, when you're playing at your best, what are some factors or metrics that you think stand out? What are some traits that you really notice when you're at your best as a team?
Very simple. Offensively, we need to share the ball. Defensively, we need to play really, really hard. And we need to rebound. We just need to buy in, buy in to doing the little things. This time of year, you're going to play somebody really good. And if you don't do the little things, if you haven't developed those habits through the year, then you're going to be exposed. And, like I said, we've had a bumpy ride ourselves.
And, for a lot of people, finishing top four in the ACC and winning 20 games would be a great year. But we've had a lot higher expectations and standards here. And to be quite honest, we hadn't quite lived up to that. So we have, another chance here to go out and make some noise and see what we can do. Hopefully, we can, like I said, play with some urgency. It's win or go home now. So you got to bring it.
Wes, what's the sort of attitude, mindset been since you guys got back from Georgia?
Yeah, it's, like I said, just disappointed in our performance in Georgia. Again, that's the trouble with getting a double bye. Your first game out is going to be against somebody really good. And, Notre Dame took it to us. But just hadn't liked the way we responded to, in some of those situations where people have come out with some toughness.
And, just like I said, it's that time of year you got to play hard.And we need to not only playing hard on game day, you need to prepare. And so preparation needs to be really off the charts as well. Your focus, like I said earlier, your willingness to buy in and do the little things. So it's, this is it. This is the, this is the peak, the highest level. And you've got to, like I said, prepare for a great team. And then you have to go out and execute.
I know you're focused on Tennessee, but I don't know if you've seen or have any thoughts on the other two schools. I know Michigan seems to be extremely good.
They are. I'll be honest. Really, the only time I've seen them pretty much was I did back when it when it was on TV. I did watch Michigan and Connecticut play. And Michigan had a shot at winning that game. I mean, it was Connecticut jumped out early, had a good lead, and then Michigan kept chipping away. So, yeah, they're playing really well. They, too, like to press. They've got a lot of kids that can really shoot the ball well.
So they're, I've been impressed with them. This is definitely the best team they've had up there in a while. But again, I haven't looked at film on them yet. I have two, a couple of coaches working on them right now. And we just met and they were able to tell me the, we prepare this week for practice, making sure we cover bases and things. But, right now our focus is on Tennessee. And we got we got a full plate ahead of us.
Hey, Coach. I know we still have obviously a ways to go in the season, but.
Well, hopefully, hopefully longer than that.
Hopefully a longer.
Thanks for your vote of confidence.
Yeah. Yeah. A long ways to go. But who do you maybe one player that has stood out to you kind of on the team this year? And maybe one player that surprised you this year so far?
Yeah. I don't know. Again, I'm sorry, but it is not about one player with us.We have to all play well. And, that's part of our been part of our struggles. You got to have everybody locked in and body in. And this time of year, it's not about one player or two players. I get it at some places where they've got one superstar that they run everything through. Maybe.
But, in our case, I just think it's like I said, we got we got to play hard. Defensively, we got to play hard offensively. We got to share them all. But we got to also run. I mean, that's hard. When I went back and looked at the Notre Dame game, I felt like we walked them all up the court all day. We just can't do that. I mean, we we've got to push tempo.
We got to get out and defend and look to make plays. And we got to end possessions on on one shot instead of giving them second and third chances. So, again, we've got we've got talented players, obviously. But right now it's about the team.
So I guess as a follow up, those things I'm sure you were talking about that you saw, you've probably seen those things before during the season. How do you how do you at this kind of advanced point in the season, do you make changes to your approach or how do you try to find a way to get through to the players again to make those changes?
Yeah, I probably have not done a great job of holding everybody accountable. And so, just trying to even though it's late in the year, in practice, trying to, demand a little more energy, a little more intensity, a little more urgency. Again, just, taking things seriously, buying in to what we're trying to do and locking in.
This team, hasn't always bought in to the scout and knowing what we're doing and, setting picks and boxing out things that are maybe not glorious, but that you have to do to be successful. So just trying right now best I can hold them a little bit more accountable in practice to developing those habits.
Sorry, he was not staying out of the frame. Coach, just first time or second time in the last five or six years you guys haven't hosted the first, second round. Have you ever been up to Ann Arbor and kind of what's the travel plan having to adjust for that obviously after getting back from Georgia?
Yeah, we don't have any control over the travel plans. So NCAA this year saying we don't really even have any input. They'll tell us when our flight is on Wednesday and we'll show up. So only thing good about that is I can't screw it up. I can't second guess myself. I can't worry about what time we leave whenever. It's all about the NCAA. So good. It takes that off my plate and, again, rather be at home obviously, but we've made this bed and, we need to realize, my second year here when I was an assistant for Coach Yow, we went on the road and won two and went to the Sweet 16.
And here we've, I remember one of my first teams to go. We played at Texas and felt like we had that game and slipped away at the end. But yeah, if you play well, it doesn't matter. But, obviously we miss playing at home and with our fans and the great environment that we have. But, we've played some good games on the road this year, so we know we're capable of doing it.
I have two. First of all, to that point, you've played some great games on the road. Can you use the, and even some of them were close, Oklahoma and all that. Can you use that for this experience you're about to have up in Ann Arbor?
Yeah, I told our team we, we were one possession away versus three of these teams that are hosting. A couple of overtime games and then a two-point loss. So we've been right there. We've played with some of the best teams in the country. Again, I thought Virginia Tech on the road might have been maybe one of the best games we've played all year. At Miami, we played well.
We've had some good games on the road. Oklahoma, obviously, we lost out there in overtime, as you mentioned. So, yeah, I mean, again, it's just going to require, like I said, a lot of toughness, a lot of urgency, a lot of locked in and focus. So when you're on the road, you got to have those things.
A follow-up, sir. It's quite rare to have a team with no seniors. And you mentioned the standards and things like that this season. Have there been times this year where, they were close and you kind of had to look at it through the prism of they're younger than what a normal team would be and maybe have to adjust a little bit of yours? Or is it just strictly this is the standard, this is what we do and this is what we got to be?
Yeah, maybe I overscheduled us early. We played one of the toughest schedules in the country, non-conference-wise, according to the NET and things like that. A lot of the teams we played are playing in the tournament this weekend. So maybe I overdid that, taking into consideration who we lost, who graduated, basically three pros. But other than that, no, I think the preparation and coaching and I will say, I met with some of the players individually in the last week or so.
And, every one of them just about has said what a good job Zoe has done in the locker room and, trying to say the right things and keep everybody on the same page or whatever. So I think Zoe's done a lot. And, again, it's just been tough from that standpoint. We haven't quite been the same focus and all. But I'm not going to use youth as an excuse. I mean, these kids are, high-level players and have shown that they can compete at this level. But what we have to do is do it on a consistent basis.
Yeah, Wes, I wanted to ask you about Tilda. In the game against Notre Dame, it looks like she didn't get a shot up. And I was looking at your last three losses, only nine total shots. How much of that was on her? How much of that maybe needs to be more of a focal point from your guards to try and get her touches?
Yeah. Yeah, I think it's combination. She has to really work hard for a seal. She needs to get on the offensive boards and try to get some opportunities there as well. It has been tough. I think her and Khamil both, look to go inside. But I do agree. I think our guards, like I said, we got to share the ball. And I think sometimes our guards get tunnel vision.
And again, we want them to attack and test the D, but we want them to do that when it's one-on-one or there's maybe a gap in the D. We can't do it when there's three people sitting in the lane building a wall. You got to at that point kick it out, bounce it out, whatever you got to do, swing the ball. I'd like to see us reverse the ball more, make the defense guard sideline to sideline and all those reversals hopefully get the ball inside some. Because Tilda and Khamil are basically two of our leaders in field goal percentage. So obviously you want to play the odds and get them touches.
