LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Mauls Mocs
No. 9 NC State head coach Wes Moore, freshman forward Jada Boyd, and redshirt senior guard Grace Hunter met with the media following the Wolfpack's 74-38 win over Chattanooga Thursday evening.
NOTE: Click the respective thumbnail of each video to view each press conference.
Wes Moore
“I wasn’t particularly pleased with the way we started out again, especially coming off Sunday’s game where I didn’t think we exactly hit on all cylinders. It is a tough time. They just finished exams. Now they do a week and a half of exams here, so it is stressing and all those things. It’s good for them to get a break now. I was pleased. I thought we did better in the second half. We took care of the ball better. It was good to see Kaila Ealey get eight assists and zero turnovers. Obviously, Elissa [Cunane] was very efficient in her playing time and shots taken. The “mash unit” had a pretty good night. Kaila Ealey played well. Grace Hunter hit three threes. Erika Cassell hit a couple of threes. It was good to get everybody in there some. Hopefully, they go home happy and enjoy a break.”
“Katie [Burrows] was probably my first recruit at UT Chattanooga, then I hired her as an assistant later on. Now, she’s inherited a tough situation as far as a lot of the players have graduated, and they’re kind of starting over. She’s been upbeat and positive. I was able to pick her up and bring her over here to campus for a little while today to visit. She realizes, at that level, the conference play and conference tournament is what matters. Hopefully, she’ll keep that going. Ka’Vonne Towns, one of the assistants, played for me as well. The sports information director, radio, the assistant A.D.... I saw a lot of people that really mean a lot to me, and UTC and Chattanooga are places I’ll always love. I wish them the best.”
“We did a better job. At halftime, it really wasn’t that big of a difference between assists and turnovers. I’m definitely pleased to see us sharing the ball and hitting some shots. We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from three in the first half and seemed to do a little better in the second half. We’ve got to realize sometimes that shot’s not going to go, and we’ve got to make sure we’re working inside-out and getting Elissa or whoever’s on the block touches. We finally started hitting a few of them, but we definitely want to keep a balanced attack and not just live and die with the three. As much as I love the three, we’ve still got to make sure we keep it balanced.”
“We were able to work on the zone a little bit. We don’t normally play a ton of zone, but there may be an opportunity in an ACC game where we need to show a different look. It was good to get some work on that and get it on film. At some point when they come back, we’ll be able to look at some of the things there that we can do better. I feel like we can play better than we have in the last couple of games, but there’s also a lot to be said for being 11-0. There’s some men’s and women’s teams that have lost some games that you’re kind of taken aback by, so for us to survive that and go into conference play unblemished is what you ask for.”
“Boston College hasn’t lost a game at home. They’re playing well. We also, for the first time probably, have a bigger bullseye on our back because we’re picked second in the media polls in the preseason, so we’re going to get everybody’s A-game. Like I said, I think defensively we’ve got to do a better job guarding on the ball, basically one-on-one containment so that we don’t have to help because when you help, you give up open looks. Offensively, we want to take care of the ball. Always a priority is rebounding. We want to hold the other team to one-and-done, and we want to get ourselves some second and third looks on possessions. Those are things we’ll continue to focus on. Overall, I thought we did a pretty good job on the boards tonight, and like I said, I was very pleased with the second half as far as being efficient and taking care of the ball.”
“She was banged up too. We didn’t really have her practice a whole lot Tuesday. Everybody took Monday off, and Tuesday, we didn’t have her do a whole lot. She got beat up really bad Sunday in that Elon game. They were really physical with her. It was good to be able to limit her time a little bit. She’s playing at a high level though. I’m tough. I always want more. I think she sometimes needs to do a better job of maintaining contact and sealing and definitely meeting the pass, not falling away from it. She’s going to draw a lot of attention, so she’s got to continue to get better. Obviously, I’m really proud of what she’s doing now and how she’s playing. We had a lot of the starters playing at a high level, and I don’t know if they’ve done that the last couple of games. We’re going to have to get that back and get our mojo back when we get back from Christmas and head into conference play.”
“I definitely wanted to be able to play some people, and to be honest, I wanted to do it Sunday against Elon. That was what was so frustrating. We ended up being in a tough game and weren’t able to rotate the way we wanted to. It was nice. We’ve got some kids that can help us and play. Sometimes, especially with young players, I’m hesistant maybe because of the experience factor, but it’s good for them to get out there and get some of that game experience because I think they’re capable of helping us. There’s no such thing to me as garbage time. ‘Forget the score. We play 40 minutes, and I want us to be the best we can be for 40 minutes.’ Hopefully, they understand. I’m going to keep coaching. I expect them to keep playing. Let’s use that time as dress rehearsal or whatever you want to call it for the ACC games coming up.”