Moore, Wolfpack Women Eager For Tonight's Opportunity

The No. 8 NC State women’s basketball team is no stranger to big games. Under head coach Wes Moore, the Wolfpack has played in two Sweet 16 games, won an ACC Tournament championship, and played multiple AP top-10 teams.

But perhaps the biggest game of the Wes Moore era lies on the horizon: a date with No. 1 South Carolina on Thursday night down in Columbia at Colonial Life Arena.

Now, it’s not often that a regular-season matchup (a nonconference one, at that) can be bigger than an ACC Tournament championship game or NCAA Tournament regional semifinal.

That sentiment isn’t lost on Moore, who tends to downplay the pomp and circumstances of big games but is fully aware of the national impact Thursday brings.

“I appreciate that outlook,” Moore said. “That’s what I’m trying to sell, too. It’s a great opportunity … it’s a big challenge for us, but it’s also an opportunity.”

Things are different with Thursday’s game, though. It’s a chance for the Wolfpack to pick up its first win over an AP No. 1 team since a 2007 win over Duke in the ACC Tournament. 

Although last year’s ACC Tournament championship garnered the Wolfpack significant headlines and attention, that publicity was blunted by a few things. First, NC State didn’t take down top-5 Louisville; it beat No. 22 Florida State. The Wolfpack lacked the “David vs. Goliath” factor in its win. Second, the hype of the Wolfpack’s win was never able to fully take shape. Less than a week later, COVID-19 shut down not just women’s basketball, but college and professional sports all over the world.

COVID-19 quickly became the most dominant topic sports has ever seen, and NC State’s national hype from winning the ACC didn’t even last a full week-long news cycle. And in the 2020-21 preseason, Louisville was both ranked ahead of NC State in the AP Top 25 and picked ahead of the Pack to win the ACC.

Once again, NC State was overshadowed by Louisville, and its program-defining ACC Tournament championship in March became an afterthought within the national media.

That’s been the issue all along. There’s an upper echelon of NCAA women’s basketball programs right now, and it’s a grouping that outside of Raleigh, most women’s basketball media and fans don’t consider NC State a part of.

Now, despite COVID-19 still raging across the country, the Wolfpack will have its chance to cement its spot in that upper echelon of women’s college basketball. Knocking off top-ranked South Carolina would be the story in women’s basketball.

“South Carolina and maybe one or two other schools are probably considered the elite right now,” Moore said. “You’d love to be able to break into that.”

There’s also a large piece of conference supremacy on the line, as well. Thursday night isn’t just No. 1 vs. No. 8. It’s the reigning SEC champion against the reigning ACC champion. The best of the best of the two conferences that battle it out every year for recognition as the best conference in women’s basketball.

“We’re not only representing NC State, which is always first and foremost,” Moore said. “But we’re representing the ACC. We’ve battled with the SEC on several occasions in the last several years to be considered the top conference in the country based on RPI.”

There’s no shortage of NC State media and fans that recognize the women’s basketball program’s stature. None of the players, coaches, fans, or writers would be even a little bit shocked if the Wolfpack was to pull off the program-defining upset.

The national media and women’s basketball fans, though? Yeah, they’d be a little surprised.

But when that final buzzer sounds Thursday night right around 9:30 p.m. EST, if the Wolfpack has knocked off No. 1 South Carolina, the NC State women’s basketball team will finally have the permanent attention of women’s basketball fans and media across the country that it’s long deserved.