NC State basketball celebrates its seniors: Kayla Jones, Kai Crutchfield leave legacy
Kai Crutchfield and Kayla Jones met as eighth graders, playing on opposite AAU teams.
A year later they were teammates, members of the Carolina Flames club basketball team. As sophomores — Crutchfield first, Jones a few weeks later — they committed to N.C. State. The duo has been joined at the hip for years.
Sunday, Crutchfield and Jones will walk onto the Reynolds Coliseum floor one last time together during the regular season of their Wolfpack careers. Before N.C. State (24-3, 15-1) takes on Syracuse (11-14, 4-11), the school will honor its seniors. Elissa Cunane and Raina Perez will join Crutchfield and Jones in the Senior Day festivities. Cunane’s been in Raleigh for four years. Perez has spent the past two playing at N.C. State after transferring from Cal-State Fullerton.
Because of COVID, Crutchfield and Jones got an extra year of eligibility, and though the school celebrated the day, it was anticlimactic: Crutchfield already knew she was coming back, and while Jones was undecided — admittedly stressed out about the decision — a knee injury in the NCAA tournament helped make the decision for her.
Neither player showed much emotion in 2021.
But this time? It’s for real.
“This year I’m going to embrace the moment,” Jones said. “And have fun with my teammates.”
“I already told the girls I might cry,” Jones added. “I might cry this year because I know this is really it.”
NC State senior superlatives
Cunane has all the accolades. Perez will forever be remembered for hitting the game-winning shot in the ACC Tournament title game last year. When it’s all said and done, though, Jones and Crutchfield, the only members of the class of 2017, will go down as the best ever.
The numbers back it up.
With two regular-season games remaining Crutchfield and Jones have a record of 128-25, an 87% winning percentage. Those are both the most wins and highest winning percentage in school history. They went 64-16 in the ACC and 71-9 at home. Again, program standards.
Jones played in 130 games and started 79. Crutchfield played in a program-high 143 games and started 101. The team has gone 69-7 when they both start.
“Just knowing that we accomplished that together,” Crutchfield said. “It just makes everything much more special.”
Growing together
Crutchfield and Jones weren’t thrust into the spotlight right away at N.C. State.
Jones didn’t start a game until her junior season; Crutchfield had an injury. Those early years were hard.
“It’s crazy looking at it now,” Jones said. “I wanted to quit my freshman year. I called my mom and told her I wanted to get out of here.”
They stuck it out, and both players have an important role on the team. Head coach Wes Moore has constantly talked about how much Jones means to the squad. Last year’s NCAA tournament loss to Indiana, probably doesn’t happen if Jones is on the floor. Jones can score, crash the boards, handle the ball and get everyone on the same page.
There are other players who get more attention, but not one who is considered more important.
“Her first year or two, she didn’t play as much as she would have liked,” Moore said. “The last three years she’s been the glue. You just trust her. As a coach that’s the biggest thing. When you put somebody out there and you can trust them. Most of the time K.J. does that.”
Crutchfield earned the nickname “Clutch-field” with her timely big shots throughout her career. Her calling card, though, has been on the other end of the floor.
“She is our defensive stopper and she knows it now,” Jones said about Crutchfield. “She has embraced that.”
When they first met as eighth graders, Jones said she looked up to Crutchfield. When that message was relayed to Crutchfield, she was literally speechless. Crutchfield, though, has had her moments of admiration for Jones, who is the older of the two.
“Seeing her grow into a woman, having that 21st birthday, like, you’re a woman, woman now,” Crutchfield said. “Just seeing her grow through her faith and her family, that’s not something you think about. Like, yo, we were really kids.”
Building a legacy
Part of the reason they both returned was to end their careers the right way. They’ve been part of two ACC tournament title teams.
With a win on Sunday, they’ll be on the first N.C. State team in 32 years to win a regular-season title. There are bigger goals in March, but that regular-season title is important.
“To leave out on that note would be huge,” Jones said. “I remember asking Coach Moore if we get a ring for that too? He said yes, I said why not (go for it). It’s been a goal.”
The two haven’t taken many moments this season to reflect. According to Jones, they only had one brief conversation about it. Thursday night, Crutchfield mentioned to Jones how cool it would be to leave Raleigh with five rings. That fifth ring would be a national championship.
That was a huge part of returning for the extra year.
“They want to write that last chapter and it be different,” Moore said.
The last chapter of their journey together at N.C. State started last spring when they pledged the same sorority. It’ll conclude in Reynolds on Sunday, with them standing shoulder to shoulder before the national anthem, like they’ve done since freshman year.
“That’s my sister,” Jones said. “Just to see where we came from, playing travel ball together and doing this, we’ve put some banners up, hopefully more. The sky’s the limit.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 6:40 AM.
