One trophy down for NC State women’s basketball and, Pack hopes, more still to come
When N.C. State seniors Kayla Jones and Elissa Cunane walked into the postgame press conference after the Wolfpack’s 95-53 win over Syracuse, they did not show up empty-handed.
Jones was carrying some hardware: The ACC regular-season championship trophy.
For the first time in 32 years, the Pack captured the regular-season crown.
Officials handed the team the trophy on the floor, and they showed it off to the fans. The team gave head coach Wes Moore a water bottle shower in the locker room, and Jones stuck around in the lobby, posing for pictures with family and friends while holding the trophy.
Moore, however, drew the line at one form of celebration: He wouldn’t cut down the nets.
“I really didn’t want to do that,” Moore said. “We hope to be able to do that later on down the road.”
N.C. State (25-3, 16-1) has one more regular-season game remaining, Sunday at Virginia Tech. If the Pack beats the Hokies, it will be the outright regular-season ACC champion.
NC State’s season checklist
Over the summer, the seniors sat with Moore at Amedeos, a Raleigh — and N.C. State — dining fixture, going over what they wanted to accomplish for the year. Jones checked with Moore to find out if a regular-season title means an extra ring. When he confirmed it would, Jones added it to the list of goals.
“We had multiple goals coming into this year,” Jones said. “We just have to stay hungry. We can’t settle. Yeah, we got one but there’s more out there.”
One of the reasons Jones came back, taking advantage of the COVID year, was to accomplish those other goals. She wants to lead the team beyond the Sweet 16, where the Pack’s season has ended in three consecutive years.
“ACC tournament, that’s the next goal,” Jones said. “That’s the (goal) we’re focused on right now. We’ll soak this one in for the day and then Tuesday we are back at it.”
Moore didn’t want the team to downplay the importance of the regular-season title. He stressed that it would mean a lot to this group to return years from now and see the regular-season banner. The group has accomplished a lot — including two ACC tournament titles — but the regular-season title eluded them.
“I think the regular-season title is really a true measurement because it’s over three months,” Moore said. “Don’t get me wrong, those two ACC tournament titles are really special. When you do it over there in Greensboro it’s pretty special, but the regular-season title, it’s over a three-month period, you have to be up every night and you have to be prepared.”
Because of how tough the league is, with the super seniors because of the COVID year, Moore added that the ACC is as tough as ever. That’s part of the reason why he wants his team to know the regular-season title is important. For that, he’s OK with being soaked after his team dumped bottles of water on him.
In their most recent games, the Pack has won by an average of 29 points. Of its 16 ACC wins, only three were single-digit wins. The rest were blowouts. The team is trending upward at the right time.
“Love the way we’re playing right now. Love the momentum we’re building,” Moore said. “A lot of people are playing really well right now. Hopefully, we can keep that going. This is the time of year you want to be peaking, so we are on the right track.”
But there’s still work to be done.
“It’s not the end of the road,” Moore said. “But it’s a good way to start stepping into March for sure.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
