Looking to advance to Final Four for 2nd time, NC State will have to take down UConn
One year, during Wes Moore’s time at UT-Chattanooga — where he was the head coach from 1998-2013 — while his players had a few days off for fall break, Moore took a field trip with the idea of helping his team get better.
Moore got on a plane and headed to Storrs, Connecticut. He wanted to learn from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.
Auriemma, who has been the Huskies’ coach since 1985, remembers the visit from Moore, whom he first met when Moore was an assistant at N.C. State.
“He was at UT-Chattanooga, he came up to practice for a couple days up in Storrs and we hung out for two or three days,” Auriemma recalled.
Moore joked that he doubts he was “sharing much” information with Auriemma.
“I came up there to learn,” Moore said. “He was gracious enough and we sat down and visited. We played golf together one time, just chances like that to talk to somebody with his experience and amount of success, that’s a special opportunity.”
A special opportunity awaits N.C. State (32-3) on Monday. The Pack will take on the Huskies (28-5), with a trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance.
N.C. State hasn’t played UConn since 2007. The last time the Pack beat the Huskies was 1998, a win that propelled N.C. State to its only other Final Four. Even during their brief meeting while Moore was at Chattanooga, Auriemma knew Moore was going places.
“It was just a matter of time until — hopefully a matter of time until he got an opportunity such as the one at State and, obviously, he’s taken advantage of that opportunity,” Auriemma said. “He’s a terrific coach. He’s a terrific guy. He was doing all these things at Chattanooga, just not as many people notice when you’re doing it at that level versus doing it at a place like State that had so much tradition and so much success over the course of their history.”
Geno’s accomplishments
Auriemma knows a thing or two about success. His overall record is 1,147-149 (.885%).
The 68-year-old coach has taken the Huskies to a record 13 consecutive Final Fours, 21 in all. He’s won 11 national titles. Six times, UConn has gone undefeated. Auriemma has been named Naismith Coach of the Year eight times and is in two Halls of Fame — the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, both honors coming in 2006.
Auriemma was the fastest coach to win 1,000 games, and he was the first coach in the sport to lead a team to five straight Final Fours. He’s done it twice.
“I think sometimes it’s been so long, not that I’m saying he’s old or anything, but he’s been here so long you lose sight of the fact that he built this program,” Moore said. “Before that I don’t know that women’s basketball at UConn was on the map. He’s built something special, and the rest of us are trying to get there.”
UConn makes it look easy. The Huskies have won 13 straight Elite Eight games and are the winningest team in the NCAA tournament with a 128-21 record.
State playing catch-up
By comparison, the Wolfpack’s trip to the 1998 Final Four was the program’s only one.
N.C. State won that game by eight in Dayton, Ohio.
Moore, who took over in 2013, has the program on the rise once again. The Wolfpack has won three straight ACC tournament championships, and this season the team reached its fourth straight Sweet 16. The Pack finally got over that hump, defeating Notre Dame, 66-63, on Saturday to reach the Elite Eight for the second time.
The program has appeared in the NCAA tournament 30 times, just three behind UConn, but way behind when it comes to Final Four trips and titles.
Moore has won 222 games at N.C. State. He was an assistant under the legendary Kay Yow and being in the state of Tennessee, built a relationship with former University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt.
Moore is 367 wins behind Auriemma, but a win Monday would be a good indicator that N.C. State is building something UConn-like in Raleigh.
“We know it’s a great challenge,” Moore said. “Geno built something really special here, and obviously he’s got a lot of great players, a lot of talent. We know it’s, like I said, going to be a big challenge for our program, but we’re excited about it, excited about the opportunity, and trying to take one more step.”
UConn’s arrival
Auriemma didn’t instantly turn the Huskies into a powerhouse.
In his first three seasons, UConn didn’t make the postseason. It was eliminated in the first round in 1989 and the second round in 1990. The Huskies cracked the Final Four in 1991. Which team did they knock off to win their first regional?
“First regional we ever played in we beat N.C. State in the Sweet 16, and that was our first one ever, and they (had) been there a bunch of times,” Auriemma said. “So who knows, history might repeat itself the other way. Previous history I don’t think has anything to do with what happens tomorrow night.”
UConn has been in the spotlight for 24 years, with outsiders automatically assuming the Huskies will be one of the last teams standing each year.
Auriemma said previous history doesn’t make him feel any better about Monday’s Elite Eight game. Being in this position, again, happened because Auriemma recruits really good players to Storrs, and sets the expectations really high. All the banners hanging will automatically do that for a program.
“I think your program, the way it’s set up and the way you do things, the tradition that you have, the culture that you’ve established, I think your program can get you to this weekend a lot of times,” Auriemma said. “Because you look at — a lot of teams have gotten to this weekend a lot. I mean, but to get out of this weekend, I think you do need one player, two preferably that are going to play great and they’re the one that will get you to next weekend.”
Auriemma has coached eight National Players of the Year and 46 All-Americans, the kind of players he talks about that got him to the Elite Eight.
Moore has players like Elissa Cunane in the national spotlight and tried to get several players on UConn’s current roster.
“I guess Geno is just cooler than me,” Moore joked. “They’re just super talented and well-coached.”
What a win would mean for N.C. State
N.C. State fans have made a big deal about playing UConn in Bridgeport. Storrs is located less than 80 miles from Bridgeport.
When the Pack played Notre Dame on Saturday, a huge ovation came out of nowhere during the second half. UConn players were walking in the building. The capacity crowd gave them a warm welcome.
The N.C. State players wouldn’t have it any other way. They are OK going into the lion’s den to achieve their goal of reaching the Final Four.
“Honestly I don’t really feel like there’s pressure on us,” Cunane said. “I think tomorrow is a home game for them. There’s no question about that. We’ve gone to South Carolina and beat them at their home, we’ve gone to Louisville, beat them at their home, Indiana this year. We’re capable of beating a great team on their home court, so we know we’re capable of doing it.”
A win on Monday would be would be the 999th win in program history and 30th tournament win of all time.
“Again, this is why — I keep saying it, but this is why a lot of these kids came back, a lot of these seniors,” Moore said. “They wanted to rewrite the last chapter, and we’re here. We have an opportunity to do that. Probably really focused on us and doing what we do and trying to be the best version of N.C. State that we can be, so it really doesn’t matter who that’s against.”
State playing loose
All five Wolfpack starters met with the media on Sunday.
It was hard to tell they were 24 hours away from the biggest game of their careers. They were laughing on the dais, cracking jokes on Moore and Perez, ragging on her being antisocial her first season in Raleigh.
“We tried to talk to her,” graduate forward Kayla Jones said. “We tried. We really tried.”
None of the players showed any signs that they were overly concerned about Monday’s game. Of course they have scouted UConn and will be ready come down time. But they weren’t about to spend Sunday worrying.
Moore likes it that way.
“Again, we’re fortunate we’ve got a veteran team,” Moore said. “I think the preparation, you don’t really change anything. You want the process to be the same as it’s been all year, and so I think it’s typical for them to enjoy being around each other, enjoy the game that they have such a passion for. So I think that helps keep them loose.”
Ernie Myers was a freshman on the 1983 N.C. State men’s national title team. The 1983 Wolfpack had one improbable win after another en route to that championship. Myers now calls N.C. State games for Wolfpack Radio and travels with the team. Their looseness reminds him of a certain team he’s seen before.
“The love and respect they have for one another,” Myers said. “That’s what I see in this team, that reminds me of our team. They laugh and have a good time. They are talking and laughing, they understand the pressure, but they aren’t letting it get to them. They are prepared.”
