NC State’s Khamil Pierre continues to prove herself — and others — wrong
.JPG "N.C. State’s Khamil Pierre drives past Southern California’s Kara Dunn and Londynn Jones during the second half of the Wolfpack’s 69-68 loss in the Ally Tipoff game on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pierre quit soccer, focused on basketball, and committed to prove doubters wrong.
- After Vanderbilt dismissal, Pierre navigated late transfer and enrolled at N.C. State.
- She leads nation in rebounds, averages double-double, and anchors Wolfpack lineup.
Khamil Pierre’s soccer teammates told her she would never succeed at basketball. She wasn’t getting much playing time, and, in their estimation, she wasn’t very good. It wasn’t worth trying to do both, they said, and they told her to quit while she was ahead.
That’s not Pierre.
Now an N.C. State women’s basketball forward after transferring from Vanderbilt, Pierre isn’t like some of her teammates who were seemingly born with a basketball in their hands. She didn’t grow up playing hoops in the backyard, and she wasn’t drawing attention from college coaches in seventh or eighth grade.
With high school soccer overlapping with basketball and club competition taking place year round, she fit hoops in when she could — until she was on the receiving end of those disparaging comments.
Pierre quit soccer before her junior year of high school out of pure spite. She turned her focus to basketball, and worked to prove her former teammates wrong.
“A lot of stuff that was really hard to hear, especially at a young age and struggling with your confidence,” Pierre said. “I quit because I wanted to prove to myself and everyone around me that I’m capable of being anything that I want to be.
“I’m pretty stubborn. It’s my way or the highway.”
Finding one win on the court
Broadcasters during N.C. State women’s basketball games have mentioned Pierre’s seemingly nonchalant attitude and lack of expression. To some, it might seem like the budding women’s basketball star doesn’t care.
She does. Deeply.
Pierre struggled with her transition to N.C. State. She was dismissed from the Vanderbilt program this summer — no public reason has been provided — and contemplated leaving the sport.
She had cracks in her confidence and her mental health suffered, even after arriving on campus. It took her friends (some of whom still play for Vanderbilt), her mother and the Wolfpack to help her find the light and love for basketball again.
“I think a big part of it was just trying to pull myself out of the dark place I was in, because I wasn’t able to get anything done like that,” Pierre said earlier this month. “Then, also, trying to find one win within the basketball side of things.”
Her one win: rebounding. Pierre fixated on that one particular aspect of her game. If she could be a rebounding machine, maybe that would repair her negative self-image.
It worked, and everything fell into place around it.
“They have good people here, so they were able to stick with me through that,” Pierre said.
Points come with the rebounds
The junior is averaging a double-double with 15.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. She leads the nation in total rebounds (165) and boards per game. She finished with 308 boards in 32 games last year. Twelve games into the 2025-26 season, Pierre is on pace to set a career high.
Her early accomplishments with the Pack include eight double-doubles, at least 10 rebounds in nine games, 20 or more rebounds in two games, and double-figure scoring in eight consecutive games.
Last season, she averaged 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds and had 17 double-doubles. She received WBCA All-America honorable mention.
“Goodness, she’s a walking double-double, and did that at a high level,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said in July. “Exactly what we needed. Excited about the opportunity to work with her.”
Pierre’s ability to read the floor, make strong passes and block shots continues to steadily improve.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed by her N.C. State teammates or the coaching staff. Maddie Cox and Ky’She Lunan noted her work ethic and toughness. Moore believes she has the potential to be even better.
“Her work ethic and how she rebounds, how she goes to the boards,” Cox said of what stands out about Pierre. “She works hard. Playing against someone in practice that goes hard pushes you, too.”
A convoluted transfer process
Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph’s statement announcing Pierre’s dismissal was three sentences long. It also came 68 days after the transfer portal closed.
There were rumblings around women’s basketball about Pierre’s potential transfer, but she posted about believing in the plan Ralph had. Pierre finally started to believe she could be a great player.
Vanderbilt dismissed Pierre in June, almost two months after the transfer portal closed to new entrants, forcing her to take an unconventional route. The transfer process was not only emotionally difficult, but logistically complicated.
Pierre said the first step, aside from moving past the initial shock, was to compile a list of schools she thought would be a good fit and still had roster spots. Her representatives communicated with the programs to determine which ones might take her and which universities might be willing to play ball regarding her late enrollment.
Then, she applied to several schools. North Carolina was among the programs she considered, but Michigan State, Oregon and N.C. State were her top three. She not only liked the women’s basketball programs, but their academic offices were the most willing to work with her.
“It was a very stressful process that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Pierre said. “I was just lucky enough to have my mom and my management there to help me go about all of that.”
Pierre picked the Wolfpack, despite the basketball staff being prohibited from speaking with her directly. She felt “a lot more love coming from N.C. State than anywhere else,” simply through the communications with her agent.
N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said the program worked over the summer with the compliance department to ensure everything was done correctly.
The Wolfpack recruited Pierre in high school — she was in Zoe Brooks’ class — but Moore said he “kind of messed up” and didn’t offer her a scholarship quickly enough.
“Nowadays, you do that pretty early,” Moore said. “She kind of made her decision before we got her on campus or anything like that.”
‘I’m always looking up to her’
Lunan and Zamareya Jones often accompany Pierre, known as KP or “Mil” to her teammates, on regular trips to Target, where she lets the store “speak” to her about what to buy. That’s about all they do outside of school and basketball: laughing and being silly together.
Those moments, or time with young fans, speak to the experience she’s having in Raleigh. Even during her own difficult times, Pierre brought laughs, inspiration and sibling-like love.
“I look up to her. She’s like my big sister for real. Both from 480,” Lunan said, referring to the Phoenix area code. “We just love to laugh. I’m always looking up to her when she’s hooping. We talk all the time. She’s just really fun. To see her show out in these games, it’s really just mesmerizing. I just love her for that.”
Pierre is proud of the growth she continues to see in herself athletically, and her resilience. She acknowledges that she’s far more capable of overcoming hardship than she thought, especially mentally. And, she has grown to appreciate life outside of basketball more.
Who knows where the girls on her soccer team are today. They didn’t realize what their words would do; how they would be a catalyst to what they believed would be a dead-end basketball career. It’s been a difficult journey at times, but things are better. She’s not giving up any time soon.
“From the jump, it’s always just been me betting on me,” Pierre said, “regardless of what everyone else has to say.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
