How Legos became peace in the chaos of basketball for NC State’s Zam Jones
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Zam Jones uses Lego building as stress relief, boosting focus and game readiness.
- Jones seeks an NIL partnership with Lego after company gifted her a Mario set.
- Jones averages 14.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists in expanded role.
A 3,600-piece Lego grand piano sat on the Reynolds Coliseum court alongside a Super Mario television and game controller, works of art briefly taking over a space designated for athletics.
N.C. State women’s basketball star Zamareya Jones proudly showed off her Lego sets on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The team played the next day, so the gym was empty, but she wore her home white jersey and put her hair in a now-signature puffy bun.
Jones proudly shared the piano can play music with the help of an app on her iPhone.
“Which [song] y’all want to hear?” Jones asked. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; Happy Birthday; Jingle Bells; We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
Jones decided to play a few lines of the holiday classic, “Jingle Bells.” She played for about 10 seconds, and, despite the instrument being a Lego set, the melody was clear and the Christmas spirit was momentarily still alive in Raleigh. It was one of the reasons she bought the set; the magic and fascination.
Women’s basketball fans know about Jones’ shifty ball handling, her ability to drive inside and hit shots from 3-point range. They know about the 5-foot-7 sophomore guard’s ability to defend up front, unafraid to force deflections and willing to tussle on the floor for a loose ball.
Jones made it abundantly clear she wants to be “a dawg.”
Her love of Legos isn’t a secret — she often posts photos of completed projects on Instagram and the team account shared photos of her traveling with Lego boxes — but it’s not necessarily something she’s known for. It should be.
“I love Legos,” Jones said. “I got into it last year; like, last December. I’m really into it. I love the outcomes, and I just love building it. It gives me a peace of mind.”
Living with Legos
Devyn Quigley, one of Jones’ roommates, recalled walking into their dorm suite last year. Numbered and color-coded bags of Lego blocks were often scattered all over the TV stand. The living room was full of the plastic building blocks.
“They were just like, ‘Z, are you really just sitting here doing Legos?’” Jones said. “I used to just put a show on in the living room and do them all day.”
It got to a point where they were everywhere. Some might call it excessive, but her teammates took it in stride. Jones adopted her dog, Buzz, around the same time as she began her Lego collecting and taught him immediately to leave the pieces alone.
Jones ultimately purchased several small shelves to display finished pieces and move things from the floor, out of the way of her teammates and everyone’s pets. Nobody wants to step on a Lego, after all.
The installation of shelves — a funny memory on its own — startled Tilda Trygger, who heard banging on the wall from the next room. Jones, Trygger, Quigley and former Wolfpack forward Lorena Awou lived together last season.
A big smile stretched across Jones’ face when asked if she remembered building the shelves and startling her soft-spoken teammate.
“Oh my god, yes,” she said with a laugh. “The whole living room was full of my Legos. The ‘Home Alone’ house, I think, was 40 bags of Legos. I had them numbered from 1 to 40 on the floor.”
The shelves helped solve that issue, and last summer she took roughly 30 completed sets back to her family home in Greenville. That’s where she keeps the “Home Alone” house now. It’s her favorite set.
“I think it’s the first thing I actually dove into,” Jones said of her collection. “My mom was so surprised, because she would never think I’m the type of person that would love Legos, but now they’re all around her house. She had to get used to it.”
‘I come into the game free’
Jones smiled for the camera on Jan. 7 as she boarded the team’s plane to Clemson, South Carolina, holding her new Mario Kart Lego set. It was a gift from Lego. A week later, she showed off a new typewriter set prior to getting on the bus for the team’s game at Wake Forest.
The guard began building sets a little more than a year ago after seeing a TikTok video of someone else creating an item with the classic blocks. Since buying her first set — a shark attacking a boat — Jones built a Lego car that also worked with an app, the X-Men Mansion and the Avengers tower.
Legos have become more than an offseason hobby for Jones. She builds them on the plane when the team travels to road games. The tray table is where she builds and the seats next to her hold the other Lego pieces yet to be assembled.
“I never understood Legos, so, good for her,” Quigley said. “Personally, I don’t have patience for that. … I know you get the directions, but I just don’t understand. It’s so many packages with numbers and colors and [they’re] color coded. It’s a lot of steps.”
Even if Quigley wanted to, Jones said her teammates aren’t allowed to help. She loves them, but she doesn’t want to start over if they mess something up.
For Jones, all the things that overwhelm her teammates provide joy and relaxation. Working on a set reduces her stress and clears her mind. Jones worked on Lego sets before games last season, especially during the NCAA Tournament. It eased the pressure of performing on a big stage.
Jones doesn’t get to work on her sets quite as often in season, especially now that she’s in a larger role as a starter for the Wolfpack. But she tries to squeeze in 30 minutes to one hour on a regular basis as a way of self-care.
She can tell a difference in her performances when she works on a Lego set and when she doesn’t.
“I just feel like I just come into the game free,” Jones sad. “I’m not worried about anything. If anything, I’m worried about finishing my Lego after the game. I’m coming in with a free mind.”
Small sets can be completed in that time frame. If she’s working on a box with 1,000 pieces or more, those can typically be done in four to six hours. Jones guesses she completes a set every week or two, depending on the time of year. She doesn’t have a list of things she wants to build and often goes into the Lego store and chooses what feels right in the moment. Some of Jones’ sets, however, have come from third-party retailers if they are no longer available.
Jones estimates she has spent $5,000 on Lego sets in the last year, with the larger sets coming in at $300 to $500 before taxes and most are buildings.
“I just buy it,” she said, “and let [the money] go like I didn’t buy it.”
‘She seriously loves Legos’
Jones sat alongside teammate Zoe Brooks and head coach Wes Moore at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown hotel in October for ACC Tipoff. Moore asked if a representative from the company was in attendance.
“Anybody here from Lego? We could use an NIL deal,” Moore said. “Get that done.”
His comment was met with a smattering of laughs from the two players, the moderator and media members in attendance, but that’s become a legitimate desire.
NBA stars Myles Turner (Milwaukee Bucks), Dereck Lively (Dallas Mavericks) and Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs) have made public their Lego collections. Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers recently signed an endorsement deal with Lego, as well.
Jones, though she doesn’t have the same size following, would like to be the next athlete to have an official deal with the company. It gifted her the Mario Kart set, which arrived last week, and N.C. State hopes that can be the start of a partnership.
Maybe she can work with the company to create an exclusive set of Reynolds Coliseum. That’s her hope. She’s even wiling to beg.
“Please give me a deal,” Jones said. “I love Legos. I build them all the time. Please give me a deal.”
Quigley said there’s no one more worthy of an NIL deal. Jones and Lego have become synonymous in the minds of diehard women’s basketball fans.
“She seriously loves Legos, she’s been talking about trying to get one forever. It’s genuine,” Quigley said. “I’ve been on FaceTime with her [when she’s] at her house, and there’s so many Lego sets. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has over 100. As somebody who has dedicated that much money to Legos and their sets, she deserves to be in a partnership with them. Period.”
The Wolfpack guard is averaging 14.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this season. Jones has scored in double figures in 13 straight appearances, including two 20-point games.
Jones spent about 15 minutes making sure all the pieces of her selected sets were stable for her interview and photoshoot. She emanated a sense of peace; it wasn’t an inconvenience to put them together. It was a good excuse to work with her sets during a busy time of year.
That’s what matters most. Jones would love to partner with Lego, but she’s happy to keep building whatever sets she can get her hands. Creating, building and the sense of calm bring her the most joy.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 6:05 AM.
