NC State tops Tennessee in NCAA Tournament on career-high scoring from Zam Jones
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- Zam Jones scored a career-high 30 points and fueled NC State’s win.
- N.C. State opened 10-for-10 from the field and shot 63% in the first half.
- Zoe Brooks left with an apparent lower-right leg injury; teammates rallied.
Zoe Brooks sat on the N.C. State bench in tears midway through the third quarter after an apparent lower right leg injury, cracks showing in her typically impenetrable armor.
Athletic trainer Brittany Blunt helped remove Brooks’ shoe and walked with the junior guard to the Wolfpack locker room. N.C. State led Tennessee by seven points prior to her substitution. Steady scoring from the Lady Vols — and a lack of it from the Pack — cut N.C. State’s advantage to two.
Brooks’ departure could’ve meant the end of N.C. State’s season. Instead, her teammates rallied for a 76-61 win over Tennessee to add at least one more game to the schedule, marking the Pack’s third straight win over the Lady Vols. (N.C. State upset Tennessee in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and defeated the Vols by three points in the 2025-26 season opener at Greensboro Coliseum.)
The seventh-seeded Wolfpack plays No. 2 seed Michigan on Sunday in the Round of 32.
“I’m proud of our team. We’ve had our ups and downs this year,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “It’s been bumpy at times. ... I feel like we’ve been tested, and we look forward to the opportunity.”
Sophomore guard Zamareya Jones played a major role Friday for the Wolfpack, before and after Brooks’ injury. She scored 15 first-half points, including 11 in the opening quarter, while assisting on another three shots. Jones was a contributor on 22 of N.C. State’s 40 first-half points.
Jones led all scorers with a career-high 30 points and surpassed 20 points for the sixth time this season. She also added three rebounds, three assists and five steals before fouling out with 85 seconds to play.
Khamil Pierre added her 22nd double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Qadence Samuels contributed 12 points and five boards.
Brooks scored eight points, all in the first quarter, and played only 17 minutes. The exact status of Brooks’ injury is unknown, Moore said. The medical staff will perform treatment in hopes she is available for the team’s second-round game.
Freshman Ky’She Lunan played in Brooks’ place, hitting clutch free throws, pulling down a pair of rebounds and adding a couple of assists.
Talaysia Cooper led the Vols with 24 points and six rebounds.
Pierre said the win exemplifies the team’s ability to play for each other.
“Zoe would have loved to be out there on the court,” Pierre said, “so just trying to get the win for her and understanding that it’s bigger than ourselves and we have a team full of 10 girls and a whole staff. We’ve got to do it for each other more than we do it for ourselves.”
Jones said beyond Brooks’ injury, the team entered the game with something to prove. Social media posts from Tennessee players mentioned “running it back,” Jones said, which fueled her.
“I’m the type of person that feeds into that stuff,” Jones said. “Coach Moore isn’t big with that, but that’s the type of person I am. So seeing them saying ‘running it back’ like they were gonna beat us, we knew we beat them the first time and we could beat them again. I came in with the mindset of winning this and advancing.”
N.C. State (21-10) can credit its win, at least in part, to its stellar start. It opened the game with a blistering hot offense, shooting 10 for 10 from the field, and used a 15-0 scoring run to create a lead of as many points. The Wolfpack had all the momentum and looked like it might steamroll a struggling Lady Vols team.
Tennessee (16-14), which made its 44th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, didn’t go down quietly. The Vols were particularly effective off the glass, pulling down six offensive rebounds in the first quarter and turned three of them into second-chance baskets. They only added to their rebounding total and went to the locker room with 11 offensive boards.
UT also forced a number of uncharacteristic turnovers late in the first quarter and early in the second. The Wolfpack committed nine in the opening half, including four of the team’s first five second-quarter possessions.
N.C. State made up for its lack of aggression on the boards and its ball handling errors by shooting 63% from the field in the first half and holding Tennessee to 31%.
The Vols went 3 of 22 from deep (13.6%). They were 0 for 9 in the second period, thanks in part to the Wolfpack zone defense. N.C. State led by 11 points at halftime.
The Wolfpack’s second-half start wasn’t nearly as efficient as its first. N.C. State started 1 for 11 from the field and missed seven in a row, going without a field goal for more than five minutes. Tennessee, however, couldn’t build on its momentum after cutting the Pack’s lead to one possession and holding it to three made field goals.
It gave up drives to the basket, which N.C. State turned into free throws, and did not score a field goal in the final four minutes of the game.
The Wolfpack finished the game 51% from the field and 21 of 25 (84%) from the free throw line. It committed 16 turnovers, but Moore said that’s to be expected when playing against a press defense the entire game.
N.C. State also held Tennessee to 33% from the field and 19.4% from 3, but allowed 21 offensive rebounds.
The Lady Vols were without senior Janiah Barker due to illness. Barker averaged 14.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, while shooting 46.5% from the field. In the season opener, Barker scored 15 points and made three baskets from the perimeter.
“It means everything,” Jones said of the Wolfpack’s win during a TV interview. “Everybody said we had the toughest game — the first round game — and we wouldn’t make it out.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 10:32 PM.
