NC State women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament run ends with loss to No 2 seed Michigan

An injured Zoe Brooks sat on the N.C. State bench Sunday, only able to watch as the Wolfpack’s season come to a crushing end.

N.C. State head coach Wes Moore was unable to use his “direct prayer line” to help his most experienced guard become healthy enough to play in the Wolfpack’ s second-round NCAA Tournament game against second-seeded Michigan — and boy could the Pack have used her.

Behind a tremendous second-half surge, Michigan ran away from N.C. State, 92-63, securing a berth in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

“As a coach, I feel like I’ve let my university down and let our fans down and let our players down,” Moore said. “It’s been a rough year. For a lot of people, you win 21 games and you finish top 4 in the ACC, that’s a good year. Six out of the last seven years, we finished in the top 10 in the country, so this is hard to swallow.”

Zamareya Jones led N.C. State (21-11) for the second consecutive game, but she was unable to replicate her 30-point performance from Friday. Khamil Pierre added 15 points and nine rebounds.

Michigan (27-6) was led by its trio of star sophomores. Olivia Olson and Syla Swords both surpassed the 20-point mark, while Mila Holloway added 13 points and nine rebounds. Olson scored all 27 points in the second half.

N.C. State held its own in the first half, leading by one point going into the second quarter and trailing by three at halftime.

The Wolfpack showed great resolve at the end of the opening half. It gave up a 13-0 Michigan lead to start the second quarter and turned the ball over on six straight possessions. But with contributions from four different players, N.C. State responded with a 12-2 run and six straight defensive stops to cut its deficit to a single possession, despite being held to its lowest first-half scoring total of the season.

“They’re playing at a really high level right now,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said. “I’m impressed with how connected they are, how bought in they are, and they can hurt you in a lot of different ways. I thought [in] the first half we did a pretty good job executing our plan and trying to slow down Swords and Olson, but they’re hard to contain for 40 minutes and their press is very effective.”

N.C. State’s third-quarter performance decided the game. The Wolfpack gave up 32 points, 29 of which were on 2-point shots. Its defense allowed the Wolverines to move the ball well, recording eight assists on 13 field goals. On the other end, N.C. State scored 19 points, which were its most in the game, but that wasn’t nearly enough to keep pace with the No. 2 seed.

“Tip your hat to Michigan,” Moore said. “They played great. Totally bought in, locked in and they played extremely well. Bottom line, we got out-scored 35-5 off turnovers. Got beat by 29, got out-scored by 30 off turnovers. That pretty much sums it up.”

The Pack’s offense was efficient for most of the game, making 45% of its shots, but 22 turnovers — the Wolverines scored 35 points from the errors — and streaky defense hurt the team’s chances of an upset.

Zoe Brooks update

Brooks’ status was uncertain Saturday, and she was officially ruled out Sunday morning before tipoff. She left the Pack’s first-round game Friday with a foot injury.

During the pregame press conference, Moore said he did not know if Brooks would be available for Game 2. She was in a medical boot and using crutches. The junior was without crutches during the game, but remained in a boot.

“The first priority is going to be her health and making sure she’s not at risk, as far as her future goes,” Moore said prior to the matchup.

After the game, Moore said they were holding out hope she would be able to play and did not know until Sunday morning she would be unavailable. Her recovery timeline remains uncertain.

Brooks scored eight points in the first-round game before getting into foul trouble and her injury.

In her place, freshman Ky’She Lunan earned her first career start. Lunan finished with four points, four turnovers and five fouls in 15 minutes. Sophomore Devyn Quigley also contributed 11 points from the backcourt with Brooks unavailable.

Quigley called Brooks a “big part of our team” and the game showed the impact, especially when it comes to leadership and ball handling.

“She is a tremendous player,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes added. “They’re a tremendous team, but it’s one less player. … It affects your depth, for sure. Then, they got in a little bit of foul trouble, which really affected their depth, which played to our benefit. When you lose a key player like her with a ton of experience, other people need to step up and have a really great game. I thought we were able to affect them defensively. Without her and 16 points, that really hurt them a little bit.”

N.C. State does not have any seniors on the roster and could see its core rotation return next season.

Moore said he and his staff will take a “real hard look” at things in the offseason.

“I’ll take all the blame,” Moore said. “I put the team together and I coach the team. I’ve got to look in the mirror and we gotta look in the mirror as a program, and we gotta try to get back to what we do.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 3:20 PM.