For the first time since 1998 and the tenure of legendary coach Kay Yow, the NC State women’s basketball team is headed to the Final Four.
“I’m just so proud of these young ladies,” said NC State coach Wes Moore, who will be coaching in his first ever Final Four. “It’s a long season, we had a little stretch in February where we lost a few road games and everybody thought we were going to fall apart or whatever and these players just kept working and stuck together. Their chemistry is so good and they really pull for each other and when you get into a situation like this, that really pays off.”
The Wolfpack won both of their weekend matchups by double digits, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 2 Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen and then blitzing No. 1 Texas in the Elite Eight to punch their card to the Final Four.
Aziaha James, who led the region in scoring, was named Most Outstanding Player for the Portland Region.
“Her freshman year, [James] was a great player out of high school,” Moore said. “I mean, big-time player. But that freshman year, she had to work her way in. Last year, she got more time and probably should have gotten even more if I hadn’t been so adamant about playing veterans. Now here she is, reaping the benefits. It’s really awesome. She’s worked so hard over the summer. Her confidence, she used to maybe hang her head if things didn’t go well or a shot didn’t go in or if I got on her. But now, she is a woman. She handles adversity and keeps coming back.”
Between the games against Stanford and Texas, James averaged 28 points, 4.5 assists and one 1 turnover and in the game against the Longhorns, she went seven-for-nine from beyond the arc, which was a career high.
“I just keep my head up,” James said. “You never know what can happen and I just kept going. My confidence was going up as my shots were going in. Later in the game, they just kept hitting for me so I just kept shooting.”
It’s a special moment for the program, but perhaps even more so with how close they were just two years earlier.
The Pack came up short in the Elite Eight in 2022 in a double overtime thriller to the UCONN Huskies, but that loss wasn’t without controversy as despite being the one seed for the region, NC State was put in the same bracket as the second seed Huskies… in Bridgeport.
But in Portland, the Wolfpack were not going to be denied.
“There’s just a flood of emotions and thoughts,” Moore said. “I think of Kay Yow, 34 years at NC State, having taken this program to a Final Four in 1998. I think of the players two years ago that were a double overtime game away from being in this same exact spot. And then I think of these players overcoming all the doubts and questions. Final Four, y’all. This is my 35th year as a head coach and it’s amazing. Very emotional.”
Next up on the agenda though is the No. 1 overall seed and still undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks, who are in their fourth consecutive Final Four appearance, have not lost a game this season and have won each of their first four tournament games by an average of 28.75 points.
If NC State wants to continue to defy the odds and qualify for its first ever NCAA Tournament final in program history, it’ll need everyone locked in.
The Duke Blue Devils also represented the Triangle well, making it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, before falling to Paige Bueckers and the UCONN Huskies.
Duke perhaps could have had a better chance to pull off yet another upset on the heels of their victory over No. 2 Ohio State if not for their extensive offensive struggles.
The Blue Devils outrebounded the Huskies 43-28 and held one of the NCAA’s top teams to just 53 points, but Duke had just 13 points in the first half, turned the ball over 23 times and shot 32.7% from the field.
However, despite trailing the entire game and by as much as 20 at one point, Duke nearly rallied at the end, closing the gap to just five points with under two minutes to go, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
