NC State's freshmen rise to the occasion in win over No. 2 UConn

Heading into NC State’s bout with No. 2 UConn, Wolfpack junior guards Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James had a chat with the team’s four freshmen. It was not an intimidating conversation, but the red and white’s star duo let their younger counterparts know that they needed them. 

This was not the upstart Charlotte squad that the Wolfpack handled with ease five days ago. It was the Connecticut Huskies. The 11-time national champions. Paige Bueckers. Azzi Fudd. Oh, and Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.

James and Rivers were speaking from experience — not the hype of what UConn is. The two were on the floor when the Huskies raced past the Wolfpack 91-69 in Hartford, Conn., a year ago. They were motivated to change the tune about the matchup, and the team’s fourth-ranked recruiting class was going to be pivotal. 

“‘You’re not freshmen this week,’” James recalled telling the Pack’s quartet. “‘It’s time to wake up and get older. This is a game to prepare for.’’’

Rivers added to that.

“‘Last night was your last night being a freshman,’” she told them. “‘Today when you wake up, you pretend you’ve been here before.’”

Well, when the lights turned on inside Reynolds Coliseum, the team’s young players — led by guard Zoe Brooks and forward Maddie Cox — did not act like it was their first collegiate game in front of a sold-out crowd. They seemed to be grizzled veterans, just like James and Rivers, which helped the Pack to a 92-81 win on Sunday afternoon, the team’s first over UConn since 1998. 

Brooks, who stands at 5-foot-10, rose through the air to swipe a rebound from UConn star forward Aaliyah Edwards, who is five inches taller in the first half. The nation’s No. 9 recruit also ran NC State’s offense seamlessly in her time on the floor. 

Cox, the 71st-rated recruit in the country, also did not show fear against the Huskies. She nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the second quarter to propel the Pack’s comeback bid within three points of the Huskies.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in the freshmen,” NC State coach Wes Moore said. “Today was your second college game and you’re playing the No. 2 team in the country. We had to, at times, pick our places, and let them get their feet wet in the water a little bit.”

Both did it in meaningful minutes, not just to “get their feet wet” as Moore described. Brooks had a starters load with just over 25 minutes on the court, while Cox added nearly 17 minutes on the floor. 

Brooks posted the third-most points of any Wolfpack player with 12 — and she added four rebounds and three assists — and Cox had five points as she knocked down both of her shots with five rebounds and an assist. 

“I feel like [the freshmen] did amazing,” said Rivers, who paced the Pack with 33 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against the second-ranked team in the country. “They all came in just ready and prepared. … Today they came out and you wouldn’t even know they were freshmen. They did great.”

While freshman forward Mallory Collier and guard Laci Steele both saw limited action, Brooks stole the show against the Huskies. The moment was not too big for the Plainfield, N.J., native, who seemed to be fearless from the start. 

The lights were not too bright for Brooks, who scored 12 in her debut five days before, against the Huskies. She took the ball out of Rivers’ hands at times, and was able to create for her teammates as the Pack downed UConn for the first time in her lifetime. 

“Zoe, she came in confident, honestly,” Rivers said of Brooks. “I feel like we feed off each other very well, and I feel like she gels with the team very well.”

But while Brooks played a high number of minutes off the bench, that is not guaranteed for a freshman on a Moore-coached team. The time on the floor is earned each game, and Brooks continued to prove that each shot she knocked down. 

“You may have to sit some, and then you have to have the confidence to know when you get back in there, ‘I’m going to show coach that I should be out there,’” Moore said. “Zoe’s got that confidence, that swag if you want to call it that. We’ve got to have it. … We’ve got to have that rotation, and when she goes in there, I’ve got a lot of confidence in her.”

The Wolfpack’s confidence is high in all of its freshmen, but Brooks seems to be a step ahead of the rest. And the UConn win may be just the beginning.