NC State women's basketball lacking 'buy-in' following upset loss to Rhode Island

As NC State coach Wes Moore barked a play from the bench to his team on the court against Rhode Island, there were several times he had to point players where to go on the floor. At this stage of the season, that’s not what he wanted to see. But it appeared in Game 6 of the Wolfpack’s season Sunday at Reynolds Coliseum. 

That small, but subtle detail of not being locked in enough on the game plan to play provided a glimpse into why the Wolfpack lost 68-63 to the Rams in Raleigh, the program’s first home mid-major defeat since it fell to Elon in 2015. 

Moore wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance. Not knowing plays left him wondering if he needs to change the lineup to those that are fully locked in with what the team is looking to do after the squad dropped its third game of the season.

“We’re, obviously, going through a tough stretch,” Moore said. “We’ve just got to be a little more bought into details, paying attention, how we’re defending certain things, how we’re running certain things offensively. We spend a lot of time on those things, but obviously it’s not getting through. It’s very frustrating. We’re not playing well right now, and that’s my fault. We’ve got to clean it up and figure it out.”

Being in tune with the scouting report was a common theme between sophomore guard Zamareya Jones and Moore’s postgame thoughts. The Wolfpack let the Rams’ go-to players do what they wanted — forward Palmire Mbu’s constant spins to get into the paint or guard Vanessa Harris’  3-point shooting prowess (the two combined for 27 points) — and that allowed Rhode Island to keep the game tight for most of the afternoon before it closed the contest on a 7-0 run to earn its first-ever win over NC State. 

The Wolfpack’s defensive goal was to keep the Rams out of the paint and force tough jump shots, but the opposite happened. His own team was the one settling for mid-range attempts at a constant clip. 

In all, Rhode Island outscored NC State 36-30 in the paint, an area that Moore’s teams tend to excel in with quality forwards and driving guards. But the Rams shut that down, for the most part and outscored NC State by the second-most points near the rim (then-No. 17 TCU had 8 more on Nov. 16, a 69-59 loss for the Wolfpack). 

NC State seemed to fall into playing 1-on-1 as a result, which did not work against a gritty Rhode Island squad that was picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll.

“At some point, everybody’s got to buy into the details and doing the little things or we’re going to keep experiencing this,” Moore said. “At this level, you cannot just go out and play pickup. We’ve got to figure out a way to play better as a team on both ends.”

NC State’s offense, which shot 43.1 percent and turned the ball over 16 times, was disjointed for prolonged stretches. The giveaways have been an issue for the Wolfpack the entire season, recording at least 10 in all but one of its first six games with 21 against Coastal Carolina. 

The Wolfpack had 8 of its turnovers in the second quarter alone, which allowed the Rams to erase a 5-point NC State lead and build a 3-point advantage of its own by halftime. Slow opening sequences have been back-breaking for the Wolfpack, and Jones felt as though the fix will come through taking a step forward in practice first.

“We have to have energy during practice and come into the game ready to play,” said Jones, who led the Wolfpack with 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting in the loss. “We looked kind of sluggish in the first half like we didn’t want to be here.”

Finding a way to clean up its offense is at the top of mind for NC State, which had a travel day Monday to prepare for the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. Practice time will be limited at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya ahead of games against Green Bay and Southern Miss, but Moore seemed intent on finding a way to get through to his team.

The Wolfpack, was expected to be a contender for the ACC Championship. But, at the current rate the squad is playing that appears to be unlikely, unless NC State can clean its play up — starting with knowing the scouting report and the program’s offensive playbook.

“The things you can control, we’re not controlling,” Moore said. “And that’s the scary part.”

NC State is a young team this season. The Wolfpack doesn’t boast a senior for the first time in Moore’s 13-year tenure, and finding player-led leadership appears to be more by committee than a go-to player at this point. 

Moore, however, believed similar losses could follow unless the team decides to embrace the things it can fix on its own moving forward. But, at the moment, the current version of his squad isn’t what he’s accustomed to seeing over the past seven seasons that have featured at least a Sweet 16 appearance in all but one of them.

“I think culture is a good word. I don’t think, right now, we have the culture that we’re used to having: the buy-in and the commitment, hating losing and loving winning,” Moore said. “We’re not there right now, and that’s something that’s got to be fixed if you’re going to have a chance.”