NC State women's basketball ready to take one step at a time

The NCAA Tournament draw for NC State women’s basketball has generated a lot of discussion.

Aside from being in a region deep enough that SEC champion Kentucky is a six seed, NC State, if it advances out of the first two rounds at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, will advance to Bridgeport, Conn. Waiting there is likely to be No. 2 seed Connecticut enjoying a potential home court advantage.

In the era of social media, it is impossible for the Wolfpack players not to read and hear the debates about the fairness of the draw.

NC State women’s basketball head coach Wes Moore knows that it is one game as a time before worrying about anything else.

“Sometimes the coach needs to be reminded of that, too,” Moore joked.

To help his team understand that it is one game at a time, Moore had his neighbor, a talented carpenter named Ron, make a wooden step.

On the step it reads, “NC State vs. Longwood.” The beauty of the step is the opponent’s name can be changed on it.

“We’re going to make them step on that step,” Moore noted. “They go in the locker room, they get on the bus, whatever, to remind them one step at a time. That’s all we can worry about.

“I tried to convince them: don’t look at the bracket. There’s 68 teams in that bracket. All we have to do is beat four of them to get to the Final Four. Don’t worry about 68 teams, worry about the next game and one step. Maybe a little cheesy … one step at a time.”

NC State learned Thursday evening that it would be hosting Longwood after the Lancers’ four-point win over Mount St. Mary’s.

“We know we’re going to be challenged, and we have been off for almost two weeks,” Moore noted. “Hopefully we can knock off the rust pretty quickly and get going.”

Moore added that there is no lingering concerns from NC State All-American senior center Elissa Cunane’s ankle injury suffered in the championship game of the ACC Tournament, which NC State won for a third straight league title.

After bringing home the trophy, Moore gave NC State three days off. After two days of practices, they also received a break for the weekend.

“[Cunane] really didn’t get on the court a lot until Monday, and I think she’s moving pretty well,” Moore said. “I think she will be good to go.”

Last year, Moore lost an important player in the first round of the NCAA Tournament when All-ACC forward Kayla Jones injured her patella tendon. This year, Moore thinks the Wolfpack is better equipped to handle similar setbacks.

“I have tried to tell them the last few weeks, we got three things going for us that makes us special,” Moore said. “First of all, you have to have talent. We got some nice talent.

“I think experience is big, and we’ve got that covered with three players that are in their fifth year and then Elissa, Jakia [Brown-Turner], Jada [Boyd], Camille [Hobby], they have been here. I think that experience is big.

“And then depth. When you can bring Diamond Johnson, Jada Boyd, Camille Hobby, you bring those people in. … Last year well documented Kayla Jones, we weren’t really prepared to lose her like we did. And it would have been hard no matter who we had, because KJ is such a special player. But we really had Jada Boyd and then we had a bunch of freshmen that weren’t ready for that.

“This year, if we get in foul trouble or something like that I think — or somebody is having an off day, I think we are better equipped to handle that and hopefully be able to survive it.”

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