NC State women’s basketball not pleased with defensive errors in exhibition win over High Point

For the first time in NC State coach Wes Moore’s nearly four-decade coaching career, he didn’t schedule a closed-door scrimmage. Instead, he approached this preseason with a new mindset: to play two open exhibition games. 

Moore, who has led the Pack to the Sweet 16 or better in six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments, did so for two reasons — they’re allowed to play Division I teams in exhibitions for the first time ever, while his team doesn’t have any seniors and boasts six sophomores or freshmen so the goal was to get his team as much experience in a game-like environment.

But after No. 9 NC State escaped with a 77-69 win over High Point on Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum in the Pack’s first of two preseason tilts, it seemed as if the team nearly bit off too much that it could handle another NCAA Tournament team from a year ago on the other side.

“We weren’t ready for it, obviously,” Moore said afterwards. “I did it hoping we’d be fired up to play a little primetime, but it didn’t work. Hopefully we’ll learn from it.”

Moore, a usually critical coach of his own squad as he demands perfection, wasn’t pleased with his team’s complete performance against High Point. NC State shot 43.3 percent from the field, including seven made 3-pointers, but the Panthers kept pace with the Wolfpack for three of the four quarters, including outscoring the hosts in the second and fourth periods. 

NC State, however, did limit High Point to just 9 points in the third quarter as it outscored the Panthers by 13 in the frame. But Moore wasn’t sure if that was due to an improved defensive effort from the Pack — it did force seven of High Point’s 14 total turnovers in that quarter — or if the Panthers got in their own way. 

The biggest overall issue from the first preseason game? NC State’s on-ball defense. High Point was able to blow by the Wolfpack’s defenders at will for most of the night, which allowed the undersized squad to find easier shots despite its tallest player in the main rotation standing at just 6-feet tall, while NC State started three players 6-feet or taller. 

“Even though some people might have hit a few shots, all I can think about is the fact we didn’t guard very well,” Moore said. “We didn’t guard on the ball very well, which got us in trouble. We didn’t rotate very well when we had the help, which requires a lot of energy and playing hard.”

High Point shot 45.2 percent from the field, including a 31.6 percent mark from 3-point distance (12-for-38). But break it down to its shots inside the arc, and the Panthers were 16-of-24 shooting (66.6 percent). That appeared to be the Wolfpack’s weakness as it was unable to keep the quick-cutting guards in front.

While Moore wasn’t pleased with the defensive effort, his players were in the same mindset. Sophomore center Tilda Trygger, who posted a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double, believed it came down to playing hard on the defensive end. 

“Everything starts on defense,” Trygger said. “We’ve got to contain 1-on-1. They hit a lot of shots, but it’s our fault they got those good shots. … I think Coach Moore is going to focus on the things we have to work on in practice, and we’re going to get better.”

UConn transfer Qadence Samuels, who impressed in her first action with the Pack as she scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three made 3-pointers, thought the team’s help-side defense and communication could improve moving forward. 

Additionally, the Wolfpack didn’t appear to identify the hot hand in the early going as High Point’s Macy Spencer scored 12 of the Panthers’ 19 first-quarter points. She had 20 of the team’s 41 points by halftime before the Pack limited the dangerous 3-point shooter to just 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field (all triple attempts) in the final 20 minutes.

Luckily for Moore, those three mistakes are effort-based deficiencies that the Wolfpack can focus on in practice over the next week. NC State has another opportunity to improve itself ahead of the season opener as it will battle No. 10 Maryland next Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro. 

That will be the Pack’s final preseason tune-up ahead of its gauntlet of a non-conference, which features its first two games against No. 8 Tennessee (in Greensboro) and No. 18 USC (in Charlotte). 

High Point, in Moore’s words, “exposed” NC State’s weak points. The veteran head coach is ready to build off the performance that appeared to be well under his expectations for the where the Wolfpack should have been for its first preseason test. 

“We’ve got a long, long ways to go,” Moore said. “We looked like we hadn’t practiced much, and it definitely looked like we didn’t work on defense much. We’ve got to figure out a lot of things.”