The Wolfpacker Show: NC State has both teams in the Final Four
DALLAS — For the first time ever, NC State has two teams in the Final Four of both the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments. The women’s team cruised past Texas, while the men handled Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon.
NC State’s feat is just the 11th time it has happened in the history of the NCAA Tournament, and UConn could join the Wolfpack if its women’s team advances to the Final Four. That would make it the first time ever that two schools have both teams playing on the last weekend of the season.
The Wolfpacker Show, hosted by Ethan McDowell and Noah Fleischman, taped another episode to recap the men’s and women’s basketball teams route to the Final Four.
In this episode, the hosts discussed:
– How NC State men’s basketball was able to overcome a 6-point halftime deficit against Duke to beat the Blue Devils and advance to the Final Four.
– NC State’s defensive improvement and where that came from in the postseason. The Wolfpack struggled on that end at times during the regular season, but it was able to hold Duke to a 32% shooting mark from the field to win the game. That was the lowest shooting percentage a team has shot against the Wolfpack this season.
– Noah discussed graduate forward DJ Burns’ ascent to a complete player as he added the defensive piece to his game. That was a key reason why the Pack was able to slow down Duke’s guards and bigs in the win.
– They also discussed multiple stories from the run to the Final Four, including graduate guard Casey Morsell’s path to this point. He went from being on the Wolfpack team that had the most losses in program history to the program’s first Final Four since 1983.
– Noah and Ethan also touched on the Pack’s Final Four matchup with top-seeded Purdue and Zach Edey before changing gears to the women’s run.
– Ethan broke down how the women’s team beat Stanford and Texas en route to the first Final Four appearance since 1998.
– Junior guard Aziaha James had her national breakout weekend with 29 points against Stanford and 27 points against Texas in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, respectively.
– Ethan talked about how impressive of a run the women have had by going from preseason unranked to the Final Four. He also touched on the fact that this moment is a long time coming for coach Wes Moore and his staff, who came close two years ago, but lost to UConn in the Elite Eight.
The Wolfpacker Show is available in audio and video on TheWolfpacker.com’s YouTube channel.
