| The Fayetteville Observer
NC State entered the season for the first time in three decades as a top-10 AP team, leaving its first ACC tournament championship since 1991 – the last year the tournament was played in Fayetteville.
The program has reached a higher level of national relevance and only two games on its 2020-21 schedule, NC State is starting a road game at No. 1 South Carolina.
The spotlight doesn’t get much brighter this early in the season.
Here are three things to watch as the No. 8 Wolfpack (2-0) faces the No. 1 Gamecocks (3-0) on Thursday in Columbia, South Carolina (19:00, ESPN2).
Tracking Gamecocks
The state of NC carries an average score of 100.5 for Columbia – ranked fifth in the country – with all five beginners averaging two digits.
“I feel very good about it from an offensive point of view,” said Wolfpack coach Wes Moore, on Tuesday’s Zoom. “I think the other end of the court is where I am concerned.”
The rear also appeared as a color descriptor.
“I call it a ‘butt game’,” said Moore. “We’d better get our asses back in the transition. We’d better get our asses on the ground and try to protect them and keep them in front of us, and we better get our asses on them and put them out. “
Wolfpack’s defense will be tested by Guards Destinee Henderson and Zia Cooke, both averaging 17.7 points this season. And NC State junior Elissa Cunane must be busy with Aliyah Boston, who won the Lisa Leslie award for being the best university center in the country last season as a freshman.
“They are having the country’s No. 1 recruiting class every year, so they have all the Americans stacked up there in two or three places. It is a great challenge for us, but it is also an opportunity, ”said Moore.
“It is a great opportunity to see where we are and find out what we need to work on and improve on.”
Battle of the Great
One of the Pack’s strong points is the post-game, where Cunane obtained the team’s best average of 16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds last season to go with a shooting percentage of 54.7 and 14 doubles.
She emerged as one of the country’s top centers and was named to the pre-season watch list for the Wood Award on Tuesday, along with Boston.
Boston averaged 12.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.61 blocks, shooting 60.8% last season for the Gamecocks, who won the SEC tournament and took first place in the national ranking when COVID-19 canceled the NCAA tournament.
She posted a triple-double in her first game in college last year.
“It will take a whole team against Boston,” said Moore. “If you isolate her and Elissa there, I am concerned with problems and everything. We will have to do a good job helping whenever we can and trying to keep the ball out as long as we can. Once she starts to work, it is difficult. “
Look for Cunane and other great NCs to use their 3-point shot to get Boston out of the picture.
Ties to history
Wolfpack guard Kai Crutchfield said there was no change in preparation this week, as Moore “prepares for each game as if it were a national championship”.
But the Pack gained some arrogance with last season’s ACC title. The NC State championship drought dates back to 1991 – the same year that South Carolina coach Dawn Staley took Virginia to the national championship, where the Cavs fell to Tennessee in overtime.
The 1991 Pack team was led by Andrea Stinson, who would share the defense court with Staley in the WNBA with Charlotte Sting, forming one of the most dynamic tandems the league has ever seen.
As guards for Sting, Stinson and Staley were trained by the NC State Hall of Famer Trudi Lacey, who won an ACC title with Wolfpack in 1980.
The NC State squads who lifted the trophy finally have company in the championship circle.
Cunane admits that the culminating moment entered his dreams.
“I think that knowing this feeling of being on top of everyone, we were the best, I think it really motivates you to want to continue and play stronger,” she said on Tuesday.
“We know it took a long time last year to win everything, so I think it will be doubly difficult this year.”
Facing a well-ranked team on the road should help prepare the Pack for the challenge of being the target in the ACC game.
With just five non-conference games this season, instead of the usual 11, NC State starts playing conference at Boston College on December 13.
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Sports publisher Monica Holland can be reached at [email protected].