North Carolina State University Athletics
NCAA Tournament Practice Day One
3/16/2017 3:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Press conference and practice day for the Wolfpack
March 16, 2017
AUSTIN, Texas – On Thursday, the No. 17/17 NC State women's basketball team (22-8) met with members of the media and practiced inside the Frank Erwin Center in advance of Friday's NCAA Tournament opening game against Auburn (noon ET on ESPN2).
Quotes from NC State's Press Conference
Q. What is the difference between the team that's beating top-15 teams and the team that lost to Wake and Carolina?
WES MOORE: Well, first of all, Wake and Carolina aren't bad, either. ACC is tough top to bottom. Every game you've got to be sharp and playing well. I think part of it is shooting the ball well. You have days where maybe you don't shoot it as well, and I think that's important for us. We need to -- we shoot the three quite a bit, so we need to be knocking shots down to be at our best. But sometimes, again, in the grind of the season, maybe you don't have quite the energy or whatever. It's just one of those days, a couple of those games where people shot the ball extremely well against us that day, both of those games that was the case.
But I think we're still the same team. The seasons ebb and flow and you have peaks and valleys, and you hope that you're peaking right now. You hope you get momentum and play your best ball in March.
Q. Dom, correct my timeline if I'm incorrect. The last time NC State went to the tournament you didn't travel with the team because it was a transfer year?
DOMINIQUE WILSON: Yes.
Q. So how validating is it for you to in your last year be at the NCAA Tournament, which was your goal when you transferred to NC State, and how difficult was it to be left behind in your transfer year?
DOMINIQUE WILSON: Well, it was difficult being left behind because for one I couldn't play, and they went to LA. I was kind of mad about that. But right now I'm just happy to be here. Like you said, one of my goals was to be in the NCAA Tournament, which we did, and now I just want us to go on a run and just make history for our program.
Q. Miah, your coach has talked about he was a little disappointed the fact that you guys had to go on the road, there were I guess five teams in the ACC that host in the first round and you're here 1,200 miles away. What's the team attitude about that? What kind of attitude do you bring in here as a team on the road?
MIAH SPENCER: I mean, right now there's nothing we can do about it. The committee has already selected where we are supposed to play, so right now we just have to take it one game at a time. We can't worry about that we're not playing at home or we're not playing close to home. We're here to win, so wherever we were going to play or if we were playing at home, I mean, it doesn't matter now because we're here now, so we just have to focus on what we do best and just come out ready to play tomorrow morning.
Q. You said you're not worried about it. Has it been a rallying point or is there sort of a chip on the players' shoulders like we'll show them kind of thing, on the seeding and other things?
MIAH SPENCER: I mean, we've had a chip on our shoulder since the beginning of the year because we didn't make the NCAA Tournament last year. But we knew what we had to do. We knew we had to come out and play every game like it was our last game, and I feel like that's what we did this season. The wins that we got this year, I feel like they were pretty good wins, but I mean, like I said, the committee has already made a decision. There's nothing we can do about it right now.
Q. Have you seen anything in terms of that kind of defensive style (similar to Auburn's)?
WES MOORE: Yeah, we've probably seen a few teams similar to it, but it is unusual. That's been our main point of emphasis on handling the press, having a variety of ways to attack it, so you have a backup plan if something is not working. And then like I said, in their zone, 1-2-2 and they'll trap you a lot, especially when you first get across half court.
We're going to have to make good decisions with the ball and make sure when we do get those open looks -- that's the thing, when you trap, somebody is open, so hopefully we can find that open person and then we can knock down those shots.
#GoPack | @PackWomensBball
Interested in ticket information for NC State's 2017-18 season? Please click here.
AUSTIN, Texas – On Thursday, the No. 17/17 NC State women's basketball team (22-8) met with members of the media and practiced inside the Frank Erwin Center in advance of Friday's NCAA Tournament opening game against Auburn (noon ET on ESPN2).
NCAA Tournament practice day. #ncaaw pic.twitter.com/ooFBwlWDiE
— #17/17 NC State WBB (@PackWomensBball) March 16, 2017
Quotes from NC State's Press Conference
Q. What is the difference between the team that's beating top-15 teams and the team that lost to Wake and Carolina?
WES MOORE: Well, first of all, Wake and Carolina aren't bad, either. ACC is tough top to bottom. Every game you've got to be sharp and playing well. I think part of it is shooting the ball well. You have days where maybe you don't shoot it as well, and I think that's important for us. We need to -- we shoot the three quite a bit, so we need to be knocking shots down to be at our best. But sometimes, again, in the grind of the season, maybe you don't have quite the energy or whatever. It's just one of those days, a couple of those games where people shot the ball extremely well against us that day, both of those games that was the case.
But I think we're still the same team. The seasons ebb and flow and you have peaks and valleys, and you hope that you're peaking right now. You hope you get momentum and play your best ball in March.
Q. Dom, correct my timeline if I'm incorrect. The last time NC State went to the tournament you didn't travel with the team because it was a transfer year?
DOMINIQUE WILSON: Yes.
Q. So how validating is it for you to in your last year be at the NCAA Tournament, which was your goal when you transferred to NC State, and how difficult was it to be left behind in your transfer year?
DOMINIQUE WILSON: Well, it was difficult being left behind because for one I couldn't play, and they went to LA. I was kind of mad about that. But right now I'm just happy to be here. Like you said, one of my goals was to be in the NCAA Tournament, which we did, and now I just want us to go on a run and just make history for our program.
Q. Miah, your coach has talked about he was a little disappointed the fact that you guys had to go on the road, there were I guess five teams in the ACC that host in the first round and you're here 1,200 miles away. What's the team attitude about that? What kind of attitude do you bring in here as a team on the road?
MIAH SPENCER: I mean, right now there's nothing we can do about it. The committee has already selected where we are supposed to play, so right now we just have to take it one game at a time. We can't worry about that we're not playing at home or we're not playing close to home. We're here to win, so wherever we were going to play or if we were playing at home, I mean, it doesn't matter now because we're here now, so we just have to focus on what we do best and just come out ready to play tomorrow morning.
Q. You said you're not worried about it. Has it been a rallying point or is there sort of a chip on the players' shoulders like we'll show them kind of thing, on the seeding and other things?
MIAH SPENCER: I mean, we've had a chip on our shoulder since the beginning of the year because we didn't make the NCAA Tournament last year. But we knew what we had to do. We knew we had to come out and play every game like it was our last game, and I feel like that's what we did this season. The wins that we got this year, I feel like they were pretty good wins, but I mean, like I said, the committee has already made a decision. There's nothing we can do about it right now.
Q. Have you seen anything in terms of that kind of defensive style (similar to Auburn's)?
WES MOORE: Yeah, we've probably seen a few teams similar to it, but it is unusual. That's been our main point of emphasis on handling the press, having a variety of ways to attack it, so you have a backup plan if something is not working. And then like I said, in their zone, 1-2-2 and they'll trap you a lot, especially when you first get across half court.
We're going to have to make good decisions with the ball and make sure when we do get those open looks -- that's the thing, when you trap, somebody is open, so hopefully we can find that open person and then we can knock down those shots.
#GoPack | @PackWomensBball
Interested in ticket information for NC State's 2017-18 season? Please click here.
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