ACC hoops media days got rolling Monday with women's basketball, and Wes Moore was on hand along with Zoe Brooks and Khamil Pierre.
During the breakout session with media , Wes Moore said something interesting in a question about the team's chemistry:
I think that's important: to have a team that will play for each other and enjoy the journey. It's a long, grinding season. You've got to have fun.
I like where we are from that standpoint. We're going to have to play faster and harder. We're undersized. We don't have the length we've had, so we're going to have to play really fast and hard, get in the passing lanes, apply ball pressure, and turn up the heat, so to speak, if we want to have a chance. We'll see how that goes.
Historically, Moore's defenses at NC State have not been defined by ball pressure or forcing turnovers—they've succeeded by defending the paint well, rebounding well defensively, and also avoiding sending the other team to the free throw line. State's 2FG% defense was average last season, and while it remained very good in the other areas, its defensive efficiency sunk a bit.
NC State's not going to morph into a team that's applying full-court pressure all the time, but generating more turnovers in the halfcourt by playing more aggressively there would be helpful in compensating for some of its problems defending the paint. Easier said than done, though.
