We’re less than two weeks away from March and postseason basketball, and NC State women’s basketball has a huge problem.
Just last month, the Wolfpack had won 10 of its last 12 games and looked like it would make some noise in the postseason. But over the past few weeks, the Pack has won just four of its last seven, with two of those losses coming in ranked home games against then-No. 9 Louisville and then-No. 25 UNC-Chapel Hill.
The difference in those games? The bench depth — or lack thereof.
It’s no secret that this year’s Pack looks different than years past. It has already lost more games this year than it had in six of the last seven seasons, and it all leads back to team composition.
The team lacks veteran leadership, enduring the first season in program history that a team has been without a senior. But even more concerning is NC State’s lack of bench depth. Head coach Wes Moore runs a tight ship, typically utilizing just one or two players off the bench, causing the starters to play much higher minutes than usual.
Take the Louisville game, for instance. Moore brought just two players off the bench — freshman guard Ky’She Lunan and junior forward Maddie Cox — and every starter had 35 minutes or more on the floor.
NC State had full control of the game — leading by as many as 13 at one point — but fell apart in the fourth quarter and lost in overtime. There were many reasons that led to such a collapse, but it’s hard to imagine exhaustion wasn’t one of them.
Ironically enough, the main reason that the Wolfpack lost was Imari Berry, who dropped a career-high 33 points even though she came off the bench. When they went down, the Cardinals turned to their bench, and it delivered. But so far this season, the Pack hasn’t had that luxury.
In the case of the backcourt, Moore has experimented with the rotation from time to time, sometimes giving sophomore guard Devyn Quigley the starting nod over junior guard Qadence Samuels. As of recently, Quigley rarely touches the court, and Lunan gets the nod off the bench.
When NC State was down by 10 points with just four minutes remaining against UNC, it was Lunan who provided the spark that nearly brought it back from the brink. She opened the run with a jumper before driving for another layup and finding Samuels for an all-important corner 3-pointer.
Now, Lunan isn’t the total answer to all of the Pack’s bench problems, but Moore has realized that she alleviates it, providing energy and giving NC State’s star guards — junior Zoe Brooks and sophomore Zam Jones — time to rest and recoup on the bench.
In the case of the frontcourt, Moore doesn’t exactly have an option. Sophomore center Lorena Awou was suspended and subsequently taken off the roster in the middle of the season, leaving a massive hole on the bench — a hole that Cox and junior center Mallory Collier simply don’t have the skill set to fill. This leads to junior forward Khamil Pierre and sophomore forward Tilda Trygger playing far more minutes than a usual starting frontcourt.
Obviously, the strategy of limited rotation off the bench has gotten the Pack this far with a 17-8 record, but it can’t help the Pack get over the hump of ranked opponents. Moore needs to find a solution quickly, and he ran out of time weeks ago. With just four games remaining until the postseason, NC State needs its bench players to step up to have any chance at a long run in March.
The Pack will be put to the test on Thursday, Feb. 19, in one of the hardest games of the season, traveling west to Durham to take on No. 9 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Whether the bench can take it to the next level, only time will tell.
