Wes Moore Breaks Down NC State's First NCAA Tournament Victory

Wes Moore lost some confidence in his team after NC State women's basketball dropped its quarterfinal matchup against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament. However, the veteran coach never quit on his group and had the Wolfpack ready to play in the Round of 64 matchup against No. 10 seed Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The Pack outlasted the Volunteers 76-61.

While NC State lost junior guard Zoe Brooks to an ankle injury in the third quarter, the rest of the team dug deep and found a way to get a win in the tournament opener. It marked an eighth Round of 64 victory in the last nine attempts under Moore, continuing a trend of March success since the veteran coach took over the program over a decade ago.

Moore's thoughts on the win

Sliding into the second round for the 8th time in the last 9 tournaments 🫡 pic.twitter.com/VRV21OXDvM
— NC State WBB 🐺🏀 (@PackWomensBball) March 21, 2026

Moore was particularly proud of his team's effort in a physical battle that ended up costing the team one of its stars. Even with Brooks in the locker room, several other members of the NC State roster, most notably Brooks' backcourt partner Zam Jones, stepped up in her place and carried the Wolfpack to the 15-point victory.

"I'm just real proud of this team. Especially when Zoe goes out, we're a little shorthanded. Zam played about the whole game here and Khamil (Pierre) out there on a busted foot and she's playing tough," Moore said. "We got the match-ups on the bracket, Tennessee pops up. We had already played them once this year, so we knew it was going to be a heck of a battle."

NC State's defense caused issues at times during the regular season and Moore promised there would be changes during the pair of weeks off following the ACC Tournament loss. The Wolfpack clearly focused heavily on improving its effort on the defensive end during that time, while adding a new wrinkle with a zone that totally threw off the Tennessee offense at several points of the win.

"We've been playing more zone, probably, than I ever have in my years this year," Moore said. "We watched, obviously, a lot of games and there were several teams down the stretch that played zone against them. We felt like we needed to have that. ... I thought we did a pretty good job of getting to the shooters that were out there. That's a big thing right there."

MOVING ON BABY!!!! https://t.co/yQXvTSI1zk pic.twitter.com/dZdDFRGpAg
— NC State WBB 🐺🏀 (@PackWomensBball) March 21, 2026

Moore got highly efficient outings from two of his other stars in Jones and Pierre. Jones finished the night with a new career-high of 30 points, dominating in Brooks' stead, while Pierre turned things on down the stretch to help the Wolfpack cruise to victory in the fourth quarter, tallying yet another double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

"Zam obviously was hot and did a great job getting downhill, getting to the rim," Moore said. "Khamil, again, on the boards and being able to get a few buckets, posting up off the roll. A lot of it, too, probably came off the press. I would have to see the film, but it seemed like we scored a lot on the back of the press. I'm a big advocate that if people are going to press, you've got to make them pay."