Imagined Interviews: NC State Women's Basketball Insights

A note from PackWBB.com

PackWBB.com does not have official media access to NC State women’s basketball. We also do not have a locker-room pass, a credential, or a realistic chance of Wes Moore calling on us in the second row.

The News & Unobserved. Imagined Access. So we are publishing the quotes as they probably would have occurred if the players had been asked about football, bounce-backs, a 90-minute lightning delay, and why Carter-Finley suddenly remembered how nights work. None of these interviews happened. All of them feel true.

RALEIGH — Last week the women’s basketball film room was still staring at 34-8 like it might change if nobody blinked. Friday a different number walked in. NC State 73, Richmond 0. Four rushing touchdowns before the weather even got involved. Then the weather got involved.

“That is not complementary football,” said Zoe Brooks. “That is a runout. We have a mercy rule in exhibitions. Football does not. Football just keeps scoring until the clouds file a protest.”

The protest arrived just before 8 p.m. Lightning within eight miles. Players off the field. Fans out of Carter-Finley. The Pack already up 28-0 with 11:33 left in the second quarter, which in basketball English is “we are up 20, they have missed nine in a row, and now the refs have tucked the ball under their arm because the gym itself is trying to foul out.”

Khamil Pierre diagnosed the delay like a rebound.

“If the ball is in the air, it is ours,” she said. “Lightning is just a very tall offensive rebound. Sit down. Let it come down. Then go get another paint touch. They got another paint touch. Several.”

Jayden “Duke” Scott went 65 yards on the first play of the second drive and finished with 128 yards and two scores. Davion Gause scored on his first carry in black, 19 yards. CJ Bailey, who had 84 passing yards and a live-ball turnover in Charlottesville, went 13-of-17 for 281, threw a touchdown, and also walked in from a yard. Will Wilson collected touchdowns like they were loose balls in the bonus. Dylan McCoy still had time for a 51-yard run after the field goal had already made it look finished.

“That’s 52 percent from last week and 76 percent from this week with paint touches,” Brooks said. “Somebody set a ball screen that actually landed. Also they stopped punting. We requested that last week. We are taking credit.”

The delay lasted about 90 minutes. Play resumed at 9:25. It had gotten so bad they skipped halftime and went straight to the third quarter, which several players identified as the most basketball thing football has ever done. Then the score kept climbing, so the officials stopped treating it like a real game and just let the clock run. Football does not advertise a mercy rule. Friday they used one anyway.

“You don’t get a 15-minute speech when you’re up 49-0,” said Ky’She Lunan. “You get the next possession. Coach Moore would have left us in the gym. Football left the sky in the gym, canceled the locker-room talk, no break, and started the second half in the third quarter. I’d transfer to football just for the September kickoff. I would not transfer for the lightning. I like roofs.”

Qadence Samuels still wanted the inbound.

“I don’t play football,” she said. “I do play defense. Full court. The whole storm. Put me on whoever is holding the ball after the horn. Richmond had a hundred yards. That is a missed assignment and a wet football.”

Annsley Trivette, who is from Virginia and therefore legally required to compare buildings, said Carter-Finley finally acted like Reynolds with worse air conditioning.

“You don’t come into Reynolds and shoot 3-for-18 because it’s October,” she said. “You also don’t come into Carter-Finley, go down 28, and wait for lightning to save you. Bounce back. Box out. Stop throwing the inbound pass to the other team. They did all of that. Then the sky tried to inbound to both teams at once.”

Asked what schematic changes they would keep after one home win that looked like an exhibition that still counted, the players produced a list Boo Corrigan is now slightly more likely to laminate:

Keep “pass, cut, or post up.” The post-ups were 65-yard runs.
The charge circle around the quarterback can stay. Bailey still ran into the end zone on purpose.
Extra possessions for offensive rebounds. Football still punts. Less often, when you are up 49.
Wear black. Anniversary game. The storm color worked.
If lightning is within eight miles, that is a timeout. Not a technical.
If you are already up 49 when the building reopens, skip halftime. Start the third quarter. Wes would have.
If it gets worse after that, let the clock run. That is the football mercy rule. Do not tell exhibitions.

Wes Moore declined to confirm he watched from a grease board. Then he took the credit anyway.

“That was Senior Night,” Moore said. “I told football the same thing I tell us. Start the kids you already trust. Play like somebody is getting a framed jersey at midcourt even if nobody is graduating. Last week was the road game you flush. Friday was the night you hand the ball to the people who have been here and let them run. They ran. The storm ate 90 minutes, so they skipped halftime and opened the third quarter like it was the next possession. That’s Senior Night. You don’t wait for the speech. You take the ball. You’re welcome.”

At press time, Pierre was under postgame pressure and still working the uniforms like a missed box-out.

“Friday was a home game,” she said. “School colors are red and white. They wore a blackout. In a thunderstorm. I thought somebody had stolen the laundry and then I thought maybe that was the point. Hard to press a team you cannot see. Richmond never saw them either. Also 73-0. Last week’s score can stay in Charlottesville. This one can stay on the board. Rebound. Don’t fumble in the paint. And if anybody needs a high-low look after a weather delay, I am available after weights. Bring a towel. Red or white. I know what the school colors are.”