NC State is not going to outsize anybody this year. Wes Moore said that in more than one way at ACC Tipoff, and both of the players he is counting on said the same thing back.

The length is gone. Size, Moore said, is expensive nowadays. Khamil Pierre and Khady Leye are athletic, and both are about 6-2. That is the frontcourt. Duke and Carolina are still on the schedule. Nine ACC teams made the NCAA tournament a year ago. The old way, sit back and contain, does not fit what is in the building.

So the plan is speed, on both ends.

“We’re going to have to play really fast and hard, get in the passing lanes, apply ball pressure, and turn the heat up,” Moore said. Containment was the default. Pressure was always in the bag. This year it has to be the thing. Some post doubles. More dictating. Less waiting.

Zoe Brooks put it in practice terms. Every day has been press, push defense, deflections, steals. She said the old version was pack defense, still getting after it, but sitting back. This version is go, go, go, and push the ball as fast as they can.

Then comes the part nobody likes once the drill starts.

“Everybody wants to push the ball, but then you got to run,” Brooks said. Moore used almost the same line. Everybody wants to play fast until you say the R word. Brooks called it a mindset, not a preference. They are smaller than a lot of the teams they will see, so running is the option, not the wrinkle.

Pierre is the other half of that. Her job title, in her words, is motor. As many boards as she can get. Run the floor hard. Be the first post down even when there are two bigs on the floor. Moore has already moved the number. She thought 11 or 12 rebounds was a good year. He wants 15 and more, plus the vocal stuff, plus knowing the sets from more than one spot.

The offense is supposed to come out of the same hurry. Pierre spent the summer on the midrange, pull-ups, threes, and a left hand, because everybody already knows she likes to go right. Coach Kev put her through contact every day. The idea is downhill, draw the foul, put somebody in foul trouble. If Brooks drives, Pierre said, the help either comes and Pierre gets the layup, or it stays and Brooks gets it.

Brooks, coming off the rehab, has been the other problem in practice. Pierre’s review was short. She doesn’t miss. Moore’s was that Brooks has been full go since practice started, with a reminder to take a day if she needs one so she is still there in February and March.

There is a receipt for why the defense has to match the pace. In the Final Four season, Moore said, NC State was about fifth in the ACC in offense and third in defense. This past year they led the league in scoring in ACC games and finished sixth on the other end. “We saw what happened,” he said. The buy-in is the other end of the court.

The part he likes is the energy already in the gym. Chemistry has been his thing for 38 years. He said this group has come in with it every day. Brooks and Pierre are the ones who have to make the rest of the roster move that way. Asked what it takes to win an ACC title, Moore did not reach for a roster comparison. Play really hard. Play really fast. Speed people up. Turn it up a notch.

That is the whole plan. They do not have the length to do it the old way. They have the press, the run, and two players who already know the R word is not optional.