phew
NC State slipped into a funk at the offensive end on Wednesday night but managed to do just enough to hold off Davidson’s upset effort. State has been so good under Wes Moore that my brain struggles to process a game like this one while it’s happening—State had for a long time basically removed this particular scenario as a possibility.
The Wolfpack was very fortunate to get a win in this one, overcoming a dreadful shooting performance both inside and out.
Zoe Brooks was mostly absent offensively, while Madison Hayes and Mallory Collier combined to shoot 0-10 from the floor. Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers had to be good, and thankfully, they were—Rivers scored 25 points and grabbed 11 boards, and James accounted for all of State’s made threes on the way to 21 points.
Rivers played the hero late, scoring six straight down the stretch to turn a 52-52 tie into a 58-52 NC State advantage with 2:45 left. Davidson rallied back and had the ball, down 58-57, with 10 seconds to play, forcing the Pack to get one last stop.
It was a painful game, but ultimately they got the win on an extremely off night, so I’m not going to dwell on it. Let’s hope they’ve gotten it out of their system, since they’re not getting away with another performance like this in Louisville on Sunday.