The No. 10 NC State women’s basketball has hit a period of malaise recently, losing back-to-back home games for the first time in over two years. With a 66-59 loss to No. 9 Louisville Thursday night and a back-breaking 65-61 loss at the hands of unranked Georgia Tech Sunday afternoon, the Wolfpack is struggling to find its groove. The offense in particular has been bad as of late, averaging just 60 points per game and shooting just 39% from the field and 24% from deep. Here’s three key reasons why NC State has struggled the last week.
Elissa Cunane is taking a beating down low
The superstar center, just named a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award for the nation’s best center, has been getting beat up in the paint lately. In a forgettable performance against Louisville and the Cardinals’ elite shot blocker Kylee Shook, Cunane missed 11 of her shots inside the paint, finishing the game 1 for 12 overall. Her misses weren’t just rimming out or anything, either. The sophomore had four shots blocked, an airball and two that she just threw up that hit the bottom of the backboard. Shook had Cunane shook all game and there was nothing she could do. Then against Georgia Tech, despite some offensive success, she was largely nonexistent on the boards, hauling in just five rebounds, none of which were offensive. After her worst performance of her career against Louisville, she bounced back a bit against Georgia Tech, but a clear trend is emerging.
Teams are starting to play extremely physical with Cunane, and with ACC play in the stretch run and games starting to mean more, the referees are swallowing their whistles. If Cunane isn’t scoring efficiently down low when teams are bodying her up and being physical when she shoots, her role on the court is limited. Against Georgia Tech, the Wolfpack mounted its big comeback, cutting a 12-point lead to two with just over a minute left, with Cunane on the bench. The 6-foot-5 center was a minus-15 on the game and the Wolfpack’s offense was running smoothly without her.
It’s overly simplistic to say the Wolfpack is better without Cunane because it’s not. Cunane isn’t just one of the best players in the ACC, she’s one of the best players in the entire NCAA. But she’s been getting knocked around down low lately and she has yet to adjust. There’s no reason to believe she won’t eventually adapt, but until she does, the Wolfpack’s offense may continue to struggle.
Aislinn Konig looks out of sorts
The Wolfpack’s longtime leader and leading 3-point shooter in program history is in the midst of maybe the worst four-game stretch of her career. Konig is 6 for 27 from the field and 4 for 19 from deep in February, including a combined 0 for 7 behind the arc in the Wolfpack’s two losses. Against Georgia Tech she was held scoreless for the first time in 92 games. Although she’s rarely the leading scorer and isn’t the fastest or most athletic player, the veteran guard is the engine of the NC State offense. When she’s off, the team is off.
It’s not just offense that has been the issue, either. Typically an elite on- and off-ball defender, Konig was attacked relentlessly against Georgia Tech. Primarily matched up on the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer Francesca Pan, Konig was torched all afternoon. Pan finished with 30 points, including a 13-point third quarter where the Yellow Jackets took control of the game. If NC State is going to turn things around quickly before the ACC Tournament, it’s going to need Konig back to form offensively and defensively.
3-point shooting is nonexistent
NC State is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the ACC, but that hasn’t translated lately. With a three-guard starting lineup and a small-ball forward, NC State plays a one-in, four-out offense that lends itself to a lot of 3-pointers — if the Wolfpack isn’t hitting its shots, things can go awry quickly. In its last two games, NC State shot just 8 for 33 (24%) from deep and wasn’t able to get many clean looks, either. Konig and junior guard Kai Crutchfield, the team’s two most consistent 3-point shooters, combined for two made 3s on 17% shooting.
But the Pack isn’t just struggling to hit 3s, it’s struggling to take 3s. Konig and Crutchfield combined for just one attempted 3-pointer against Georgia Tech, a bad miss by Konig. Teams are having success running the backcourt duo off the 3-point line and so far head coach Wes Moore hasn’t figured out what to do to fix that. With Cunane, junior forward Kayla Jones and freshman forward Jada Boyd, the Wolfpack’s post presence is elite, but when its guards aren’t taking and making 3-pointers, there’s only so much the posts can do.
Going forward
The NC State women’s basketball team isn’t going to lose out. In fact, it’s probably going to win the rest of its regular season games and make it to the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2010, but that’s no guarantee. The team needs to correct its issues, all of which are fairly correctable.
Cunane isn’t going to be shut down for long. Even with one of the worst two-game stretches of her young career, she still averaged 13.5 points and six rebounds per game. Not exactly the-sky-is-falling type of bad. Although she’ll be matched up against Miami’s star Beatrice Mompremier on Thursday night, there is no reason to expect her mini slump to continue for much longer.
Konig and Crutchfield make up one of the premier backcourt shooting duos in the country. They’ll be the first to tell you their play of late is unacceptable, but similar to Cunane, they’re simply better than how they’ve been playing lately. Just two weeks before the Louisville game, Konig knocked down a career-high seven 3-pointers in a road win over Clemson, and in her eight games prior, Crutchfield was shooting 34% from distance. They’re good shooters, and once the coaching staff is able to start scheming them open again, the shots will start falling and the offense will open back up.
