After a season of defying expectations while overcoming deficits and injuries, N.C. State travels to Los Angeles Friday to face Brigham Young in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 16 Wolfpack (25-7) will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2009-10 campaign, when State dropped its opening round game to UCLA.
The Wolfpack will be the five-seed in the Lincoln Region. N.C. State is 19-21 overall in NCAA tournament play and has reached the tournament 22 times in its 41 seasons. The berth is the 17th overall for N.C. State head coach Wes Moore. The first-year coach was named a Naismith Finalist for the National Coach of the Year award Wednesday. This season marked the 11th time in Moore’s career that his team has won at least 25 games.
The Pack’s trip to Los Angeles will also be a homecoming for senior forward Kody Burke. The three-time Academic All-American hails from Southern California and enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 15 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, both second on the team to senior center Markeisha Gatling.
N.C. State will have to carry on in the tournament without seniors Myisha Goodwin-Coleman and Lakeesa Daniel, who suffered ACL injuries on consecutive days in February. Burke said she remains bullish on the Pack’s chances in March.
“With Coach Moore’s system and the personnel we have in the system, we can do well,” Burke said. “He just understands the system well. He scouts teams well. I feel like we can go on a great run, and we went through the ACC. The hard part is done, I think. We can make a great run.”
BYU is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars received an at-large bid to the tournament and will enter play with a 26-6 record. Head coach Jeff Judkins is in his 13th season in charge and he has led his teams to postseason play in 10 of those years, including six in the NCAA’s.
The Cougars have four players who average double-figure scoring, led by Jennifer Hamson. The senior center averages a double-double on the season, posting 18.3 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Lexi Eaton is not far behind at 16.9 points per contest. Eaton connected on 40.9 percent of her three-point attempts in the Cougars’ 2014 campaign.
The postseason matchup will mark only the third time the two teams have faced each other on the hardwood. Both schools won in each other’s gym in their previous two meetings, with N.C. State edging the Cougars, 67-65, in the last contest in 2005. Junior guard Len’Nique Brown, who played eight minutes for the USC team that knocked BYU out of the WNIT in 2011 in Provo, Utah prior to transferring to State, is the only Wolfpack player to have ever faced Brigham Young.
Tip for N.C. State against BYU is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday. The winner will face the winner of the game between four-seed Nebraska and 13-seed Fresno State with a berth into the regionals in Lincoln on the line. The Wolfpack has not won a NCAA Tournament game or reached the Sweet Sixteen since 2007.
